For God's sake do something about the police
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The problem is that we have no clue what the force is up to, and no mechanism to find out
Thursday, 11 September 2008
At this stage of his political career, the only advice worth offering the Prime Minister is to ensure that he has the hemlock with him when he locks the study door in case the trusty Luger jams. But for those of a less fatalistic mindset, a more constructive suggestion would be this. Afore ye go, Gordon, and in pursuance of Tuesday's opaque promise to jettison the ways of New Labour, for God's sake do something about the police.
Of course he wouldn't dream of it. All politicians are petrified by the muscle flexed by the force and its cheerleaders at the Sun whenever the faintest squeak about challenging this cosiest of cartels is heard. Kenneth Clarke wanted to crush the Police Federation, last of the great trade union baronies albeit technically no union at all, had he stayed at the Home Office longer, and he was a political have-a-go-hero if ever there was. But if he had had a go, a panicky John Major would have quickly told him to back off, get behind the cordon sanitaire and... well, let the police handle it themselves.
For all the rumbling row about the backdated pay rise, slavering flattery is the monotone our leaders have exclusively struck since Margaret Thatcher politicised them by loosing them on the striking miners. The British police are the best in the world, they trill without Tom Robinson's engaging sarcasm, and we don't believe all those stories we've heard. Many of us do, though, and further believe that what has so fractured the relationship between the police and the public that they nominally serve is the dearth of scrutiny that stems in turn from the lack of political will to control them on our behalf.
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