Thursday 16 September 2021

Mr Angry At The Helm

We all know Johnson's cabinet consisted of mostly second rate lightweights and despite several deservedly getting the chop yesterday, some might say the situation hasn't improved much. The reshuffle also confirms how low down the food chain the Justice Department is with yet another change. Arguably a reasonably competent minister thrown under the bus and replaced with a very angry and now demoted Dominic Raab. Here's Rob Allen on our new Justice Minister writing in May 2015:-  

Tough and Unpleasant: New Minister's Views on Prisons

Dominic Raab, new Minister at the MoJ, is best known for his views on human rights, set out forcefully in his 2009 polemic The Assault on Liberty. Repealing the Human Rights Act will be his main task but his views on penal policy are noteworthy none the less.

In his book, Raab observes that prisoners have benefited more than most from new categories of human rights "foisted on Britain contrary to the wishes of parliament". He appears to think that the executive should have the power to veto the release of criminals on the grounds of public safety and seems unimpressed by judgments allowing prisoners to practice paganism in their cells or have access to fertility treatment. But Raab also argues that “the prison regime has called out for reform for years- to better prepare offenders for release into the outside world.”

Optimism about what that might entail evaporates quickly while reading another book Raab co-authored after the 2010 election, along with (among others)now fellow ministers Liz Truss and Priti Patel. After The Coalition: A Conservative Agenda for Britain argues that we need to "reverse the tide of soft justice". According to Raab, some judges have declined to jail criminals on human right grounds and punishment in the justice system is too often a dirty word.

There is an unwelcome belief according to Raab that prisoners should be treated in prison in a way that reflects the normal life of freedom that all citizens generally enjoy. He and his colleagues “are not ashamed to say that prisons should be tough, unpleasant and uncomfortable places”. They want persistent offenders sentenced for prolonged periods, praying in aid Howard League research on the ineffectiveness of short prison terms. Raab would also privatise all prisons.

Five years on Raab might take the view that prisons are now sufficiently unpleasant places. But his controversial views surely make the case for some form of pre-appointment scrutiny for would be ministers. The public have a right to know ministers' views about the areas for which they will have responsibilities, direct or indirect, and whether they are suitable candidates. In Raab’s case, I have my doubts.

Rob Allen

--oo00oo--

Whilst we're about it, lets just remind ourselves of the character of the guy currently occupying No10. This from Monday's Guardian:-

PM condemned for joke about UK becoming ‘Saudi Arabia of penal policy’

Opposition politicians say Boris Johnson remarks about Priti Patel’s policies are a ‘new low’

A joke by Boris Johnson that the UK could become “the Saudi Arabia of penal policy” under Priti Patel has been condemned as “disgusting” and a “new low” by opposition politicians. The prime minister made the remarks, which can be viewed in video footage obtained and reported by Business Insider, during a speech behind closed doors at a Conservative party fundraiser event on 10 September.

“In the immortal words of Priti Patel or Michael Howard or some other hardline home secretary, addressing the inmates of one of our larger prisons: it’s fantastic to see so many of you here,” Johnson told the 300 attenders at the lunch, which took place at the InterContinental London Park Lane in Mayfair.

He went on to joke about the UK becoming the “Saudi Arabia of penal policy” under Patel as part of comments about work on renewable energy. “I said last year we’re the Saudi Arabia of wind. Probably the Saudi Arabia of penal policy, under our wonderful home secretary,” Johnson said.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most punitive regimes in the world. It is one of the few remaining countries to carry out capital punishment by beheading and has long been accused of grave human rights abuses, including the torture of activists. It can impose the death penalty for homosexuality and many drug offences.

Patel has previously indicated her support for the death penalty as a “deterrent” for serious crime, though she has since denied this and suggested she is not an “active supporter” of the policy.

Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, called the prime minister’s remarks “disgusting”. She tweeted: “Saudi Arabia beheads its own citizens, tortures activists exercising their democratic rights and kills homosexuals. This is disgusting. As ever with Boris Johnson behind closed doors the mask slips and we see what he really thinks.”

Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem spokesperson on home affairs, said the comments marked a “new low” for the prime minister. He added: “Saudi Arabia’s appalling human rights record is nothing to joke about. We have real and serious problems with crime and the rule of law in our country that deserve better than sloppy punchlines behind closed doors.

“UK police officers facing the PM’s pay cuts certainly won’t be laughing. Boris Johnson may admire his pals in the Saudi dictatorship but he cannot escape the fact that his Conservative government is failing miserably to do what actually works to prevent crime.”

In January, Politico reported on Johnson’s making a similar joke on a call with 250 business leaders. Downing Street denied he made the comments and said it was “total bollocks”.

During his speech at the event, the first large Tory party fundraiser event since the pandemic began, Johnson praised the role of the private sector in the pandemic.

“And who invented that vaccine, my friends? Was it produced in the laboratories of the Department of Health and Social Care? Was it Public Health England? Was it the NHS? No! No, it wasn’t. No, it was the private sector, it was big pharma, it was the UK pharmaceuticals industry,” the prime minister said.

Johnson also boasted about having been “the only politician who stood up for [the bankers] in 2008”. “We are, basically, fundamentally, the party of enterprise and wealth creation. And I salute the City of London, incarnated here, and I always stick up for the wonderful bankers,” he said, going on to refer to the role of capital in fulfilling his “levelling up” agenda.

Attenders paid up to £500 for tickets to the three-course lunch, raising “a substantial sum of money” for the Cities of London & Westminster Conservative Association as well as for Conservative campaign headquarters and other groups, according to the event’s brochure.

--oo00oo--

The prime minister’s puerile remarks on penal policy (PM condemned for joke about UK becoming ‘Saudi Arabia of penal policy’, 14 September) plumb new depths in what passes for debate on the subject in this country. Short of conscription, the decision to imprison represents probably the most extreme manifestation of the state’s authority over individuals. Deciding how we exercise that power deserves better than a second-rate stand-up routine.

Peter Dawson
Director, Prison Reform Trust

9 comments:

  1. From the Telegraph.

    More than 100 Government buildings will be closed as civil servants switch to permanent flexible home working and quit London.

    Whitehall chiefs have identified more than 100 leases on properties in London that could be axed, including the Ministry of Justice HQ in Petty France, central London, as civil servants move to regional offices and adopt more flexible working from home. 

    Most Whitehall departments have staff on rotas coming in two or three times a week, although it has emerged that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) only has staff coming in one day a week.

    Details of the exodus from London have been revealed by Alex Chisholm, the Cabinet Office permanent secretary, who said 50 of the 100-plus leases had so far been terminated or were being ended as part of the plans to shrink the size of the Government’s London property estate.

    Regional hubs

    At the same time, properties for new hubs are being established in cities such as Wolverhampton, Stoke and Darlington, which has offset some of the savings from ending leases in London.

    Mr Chisholm said it would not only save money but also make the Government less remote from the regions, which include many of the “Red Wall” constituencies captured by Boris Johnson at the last election.

    “It’s going to be a major net saving overall, billions of pounds a year will be the saving from that over time, plus of course all the benefits that come from getting closer to the communities we serve and having a more diverse group of people to work with," he said.

    It comes after Mr Chisholm also predicted many civil servants will continue to work from home permanently after the pandemic.

    “We have found that we can move to a greater number of people working more flexibly, both working from home and in many cases in offices across the whole of the UK,” Mr Chisholm told MPs.

    He suggested that letting people work flexibly would also allow the civil service to shrink further its Whitehall footprint. Since 2010, the size of the Government property estate has fallen by more than 25 per cent, saving £1 billion a year.

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  2. Cont...

    Only 1 in 4 civil servants back
    It comes just days after Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, admitted that just one in four civil servants in his department were back in the office. In the business department, sources said there plans for staff to be required to come in two days a week.

    Elsewhere, the Treasury has been largely empty throughout the summer recess, with insiders stating that while there has been a slight increase in recent days it remained “pretty quiet”.

    However, in the Cabinet Office, which coordinates Government work across Whitehall, most civil servants are said to be back in the office.

    A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “As a national organisation with buildings across the country, and in line with the Government's Places for Growth agenda, we will carefully consider the future of our building in Petty France as we move towards the end of the lease. We do not comment on commercial negotiations.”

    The existing lease runs until 2028 but there is a break clause in 2026.

    'Getafix

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  3. The general uk population is about to reap a significant harvest of the last 10 years or so but, sadly, a grim harvest of low or no wages, high prices, a divided country where the handful of wealthy are just fine & dandy while the majority of just-about-coping are picking up every increase thrown at them - petrol, power & light, food, taxes. Meantime our prime minister, by definition the country's leading most senior politician, is laughing his socks off behind closed doors. He's makng humiliating, bullying comments about the criminal class (who they now have total control over after acquiring the probation service, owning the inspectorates & keeping the parole board on a short spuky leash); he's amused by the human rights abuses of Saudi Arabia while setting Raab loose to decimate uk human rights legislation. And he has, never forget, been at the helm of a significant loss of life by mismanaging the pandemic for the benefit of his chums.

    The uk has been willingly handed over to a wealthy few by a blinkered, bewitched electorate. Just listening to BBC wato where they're blatantly saying "the country" welcomes these changes & is widely pro-Tory, dismissive of "the woke" & "the left".

    We are fucked. Unless, of course, you're an excellent leader &/or financially secure & quite happy to shit on others.

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  4. It is said that Raab enters a room sweaty, red in the face looking like he is about to start a fight! Could make working in the MOJ interesting for his CS!

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  5. I have fears maybe you can allay my fears.
    Mr Raab is both Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, I fear that the more accurate phrase is Mr Raab is the new Deputy Prime Minister and he has also been given the Justice brief that he will need to spend some time working on. This fear is further heightened by the “joke about the UK becoming the “Saudi Arabia of penal policy” under Patel”. “Under Patel?”. Ms Patel is the Home Secretary and not the Justice Secretary. these two things raise the overall fear to me that the Justice System Policy and strategy of England and Wales will now under the Home Office and the Home Secretary rather then the Ministry of Justice.

    With Ms Patel in charge and Mr Raab part time front man who supports reducing human rights:

    -Are they going to re join the two departments or place the MOJ as a sub department under the Home Office?.

    -Will they re-introduce IPP’s under a different name and for lesser offences?

    -Will the new approach to Probation be to make recall on standard easier and the bar for last resort be lower?

    -Will Probation Practitioners be expected to include “punitive” conditions on licences like in some US states as part of an alternative to recall.

    -Will the burden of proof for people in prison on recalls or indeterminate sentences increase in order to be released by the parole board. Example, not just on risk but also on submissive obedience to the system?

    I fear that we could be looking towards some of the more US conservative republican’s policies. A ideology of misery in prison followed by unequivocal fear of probation on the outside, or you don’t get out.

    We all know and have colleagues who would agree with these approaches and even prefer it, we have been fighting to bring them over to our way of thinking, will we now be forced over the their side of the line if we want to stay?.


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  6. If I chucked the contents of my stomach into a swill bucket it would have greater integrity & intelligence than the shower currently ruining the country.

    They are unashamedly greedy, dishonest & vile to the nth degree.

    Now Raab has the chance to get his hands on HMPPS which - with Romeo, Farrar, Rees & the probation cronies in post - spells serious trouble for any notion of rehabilitation. The concerns offered by @14:46 apply.

    A man who can relax on holiday at a £40,000-a-week hotel while millions in the uk are barely able to feed their families, let alone while a major international humanitarian crisis unravels which he's supposed to be aware of, is a man who will have no qualms about stamping on the vulnerable in the uk; especially those who society don't give a crap about.

    I note that Kuennesberg was singing his praises as a great idea for Justice, calling him "a senior lawyer". Many in the legal profession have no time for the idiot, a man who didn't think he needed to read the Brexit agreement. This is our new Lord Chancellor - a barely qualified solicitor who left practice at the earliest possible opportunity & who could give SloppyJohnson a run for his money as 'Laziest Bastard of the Year'.

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  7. Raab, House of Commons, 3 Nov 2015: "We will bring forward proposals for a British Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act later this autumn. Preparations are going well, and we look forward to consulting widely... Revising the Human Rights Act can be done only by the UK Government... A whole range of issues will be covered in the consultation and there will be plenty of opportunity to receive and listen to views, especially on article 8. That provision has clearly created problems concerning the deportation of foreign national offenders, and I would have thought that people across the House and the United Kingdom would support our consultation on that."

    Raab, Patel & Gove - refugees won't stand a cat in hell's chance. There won't be any human rights provision, there'll be no local authority accommodation & they'll all be dumped at sea while Johnson tells offensive jokes & they all piss themselves laughing at a fundraiser dinner, with Roy Chubby Brown as the after-dinner speaker.

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  8. Roy chubby brown wouldn't be seen dead at a Tory gig. Chubby brown already made it clear he believes the Tories are serious racists while chubby claims he is just joking. He is terrified the Tories mean it.

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like Gove - all of his [recorded] offensive racist, classist comments were, he says, "just me joking around"

      so thats okay then

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