Home Secretary

Quizmonster | 08:10 Thu 19th Apr 2012 | News

66 Answers

"Does Theresa May know what day it is?"
That's today's headline over the Times Online's article about the latest Abu Q farce. (I've decided to call him A Book At Bedtime from now on.)
Well, does she?

So it seems he is not going anywhere

Someone no one has heard of, who played flute on a one hit wonder 29 years ago has died.

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emmie

the whole matter is a farce, whichever way you look at it. This man should have been got rid of ages ago.

Quizmonster

Question Author

The whole point of posing questions in AnswerBank, Em, is that people HERE are being asked for THEIR responses!
It may have passed you by, of course, but phrases about "knowing what day it is" are commonly used to indicate a suspicion of incompetence.

emmie

quite frankly the tone of your question is one of look what an idiot woman, I don't know her, but do know she faces an uphill battle to get rid of this odious man. Would a male home secretary have fared any better in this matter.

Quizmonster

Question Author

There is not a single shred of anti-feminism in my question; even my title was neuter. It was the Times which put her name into the mix.

sandyRoe

Her advisors were wrong to let her give the impression that Abu Qatada was going to be on the next flight out of the UK.
It must have been clear to them that if there was any line of appeal against deportation that he could follow he would take it.

andy-hughes

From what I can gather, the two sides in this argument both say they are correct, and the other side is incorrect - i.e. the Strasbourg lawyers say that the Home Office movedd too quickly in arresting, before due legal process had been completed, and the Home Office say they actec on the information they received confirming that the date was correct.

It's a tough one, because given the gravity of the situation, whom ever is proven to be wrong is for the prverbial high jump, so no-one is going to admit it without being forced to by evidence.

We will have to wait and see.

naomi24

She’s between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea – literally. No easy task!

sandyRoe

But if she could just move a little and get the devil between her and the deep blue sea, couldn't she shove him in?

barryjbutler

No. Not literally, metaphorically.

sandyRoe

Ah. I see now.

naomi24

She’s trying to do it by the book, but if she did as the French appear to do and ignored rules that are detrimental to the country, I’d help her shove him!

jake-the-peg

I'm sure you would Naomi

But problems start happening when you have politicians who start acting without regard to the law.

They get a taste for it - they start locking up people that oppose them - and all of a sudden you're living somewhere like Burma

Did you ever see the film "A man for all seasons" about Henry VIII's arrest and execution of Thomas Moore?

There's a famous piece in it:

<William Roper>: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!

<Sir Thomas More>: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

<William Roper>: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!

<Sir Thomas More>: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!

It's worth thinking about rather carefully

Davethedog

I think that you are under the mis-understanding that she (or any other minister) makes a unilateral decision. To us it appears a black and white decision, and who knows maybe it could be.

However we are part of europe and as such agree to abide to european laws, of which the human rights act is part. As such she would of taken a lot of advice as to how she could act.

Is it the wrong decision? My uninformed opinion (I don't take my opinion from the Mail or Sun) is yes. Do I think Theresa May is stupid? I very much doubt it.

naomi24

Jake, a bit of an over-reaction there – not to say a little alarmist. If laws are detrimental to the security of this country, then they should be robustly challenged – and changed.

emmie

no i don't think she is stupid either. Of course she takes these matters seriously, of course she has to abide by the rule laid down. No one takes matters in their own hands, though the general public would like him gone from our shores. There are things she can and cannot do, just like everyone in life, it's a sad thing that we have others telling us what we can and cannot do on our shores. As others have pointed out, the French do not seem to have such scruples, if they want their undesirables gone, job done. No one wants a lawless society, nor indeed to rendition those we don't care for, but in the case of this man, he has and is a major threat to Britain, and should never have been allowed to make a mockery of our justice system. All as others pointed out, at the taxpayers expense.
and if he languishes longer in Britain it just racks up the costs, and more delaying tactics by his lawyers.

Gromit

The Home Secretary's job is to protect us all. She is responsible for Policing, National Security and the Secret Servoces. The job requires great competency, and unfortunately she has not displayed that. In fact she has shown she is incompetent and has made the Government a laughing stock.

Her timing was also particularly bad, but that may hold a clue as to why the Home Secretary was so hasty and jumped the gun too early. The Government have had a terrible month and the Conservatives have been plummeting in the polls as a result. They needed something to distract from that and something to boost their fortunes as the Local Elections approach. But in her hurry to arrest and deport Qatada and to quickly reap a bit of 'feel good factor' she flunked it.

She snatched defeat from the jaws of victory - all because she was eager to help avoid a humiliation at the polls for her Party.

She will probably go in the reshuffle.