Issue 142

Blair Shuffles His Pack

08th May 2006

Charles Clarke has been sacked from his job as Home Secretary in a reshuffle by Tony Blair following bad local election results on 4 May.

It emerged in the week leading up to the elections that 1,023 foreign prisoners have been released from prison without being considered for deportation between 1999 and March 2006. In the ten months that Charles Clarke was notified of the problem, 288 further foreign prisoners were been released.

Following the revelations, Clarke was under immediate pressure to explain and perhaps resign.

Thirteen prisoners were convicted of serious crimes such as murder, manslaughter, rape and child sex offences. Other foreign prisoners were convicted of crimes including drug trafficking offences, forgery, robbery, deception & violence.

At sentencing, judges recommended deportation in 160 cases but it is unknown whether any of them were actually deported. It has emerged that at least five prisoners have re-offended since being released, while 63 of the 79 foreign prisoners convicted of the most serious crimes are now going to be removed from the country. The five foreign prisoners who have been convicted since release have been convicted of offences relating to drugs, violent disorder and inflicting bodily harm. Two others have also been accused of rape though one case has been dropped due to lack of evidence and the other case is still awaiting trial.

The National Audit Office published a report in July 2005 warning that preparation to deport foreign prisoners should begin “earlier”. Previous reports in 2001 and 2003 also highlighted the deportation problem. Charles Clarke knew about the extent of the crisis three weeks before he told Tony Blair on 21 April 2006.

Clarke had been hanging on to his job, despite repeated calls for his resignation by opposition parties. However, despite being assured just days previously in Prime Minister’s Questions that he would keep his job, Clarke will now return to the back benches.

Dr John Reid will now take on the Home Office brief, as part of a wide reshuffle.

Jack Straw has been demoted from the Foreign Office to be Leader of the House of Commons. He will be replaced by the current Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett.

John Prescott has lost his departmental responsibility as the Deputy Prime Minister, although he will retain the title. Ruth Kelly takes over his brief, and her role as Education Secretary will be filled by Alan Johnson, currently a Trade and Industry minister.

Patricia Hewitt looks set to keep her job as Health Secretary, despite being heckled by nurses at several conferences in recent days, and redundancies in the NHS in recent weeks.

Emilia Davies