Posts Tagged ‘Passport Office’
The Despicable and Diabolical Home Office. Our National Shame. Designed By Theresa May.
No other British institution is responsible for causing more harm to its own citizens and responsibility for its course in recent years is entirely down to Theresa May. When she first entered government in 2010 she established a culture that truly defines the ‘nasty party’. Even, in her own words, deliberately creating a “hostile environment” for immigrants. The Home Office is hostile towards many sections of our society and it is completely misguided. Instead of supporting and assisting the British people, it is always more concerned about imposing and enforcing its diktat.
The Home Office has to tread a difficult path between protecting the rights of citizens and enforcing the laws that define British society. For far too long, under both Conservative and Labour governments it has acted in a high handed and authoritarian manner. Everything that Theresa May has done has been to increase this and, as the present Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, said in the House of Commons yesterday, it has been “too concerned with policy and strategy, and sometimes lost sight of the individual”. In fact, this is completely deliberate and is the central ethos that defines the Home Office’s work.
It is the horrendous treatment of the Windrush generation that seems to have finally brought this reality into public awareness. People who came here as children, mostly from the West Indies, accompanying their parents who had been persuaded to come here to the ‘mother country’ because after the war we faced a desperate labour shortage. These people re-built Britain. They are as much stalwarts of our society as anyone whose ancestors were born here. It is impossible to overstate how dreadful and unforgivable the Home Office’s treatment of them has been.
There have already been calls for resignations over this scandal and in a just world it would be Theresa May to go first. There must be also be dismissals of Home Office civil servants. Anyone who has been prepared to pursue this disgusting policy without objection is simply not fit to be in public service. Their mind set and conscience is not of the standard we require.
But this is Theresa May’s responsibility. Her style of government is secretive, authoritarian, dismissive of public opinion and everything is played very close to her chest and as much behind closed doors as she can get away with. Her dictatorial, micro-managerial style at the Home Office is continuing in her role as PM and I believe it is unsustainable for the leader of our country. We need far more openness, interest in the people and a desire to inform rather than to conceal. I consider that Theresa May is incapable of these qualities.
She is the would-be promoter of thought crime, intensive snooping, censorship, rigid and inflexible laws, suppression of dissent, severe punishments and, as she has already demonstrated with asylum seekers, locking people up without trial. Her record on immigration, policing, drugs policy, the Passport Office, asylum, the Snooper’s Charter, the Border Force, her general authoritarian, secretive attitudes – she does not represent British values at all, only her own self-serving philosophy.
Theresa May is not a true Tory. The most important, fundamental Conservative principles are individual liberty, individual responsibility and small government. Mrs May is in opposition to these values, she is an Authoritarian Bureaucrat. All her polices are about a bigger state, interfering more and more with our freedoms, micro-managing every aspect of our lives, just as she did at the Home Office. Yet every single one of her policies has been a failure.
Mrs May has turned the government of Britain into government by her Home Office culture. Her successor, Amber Rudd is virtually a clone of herself and every Home Office minister seems to be cast from her mould: intolerant, careless of evidence and autocratic in style. It is government of and by the Authoritarian Bureaucrat and against the individual. Her position as PM is protected by the chaotic management of Brexit which she has overseen and a complete lack of any successor in the Conservative Party. I doubt that the terrible abuse of the Windrush generation is enough to bring her down but as the local elections approach it will be one of many factors which are leading inevitably to the wholesale rejection of her and her party by the electorate.
Our Police Are Under-Resourced To Deal With Radicalisation And Theresa May Is Responsible.
It is clear that the instigators of the Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge attacks were known to the authorities but the police simply do not have the resources to monitor these people as necessary. Since 2010, Theresa May has been responsible for this and she has failed.
This is another in a long and familiar line of failures. Given the tragedies of the last fortnight, surely it should cost Mrs May the election? A terrible, incompetent campaign along with her record on immigration, policing, drugs policy, the Passport Office, asylum, the Snooper’s Charter, the Border Force, her general authoritarian, secretive attitudes – surely this must be the end for her?
I fear not. Although I am a Conservative on principle, Mrs May has been soundly and deservedly defeated in this election campaign. Her record, her wobbly policies, her charmless, insincere style must lose her votes.
She is no leader, she is a bureaucrat with deeply puritan, authoritarian instincts. She is no prime minister for Britain in the 21st century. But it still seems she will be slithering back into Downing Street, just like the snake that, apparently, most people choose as her animal avatar.
I do not want to see a Corbyn-led socialist government and I think there is little chance of that but Mrs May must be defeated. At all costs the Conservative Party must find a new and credible leader. The future of Britain depends on it.
The Best Election Outcome Is A Tory Government With A Weakened Theresa May.
I cannot vote to support Theresa May. I could vote for my local Conservative candidate but Mrs May has made this election all about herself and she is not a true Tory.
Although I shall remain a member of the Conservative Party, I shall not vote for it. If voting tactically was relevant in my constituency I would have no difficulty in voting Labour or Liberal Democrat in order to weaken Mrs May but it would make no difference, so I shall abstain by spoiling my ballot paper.
Theresa May is not a true Tory. the most important, fundamental Conservative principles are individual liberty, individual responsibility and small government. Mrs May is in opposition to these values, she is an Authoritarian Bureaucrat. All her polices are about a bigger state, interfering more and more with our freedoms, micro-managing every aspect of our lives, just as she did at the Home Office. Yet every single one of her policies has been a failure.
Immigration has been a disaster. Since 2010 she has failed entirely to control this most divisive of issues. It is at the root of Brexit and behind a large part of the conflict in our society. Mrs May has simultaneously allowed us to be ‘swamped’ by economic migrants and implemented some of the most horrific human rights violations against genuine refugees. Her failure to provide sanctuary for those fleeing Syria brings everlasting shame on Britain.
Policing is such a disaster that it is impossible to get any attention to a burglary, car theft, online fraud or harassment. Almost any crime short of being stabbed in the street is ignored. Meanwhile the division between police and the community grows ever wider. We never see policemen except speeding by in a car. The police canteen culture and a corrupt complaints system has encouraged terrible negligence, failing to protect children against grooming, failing to create a safe environment where young people do not feel they have to carry knives.
Drugs policy is a scandal with the highest ever rate of deaths by overdoses, stupid legislation like the Psychoactive Substances Act which has massively increased the harm of Spice. The ban on khat promoting crime and racial division for a policy that has nothing to do with evidence. The deeply cruel and anti-science policy of denying access to medicinal cannabis and the idiocy of gifting the wider £6 billion cannabis market to organised crime.
Remember the Passport Office chaos? Remember the racist billboard vans telling migrants to go home? Remember the deal advising Saudi Arabia, a brutal, oppressive, medieval regime, on policing? Remember Mrs May banning the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women from visiting Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre? The appalling rejection of asylum claims from Afghan heroes who had acted as interpreters for British troops? The proliferation of CCTV, making us the most snooped-on people in a so-called democracy in the world? The repeated, insistent bullying and intolerant imposition of the Snooper’s Charter despite opposition from all sections of our society? The exclusion of controversial speakers from entering the UK on no grounds except that Mrs May disagrees with them? The total, unmitigated, inexcusable disaster that is everything to do with the Border Force?
The triggering of Article 5o is the only successful policy that Theresa May has had anything to do with. It made best use of her talents: we needed someone stubborn, obstinate, pig-headed, intransigent and incapable of listening to get that job done in the face of the anti-democratic Remainers.
If the Liberal Democrats didn’t have this stupid, illiberal, anti-democratic policy on Brexit I’d be voting for them on 8th June. However, there is no party other than the Conservatives with a credible set of policies to govern Britain – but Mrs May is the weakest link. She needs to step aside after the election and make way for a real leader, someone who actually believes in Brexit, in Britain as a world leader in liberty, justice and freedom.
What Exactly Is Theresa May Doing?
Is she totally preoccupied with Brexit – but unable to tell us anything?
Is she fretting about her personal stake in the child abuse inquiry – a total, utter shambles?
Is she powerfully representing Britain to the new US president – or more concerned about losing influence to Nigel Farage?
Is she making decisions on crucial strategic issues like HS2, London airport expansion or our housing crisis?
Is there any realistic strategy for the NHS or for funding social care for an aging population?
In such turbulent times what we need is competence and radical leadership. That’s what we got back in 1979 when we had our last woman prime minister and it transformed our country. It’s not what we’ve got now.
Theresa May was always a bad choice. Her record at the Home Office was appalling. The only thing she achieved there was to stay in post for six years. She was a closet Remainer who was too sly to commit herself to either side of the referendum.
If immigration was a key factor behind Brexit then she was the minister who utterly failed to control our borders. There was chaos at the Passport Office and the Border Force. Some of the injustices and inhumanity around immigration remind me of what we used to read about the USSR. Her drugs policy has been an unmitigated disaster with the highest ever rate of drug overdose deaths, the explosion of NPS and the cruel, anti-evidence denial of access to medicinal cannabis. She has also been demonstrated to be corrupt with a deliberate attempt to falsify the Home Office report on ‘International Drug Comparators’, which showed that tougher sentences make no difference to drug use and harms.
For reasons I have already explained, I resigned from the Liberal Democrats and joined the Conservative Party shortly before the referendum. If there had been a leadership election, I wouldn’t have been entitled to a vote but I certainly wouldn’t have chosen Ms May, Michael Gove would have been my first choice.
How and why did she become prime minister? I think she appeared to be the safe choice for the Conservative Party. She was definitely the short term easy choice and she assumed office by acclamation without any vote. That made the whole transition very easy for the country at a very difficult time – and for the Conservative Party
I was impressed with her first few weeks. She chose the right words, struck the right tone and gave the impression of a powerful leader, something Britain desperately needs. Even I, as someone who has fought against her drugs policy ever since she became Home Secretary, was prepared to give her a chance. But it’s unravelling already. She seems to want to do everything behind closed doors. Her public performances seem more about point scoring than dealing with real issues. The vision she expressed about a country that works for everyone simply isn’t reflected in the reality of what she does. No, she is no Margaret Thatcher. She’s not even a poor imitation.
What exactly is she doing and what exactly do we think she will achieve?
Home Secretary’s Refusal Of Orgreave Inquiry Is Brazen Cover-Up Of Police Corruption.
Amber Rudd is following faithfully in Theresa May’s footsteps by spurning evidence in her role as Home Secretary.
With such powerful prima facie evidence of organised police violence and systematic collusion over their witness statements, it is vital to justice and the rule of law that an inquiry is held. If Ms Rudd doesn’t have the courage to support this then she is not acting in accordance with the purpose of her office. That would mean she is corrupt, so I fervently hope she will do the right thing and reverse this dreadful decision.
Orgreave 1984
There is no doubt that in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, corruption was endemic within British police forces. Other than general trend in society towards more openness I’m not sure we can be certain there has been much improvement. My perception is that trust in the police is at an all time low and while there are many ‘good cops’, established practices, such as the police complaints system, are still deeply flawed and embed bias and cover-up. The number of deaths following ‘police contact’ and no officers ever held to account is a national scandal.
I remain very impressed with Theresa May’s leadership since she was appointed PM but it is a myth that this was after a successful period as Home Secretary. The only ‘success’ she achieved was to remain in post for six years but disasters with immigration, the Border Force, the Passport Office and virtually everything the Home Office touched tell a different story. Her drugs strategy has now been proven as a public health catastrophe with the highest rate of drug overdose deaths since records began and evidence-free bigotry defining policy, particularly on medicinal cannabis where the UK is now a third world country.
If the Home Office and the police are to regain the trust and respect of the British people, Amber Rudd needs to start making her own mark and not by following meekly in Theresa May’s kitten heels. Neither of them are pussy cats and that’s not what we want. We want strength, integrity, compassion and honour, that is what Ms Rudd must strive for.
Peter Reynolds 