Reid Shows His Mettle

The new home secretary showed exactly why Tony Blair picked him to run the most troubled department in the governement yesterday in a startling appearance before a committee of MPs.
The home affairs select committee questioned John Reid for over two hours, but the former communist and Labour insider emerged unscathed.
He is often characterised as a political bruiser, and so it was not suprising that he attacked his own department as unfit for purpose. There was no attempt to cover the backs of Jack Straw, David Blunkett and Charles Clarke.
There was severe criticism and threats of sacking for the civil servants who have overseen this shambles.
Reid announced a range of proposals, all of which seem to be a gate-closing exercise - somewhat late given the horse has bolted, along with hundreds of serious foreign prisoners.
So much for ministerial responsibility and not attacking civil servants who cannot defend themselves.
It was a typically wise tactical move from John Reid. He has lanced the boil, admitted the depth of the problem at the Home Office and demonstrated that a hardman is needed to go in there and bump heads together.
If Reid can get a grip on the Home Office, all that talk about him as an alternative to Gordon Brown may not seem so fanciful.