Thursday, May 18, 2006

'Vast bulk' of foreign prisoners to be deported after sentence, Blair says

Blair's lunge to right, in an attempt to divert attention away from calls for him to step down, continued apace yesterday; when he added a promise - to deport "the vast bulk" of foreign prisoners after their sentences, regardless of the threat they face in their home countries - to his already perplexing promises to sign a petition supporting testing on animals and to renew Britain's commitment to nuclear energy. Now he continues his assault on the very Human Rights Act that he enacted through Parliament.

If we don't stop talking about a timetable for him to step down I fully expect him to reintroduce hanging and public flogging before the week is through.

The prime minister upped the ante by telling the Commons: "There will be an automatic presumption to deport and the vast bulk of those people will be deported. And those people, in my view, should be deported irrespective of any claim that they have that the country to which they are going back may not be safe.

Leaving aside the fact that what he is saying is illegal under European law, he is now holding up the prospect that foreign prisoners could be deported for crimes as inconsequential as giving a false name whilst travelling on British trains without a valid ticket.

Other imprisonable offences in this country include shoplifting, owning a dog which is dangerously out of control, stealing electricity and others too ludicrous to ever contemplate that they could possibly warrant someone's deportation.

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said Mr Blair was being "disingenuous". "I don't actually believe that they are going to change the law so that foreign criminals - let's say somebody who is locked up for not paying a fine - are then sent abroad to be executed by a repressive state," he told BBC Radio 4's PM programme. The European court of human rights has ruled against deportation where individuals might face death or torture.

At prime minister's questions David Cameron, the Tory leader, said Mr Blair was "rattled" in the wake of the foreign prisoner controversy and the admission on Tuesday by Dave Roberts, director of enforcement and removals in the immigration and nationality directorate, that he hadn't "the faintest idea" how many illegal immigrants were in Britain.

"Two weeks ago the prime minister said automatic deportation would apply to any foreign national convicted of a criminal offence," Mr Cameron said. "Last week he said it would apply to those actually in prison. This week the home secretary said automatic deportation would only apply to foreign nationals serving a significant jail term. We've gone from 'all prisoners', to 'all significant prisoners', and now we've got the 'vast bulk'. He's just making it up as you go along."

I'm staggered to find myself agreeing with David Cameron, but the truth is that Blair is making this up as he goes along.

Perhaps, since this lunge to the far right is only happening since we all started being fiendish and demanding that he steps down, we should consider simply appointing Tony as President for Life.

It's a radical step I know, but it might be preferable to having to walk past guillotines in Osterley Park.

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