The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has misled Parliament

The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has misled Parliament

According to Jacqui Smith her dilemma was;

'What should I do about it?' versus 'What should I say about it?'.

"Concerns were first raised in April by the Border and Immigration Agency, after it found 44 illegals working for a security company, including 12 who were guarding locations for the Metropolitan Police".

So, the Home Office was aware at least as early as April of this year that some illegal immigrants were working as security guards. In May 2007, John Reid announced his intention to resign from the post of Home Secretary and the Cabinet when Tony Blair left office, and stated he planned to return to the Labour backbenches. Jacqui Smith was appointed Home Secretary in Gordon Brown's first Cabinet reshuffle of 28 June 2007. The next day there was the failed terrorist attack in London, and the day after that the bit more successful terrorist attack at Glasgow Airport. I think it is quite reasonable during these incidents not to drag skeletons out of the cupboard.

However, I think that the Guardian is being rather too generous to talk about Jacqui Smith being informed within weeks of her taking up her post. I would argue that she was informed within days. If she was not briefed heads would roll. Quite apart from that, there is this "On July 2, the SIA introduced a new check on the immigration status of all non-Europeans applying for a licence to work as a security guard, resulting in the rejection of 740 out of 32,500 applicants since that date". It is clear evidence that the Home Office was already addressing the question of 'What should I do about it?'. It is obvious that the revelation is politically embarrassing. It is equally obvious that the Home Office sought to cover this up. And the evidence is contained in the emails published by the Daily Mail. So, we come to Jacqui Smith's second question 'What should I say about it?'. The advice she received said "say nothing". She followed this advice until the emails were leaked, and as Jeremy Paxman put it on Newsnight, "She was dragged kicking and screaming to make her statement in the House of Commons".

In my view, Jacqui Smith has misled Parliament and the public with the false either or questions. True, the Home Office may not know the scale of the problem. However, given the protecting the public policy the problem should not have occurred in the first place. It is sidestepping the issue to blame private security firms, although I find it incredible that part of the employment process did not include a 10 year checkable work history as standard. The fact remains that the Home Office has driven a coach and horses through its own security policy and breached security. As the minister responsible is Jacqui Smith she must resign.