Simple explanation

Will Jacqui Smith go? The BBC thinks now, and I (for once) agree with them.

Their logic is that she hasn’t committed enough of a gaffe that she will go entirely; she may go from the Home Office but she won’t go entirely.

My thinking is that she has committed several gaffes big enough to justify her going, to whit:

  • The stealing of money from the public and dressing it up as accidentally claiming things on expenses;
  • Being delusional about people wanting an ID card;
  • Wanting an ID card;
  • Calling in the police to deal with a party political issue;
  • Pushing Parliament to get rid of habeas corpus;
  • Drugs policy reversals.

And those are just the ones that come to mind immediately.

But still, I don’t think that she’ll go, for three reasons.

  1. Under Gordon Brown, being inept, money-grabbing and thuggish is not enough to get you out of office. No, you only go if you are disloyal or a threat to Brown; Smith is both loyal and no risk at all.
  2. Smith is very likely to lose her seat at the next election; she has nothing to lose by being a lightning rod for accusations of sleaze and ineptitude.
  3. While the current crop of bastards in government are dumb, but are any of them dumb enough to take the reigns of a department that has seen off John Reid, Charles Clarke and David Blunkett?

So, unfortunately, we’re stuck with the muppet for the foreseeable. Which is a shame.

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