Radio Wales
April 14th, 2005Up with the larks and on to the radio – Radio Wales have asked me to participate in a crime panel with other party spokesmen. I participate via the live link from BBC Radio Swindon. It is always difficult when the presenter is in a different studio from you. On this occasion, the presenter allowed things to develop as the Alun Michael show.
Alun Michael is a not exactly a household name, but in Wales he is remembered as a former Welsh Secretary and then as the first “First Secretary†of the National Assembly. Sadly for him, his tenure was short and undistinguished. He then re-joined the government (at Minister of State level) and drove the hunting ban through the Commons. Mr. Michael was asked to comment about the ricin terrorist. He airily dismissed any link with Labour’s shambolic asylum system, despite the fact that his boss, Home Secretary Charles Clarke, had conceded that there were problems with asylum enforcement! None of the rest of us was asked to comment, and the presenter breezily moved on.
Things got worse. I was told by the presenter that the Tories were claiming that cannabis was the cause of crime, and that we were playing on people’s fears with our poster about people on early release. People may share this point of view, and a debate can be engaged, but my
problem was that Mr. Michael was treated as if he was of special status.
Unfair.
