Diane Abbott’s career has been one of gaffes and support for fringe causes — she’s not right for Home Office
Danger Diane
IF the Manchester tragedy has any impact on the Election, we hope it will be to remind voters that the first job of a government is protecting its people.
And it speaks volumes that the person Jeremy Corbyn has entrusted with meeting that responsibility is Diane Abbott.
Her political career has been one of embarrassing gaffes and support for all manner of fringe causes.
It simply isn’t acceptable for a future Home Secretary to defend statements like “every defeat of the British state is a victory for all of us” by making jokes about her haircut.
And it’s astonishing that she should stick up for the IRA and other terrorist organisations by saying they’re seen as freedom fighters in their home countries.
From calling for MI5 to be disbanded, to voting against outlawing terror groups, to wanting to wipe the DNA database, Ms Abbott has consistently opposed government efforts to protect Brits from terror atrocities.
Now she believes she’s the best person to run the Home Office because she spent a few years in the building on a trainee scheme.
Like her uncosted, unclear promise of more police officers, and that excruciating radio interview which exposed the idiocy behind such pledges, this is another example of the fantasy land Labour is living in.
The job of Home Secretary is not a bauble Corbyn can hand to one of his closest political allies.
It is a role of enormous responsibility, requiring the office-holder to make serious and sober judgements on life or death issues, particularly about the threat of terror.
That person must not be Diane Abbott.
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Anti-social net
WHEN it comes to playing their part in the global fight against terror, it cannot be acceptable for the social media giants to hide behind “privacy” as an excuse for holding back info.
Security Minister Ben Wallace hits the nail on the head when he calls these multi-billion dollar companies “duplicitous”.
As he rightly points out, they think nothing of selling their user data to the highest bidder if it means boosting profits, but then protest about privacy freedoms when the police or security services request similar access.
Encryption and the protection of truculent internet companies has been a boon to terrorist networks such as ISIS, now able to plot Manchester-type attacks in almost total secrecy.
Struggling to take down the huge volumes of extremist content is one thing.
But not cooperating with our security services to help combat terror is simply unforgivable.