Forgive and Forget

The Minister for Deportations, Liam Byrne, who despite being a father of three is "regarded as intelligent and ambitious" in the voice of the always useful Pressman's Passive, has been fined for talking on his mobile telephone while driving. Byrne, whose first name is a mirror image of the paper he seeks most to please, has undergone a "torrid week". On Monday the high court claimed, against all rational evidence, that the Government cannot deport whoever it damn well pleases just to get a favourable headline from the scumbag press; and on Tuesday Byrne was forced to concede that the public is "right" to expect the Government to have some idea of how many people there are in the country who might need throwing out. Today's torrid climax to the torridity of the week was virtually surpassed in torridity when Jacqui Smith "gave him her support", though it is not clear whether her support for those who deport foreigners is worth quite as much as her unequivocal backing for those who blow their heads off. Smith noted that the summary execution of Jean Charles de Menezes was "tragic", by which she presumably meant politically unfortunate; but said that the context should not be forgotten. "On July 7 2005, 52 people died in [suicide bombings in] London," she said. "On July 21, four potential suicide bombers also threatened the lives of Londoners, and on July 22, the Metropolitan police were chasing people at large in order to protect Londoners", something they could hardly be expected to do in a competent fashion just because that's what they're paid for. Similarly, the context of Liam Byrne's mobile telephone conversation came out in mitigation of his unreserved apology to the court: he was "taking an important call on a deportation matter at the time". Surely it is appropriate now to draw a line under this tragic episode and allow this well-intentioned if all too torridly human guardian of our nation's way of life continue to do his duty.