Political Police

An editorial in Liberator, the happily-ignored voice of those activists who still think Liberal Democrat has something to do with being liberal or democratic, has registered incredulity at the management decision not to put up candidates for election as police commissioners, even in places where the London Haystack isn't already ruling by decree. "Is this really the party that was prepared to stand up for civil liberty throughout the New Labour years," demands the editorial, "but which now has nothing to say on how voters are policed or how the police behave?" Oh, Nicky, our Leader, say it ain't so!

Officially, the line is that policing should not be treated as a "political football", which doubtless explains why the Deputy Conservatives supported the idea of having elected commissioners in the first place. The leadership has expressed a preference for independent candidates, since these are, like the police themselves, apolitical by definition. It is quite possible that the Deputy Conservatives' tactics derive simply from the fact that they don't have any money; but the party may also see it as an opportunity to get back into protest-vote territory by entering opportunistic alliances with whoever looks to be in the market for another sell-out. In any case, it is rather touching to find that, even after all this time, some of the Deputy Conservatives' few remaining dupes still have it in them to be shocked at their leadership's conduct.