Mullin on Cameron

Tuesday, 17th March 2009

I've been reading Chris Mullin's entertaining diaries and was interested to be reminded that David Cameron was a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, chaired by Mullin. The Tory leader doesn't feature often in the diaries, but here's what Mullin has to say:

November 15, 2001: "We have an impressive new Tory on the committee - David Cameron, a young, bright libertarian* who can be relied upon to follow his own instincts rather than the party line."
April 9th, 2002: "More than once, when we reached an impasse, David Cameron came to the rescue. The more I see of him, the more I like. He's bright, personable and refreshingly open-minded. No doubt he'll soon be whisked away to the Tory front bench."

Of course, not following the Tory party line in 2001/002 was eminently sensible given that said line was leading to the party to fresh disasters. Still, this is quietly reassuring given that Mullin, however much one might disagree with much of his politics, is an independent-minded figure himself. That is to say that in politics the quality of the complimenter matters just as much as the quality of the compliment itself.

*UPDATE: That Chris Mullin might think Cameron a libertarian doesn't necessarily establish Cameron's libertarian bona fides. Still, back then Cameron was interested in reforming our drug laws...

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Kevyn Bodman

March 17th, 2009 1:20pm Report this comment

Cameron 'a young,bright libertarian'?
And yet we've heard lttle,almost nothing from him about repealing the Labour legislation that has done so much to restrict our liberties.

I am immensely disappointed that Cameron has so signally failed to promise that an incoming Conservative government will stop and reverse the encroachment into our liberties by the state.

Steve.W

March 17th, 2009 3:11pm Report this comment

KB – Can I assume you mean ID cards and the database that will support it? I see you also have an interest in e-borders. Don't forget Galileo and there's so much else to come. Sadly few people seem interested in this. Remember when Tony Blair was a bright young thing?

C Powell

March 17th, 2009 5:43pm Report this comment

Kevyn: I agree. Depressing isn't it. I thought that after ID cards and all the other pernicious nonsense Labour has enacted, nothing could upset me any more but now I see that we will have to ask permission to leave the country and give all our details to officials so that the half a million people in the civil service who will have access to our information can burgle our houses to their hearts' content. Permission to leave the country FFS!! Have we turned into East Germany when I wasn't looking? What if I have to fly at a moment's notice to a relative's funeral in Italy (and I've had to do this in the past because at least in my family funerals take place within 24 hours of death)? Or will I be able to escape free because I had the foresight to get an Irish passport? And if these rules apply only to English citizens not other EU nationals, how can it be legal?

And why haven't we heard anything from Grayling on this (other than some pathetic bleating about it not being necessary to keep all this information, as if that was the real issue!).

This is how Britain as a free country ends, not with a bang (or possibly also with that, given the number of Muslim loonies we're letting into the country) but with a whimper, staring across the sea....

Steve.W

March 18th, 2009 6:43pm Report this comment

Kevyn Bodman & C Powell – In 24hrs only we three seem interested in ID cards and the civil liberties loss that will follow the introduction of the scheme. Why is this subject ignored unlike the waffle of PMQs?