Harman's last hurrah
James Forsyth 10:54am
Today is Harriet Harman’s last PMQs as acting Labour leader. I suspect that
Harman, who has performed far better than people expected she would, might well go on the story in The Times this morning about how the coalition is cutting a review into how rape cases are handled
to save money.
Immediately after the coalition was formed, Harman had considerable success at PMQs pressing David Cameron on the coalition agreement’s commitment to granting anonymity to rape suspects, something that had made it into the coalition agreement by mistake. If Harman went with the shelving of the rape review today, she would again put Cameron on the back foot. This cut also plays into Labour’s alarmist rhetoric about how the cuts are dangerous and will put people at risk.
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alexsandr
September 15th, 2010 11:16am Report this commentRape is an incredibly hard thing to prove as most rapes take place with no witnesses. You can prove intercourse has occurred, but how do you prove if consent has taken place.
The idea that we should increase convictions by lowering the burden of proof is dangerous, exposing men to false allegations.
Alan Edwards
September 15th, 2010 11:24am Report this commentBecause Harman performed better than a cow pat does not mean it was successful. She carried on the Labour spin, which everyone in the country sees through and is sick to death of. Harman champions media causes which exist for the benefit of the media and has no credibility in any of the areas.
Chuck Unsworth
September 15th, 2010 11:37am Report this commentHarman is bound to do this. But Cameron does not have to be on the back foot. All he has to do is ask her to tell us where the money is, so that Harman's favourite project(s) can be adequately funded. After all, Liam Byrne doesn't seem to know where it all is. And a brief reminder that there have been thirteen years in which this 'review' could have taken place, naturally.
The crass assumption she makes is that all 'reviews' are effective, lead to change (i.e. yet more 'investment' of my money) or, indeed, 'improvements'. That is patently not so - as the Spending Review will shortly demonstrate.
What should happen as a matter of course is that every 'review' of policy or legislation should be supported with accurate forecasts of the likely costs of implementation. It's a great pity that dogmatic idealists like Harman are so lacking in pragmatism and commonsense. Still, we know where she lives.
Senor Frizby
September 15th, 2010 11:58am Report this commentPushing for naming and shaming over proper trial judicial process with any fairness. That is why she is nicknamed "Harm-The-Nation" and that is why most level headed people will be pleased to see the back of her.
ollie
September 15th, 2010 12:20pm Report this commentI disagree Harman was a success - she was just better than the unbalanced Brown. A very low bar indeed.
Nicholas
September 15th, 2010 1:39pm Report this commentHad to smile as I watched the group of bolshy and obese commies walk out of the TUC congress in protest when Mervyn King was speaking. Judging by the amount of blubber on their fat arses they are not being exploited and starved by cruel employers.
The camera panned round the hall as the commies laughed and cheered at their comrades "difficult" questions to Mr King. You could barely see their smug, fat, bolshy faces for the huge chips on their shoulders.
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