That sinking feeling
Admiral Lord West, the UK’s security minister, is fast developing into a national treasure. After first saying that he was ‘not totally convinced’ it was necessary to increase the 28-day pre-charge detention limit for terrorist suspects but after a little chat with the PM declaring an hour later that he was now thus convinced, and then contradicting the head of MI5 by saying that the terrorist threat against Britain would soon be ‘steadily declining’ and that Britain’s counter-terrorism defences were ‘ahead of all countries in the world on the protection front’, he came up with the following yesterday in a House of Lords debate on the impact of the electronic border on the British Isles common travel area:
My Lords, we are maintaining the common travel area, which is recognised by the EU. We are applying a sensible way forward to identify the loophole that existed of people moving in through the Republic of Ireland, into Northern Ireland and then travelling across to the United Kingdom.Whoops! Northern Ireland is of course part of the United Kingdom, a fact over which loyalists and Republicans have been at war -- endangering the security of the province and the UK -- for so many years. As Lord Trimble was quick to point out:
My Lords, does the Minister not realise that, when he spoke a moment ago of travelling from Northern Ireland to the United Kingdom, he demonstrated clearly his lack of understanding of the basic concept?
Lord West of Spithead: My Lords, it was a slip. I certainly understand it. As I said, I have served in Northern Ireland. It was rather like the slip that people make when they forget that the United Kingdom is in Europe. It is a slip that is made sometimes.