Two Cheers for Theresa May and her Passport Fiasco

The obvious thing to be said about the pilot programme run amok that “loosened” border controls at a number of busy UK airports this summer is that said programme was both rational and reasonable. Obviously one is not supposed to say this and instead concentrate on the thousands of terrorists and other nasties who will have been “let in” to Britain as a result of the failure to “read” every “chip” embedded in every passport. Shockingly, officials were told that school parties and kids travelling with their parents probably wouldn’t need the same level of scrutiny as other, more probably malevolent, types.

A useful rule for modern politics: when the opposition (of whatever party) starts squawking about “security” being “compromised” you can usually reckon that you’re dealing with trumped-up hysteria. Mrs May has been undone by another iron law: never ever tell truths everyone knows are true but that you’re never supposed to admit to being true.

Still, since British terrorists and assorted other criminals and nasties can travel pretty freely in europe without their passports being checked it’s courteous to afford the same facilities to their counterparts from our european neighbours.