Trouble looming on the Home Affairs front for the Tories

One of the features of the Tory party now is that there is no defining split. But there are plenty of areas of difference. One, as Baeghot notes in his write-up of yesterday’s Convention on Modern Liberty, is on where the balance on civil liberties should be struck.

Bagehot reports that:

“Mr Grieve was obliged to admit that he wasn’t absolutely sure what “fewer rights, more wrong”, a new slogan from Chris Grayling, the latest shadow home secretary, had meant.”

Grieve must surely have realised that he was going to be asked about this new line from Grayling given the subject of the conference, so it is surprising that he did not have an answer ready. It is, perhaps, an indicator of future rows to come. Splitting Home and Justice means that there are some inevitable areas of tension. When you add to that the very different personalities of Grayling and Grieve and the different priorities they have, it seems awfully close to being a recipe for trouble.