We, the Renditionisers

Four former Home Secretaries, including fans of torture, ID cards and three-month periods of detention without trial, have ganged up on Daveybloke's flexible fag to try and persuade him towards yet another flip-flop. A letter to the Murdoch Times urging more national security has been signed by Jack Straw, David Blunkett, Alan Johnson and the self-basting Thatcherite batrachian Kenneth Baker, and includes the delightful line: "We find it odd that many critics of the bill prefer to champion the rights of corporations over democratically accountable law enforcement agencies", which is surely on a par with George W Bush's famous gag about preserving, protecting and defending the constitution of the United States. The Deputy Conservative leader is of course notoriously susceptible to the blandishments of corrupt right-wing bullies, but it is as yet unclear whether the present charming cabal will have much of an impact. It isn't 2010 any more, and opposition to the snoopers' charter is one of only two major Liberal Democrat principles (the other being their opposition to cutting Europe off from the mainland) that remain to be sold out.