“Could have been worse”. The Starmer government political epitaph

I’m not making a party political point here

As an old Comms professional, I just think that government Comms should at least be competent

Useful primer by @houseofcommons.parliament.uk library on the whole issue of prisoners released in error

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/prisoners-re...

There are many, quite mundane, reasons why prisoners might be released in error, I told BBC Verify

“No number of cell checks will help you identify the error”, I said, if the prison is unaware that a mistake had been made

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cl...

In short:

* The government department responsible for the courts
* headed by the Lord Chancellor, David Lammy, who has a legal responsibility to uphold the rule of law

appears openly to be flouting the law and dismissing what the Prime Minister told parliament

Extraordinary

Today The Times reports that the Ministry of Justice “has no plans to move biologically male criminals from a women’s jail despite the Supreme Court ruling that single-sex institutions must be based on biology”

www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

In politics, as in other walks of life, what we tolerate tends to become the norm

The current norm in relation to prisons, and criminal justice more generally, is terrible

Perhaps it’s time for us to work for a new one

And while we should always have high expectations of our political leaders, I wonder whether we should also be better at making our expectations of them clearer

We should not be self-censoring in our criticism for fear of being consigned to the naughty step

But he didn’t. And there lies the problem

If senior politicians are not prepared to say what needs to be said, loud and clear, in public, should we be surprised that systems change in our prisons and wider criminal justice system is so difficult to achieve?

I feel uncomfortable writing this

Lord Timpson is someone who appears to care about prisons and prisoners

Had he said what he thought, rather than what the government message grid demanded, he would probably have given a better speech

After that, his speech degenerated into the kind of routine Ministry of Justice talking points familiar to anyone who has had to sit through a ministerial address

It was a missed opportunity

The prisons minister, Lord Timpson, gave the keynote address

His speech fell some distance short of what the occasion demanded

He started well enough, talking about the awfulness of Zahid Mubarek’s murder and praising the impressive work of the Trust set up in his memory

Sobering because, 25 years on from Zahid Mubarek’s murder in Feltham by a racist cell mate, racism remains an ever-present stain and reality in the prison system

Uplifting because the passion and commitment, including from some impressive young activists, is strong

Earlier this week I attended an event marking the 25th anniversary of the murder of Zahid Mubarek

Organised by the Zahid Mubarek Trust, set up by family members to honour his memory, it was an excellent event

It was both uplifting and sobering

If the government doesn’t ensure “a systematic look at what’s gone wrong”, and act on recommendations, “then I suspect it won’t be long before we have another of these kinds of incidents”

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Yep