Evening Standard comment: A minister’s fall and a headache for the PM

The repercussions of Mrs Miller’s vicissitudes will be felt for some time yet
9 April 2014
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Maria Miller’s resignation, a day before the Easter recess and hours before Prime Minister’s Questions, is a concession to the inexorable law that if a scandal around a minister takes a week to dispel, then that minister must go. The now ex-Culture Secretary wrote in her letter to the Prime Minister that the controversy over her expenses had become “a distraction from the vital work this government is doing”, and it was.

Even though she had been exculpated of the main charge of paying for a home for her parents at taxpayers’ expense, her conduct recalled the least edifying elements of the 2009 expenses scandal, from which MPs’ credibility has barely recovered. And the extreme brevity of her apology to Parliament was the final straw, lacking the humility of her later statements of regret. Appearances matter, and Mrs Miller’s was not penitent enough.

Inevitably the Prime Minister’s standing has been damaged by his lukewarm support operation for her, even though it is fair to assume he had some hand in her eventual resignation. Still, it contributes to the impression of arrogance on the part of the Government and a distance from most people’s view of things. And indeed, weeks from important elections, backbenchers are right to be restive that this scandal has distracted from the Government’s achievements, including the improvements in the economy hailed yesterday by the IMF. Ministers can only be grateful for the recess.

Unfinished business remains for Mrs Miller’s successor, fast-rising Tory star Sajid Javid, not least the question of press regulation. And it is probably fair to say that the reports about the attempts of her aide Joanna Hindley to put pressure on the Daily Telegraph over its coverage of the story has reinforced the case for a free and independent media. The repercussions of Mrs Miller’s vicissitudes will be felt for some time yet.

The jihadis’ return

One of the growing problems raised by Syria’s civil war is the “blowback” to the West — notably in the form of jihadi terrorists returning to Britain, further radicalised by their experience in the conflict. The Home Secretary, Theresa May, has told MPs of 14 Muslim extremists who have had their passports seized in order to prevent their travelling to Syria and has spoken of extremists “in the low hundreds” with British passports who have travelled to take part in the conflict. Some of the would-be jihadis are, no doubt, motivated by sympathy for the human suffering in the conflict. Unfortunately there are many others who welcome the opportunity to fight on behalf of groups who are, in some cases, more extremist than al Qaeda.

The situation merits the recourse to drastic action such as the confiscation of passports and the prevention of individuals travelling into the country and the monitoring of terror suspects. We can be both alarmed and relieved by Mrs May’s revelation that there are several thousand extremists here who may be plotting terror: relieved because they are under surveillance and alarmed because there may be others of whom we are not aware. The fight against extremism takes many forms but it may, unfortunately, require us to undertake still more radical measures to ensure safety, even at the expense of civil liberties.

Baby diplomat

Prince George made a fine showing at his first foray into diplomacy, a meeting with other infants in New Zealand. Even republicanism, it seems, isn’t proof against cute babies.

Prince George in New Zealand

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