Home Office re-shuffle - Tony McNulty and Liam Byrne swap roles as Ministers of State
What exactly is going on at the Home Office ?
Tony McNulty and Liam Byrne now seem to have swapped roles as Ministers for State, after only two working weeks in office !
It is astonishing that Tony McNulty is still a Minister, given the utter mess which the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, and the National Identity Register scheme has been in under his direct "leadership".
These are not quite straight job swaps, as there seems to be some extra responsibility expected of each of the 3 Ministers of State, although what these extra long job titles actually mean in practice is a mystery - they should already have been part of these Ministerial roles.
Simply putting the words "cross departmental responsibility" in their titles will do nothing to break down the lack of internal communications and "jobsworth" attitudes within the Home Office bureaucracy.
Liam Byrne is now " Minister of State for nationality, citizenship and immigration with cross departmental responsibility for delivery",
Tony McNulty is now "Minister of State for policing, security and community safety with cross departmental responsibility for parliamentary business"
Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC is " Minister of State for criminal justice and offender management with cross departmental responsibility for legal advice."
John Reid announces his ministerial team
22 May 2006Home Secretary, John Reid, confirmed the ministerial responsibilities of his team on Monday 22 May.
Reducing fear and increasing fairness will be the driving force behind the work of the Home Office, Home Secretary John Reid said today as he confirmed the responsibilities of his new ministerial team.
The new Home Office team consists of:
- Home Secretary - Rt Hon John Reid MP Overall responsibility for the Home Office
- Liam Byrne MP - Minister of State for nationality, citizenship and immigration with cross departmental responsibility for delivery
- Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Joan Ryan MP
- Tony McNulty MP - Minister of State for policing, security and community safety with cross departmental responsibility for parliamentary business
- Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Vernon Coaker MP
- Rt Hon Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC - Minister of State for criminal justice and offender management with cross departmental responsibility for legal advice
- Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Gerry Sutcliffe MP
Liam Byrne has no excuse for not undesratanding the privacy and security issues involved with the National Identity Register and ID Cards scheme - he founded
EGS Group Ltd, which provides e-commerce type systems to the public sector in the UK and in Germany.
Presumabkky Tony NcNulty will now switch from failing to understand the complex tecnical issues surround the National Identity Register and ID Cards scheme, and making ad hominem personal attacks on the opponents of his plans, whilst sheltering behind Parliamentary privilege, to doing exactly the same with regard to opponents of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000: Part III : Investigation of Electronic Data Protected by Encryption etc. Power to require disclosure , which he has inherited from Liam Byrne
Comments
Smoke and Mirrors at the Home Office then!
There is consensus amongst blogs and the media in general that the government is up to something. It is just that nobody is sure what.
Is this the famous double whammy?
Do they want us to think that they are up to something just so that no more stories of cock-ups will appear in the paper? when really they are up to nothing more than their usually slimy ways.
The French word for diversion is deviation and there are none more deviant than the UK government.
Posted by: Jake Long | May 22, 2006 11:14 PM