If Labour had held on to power on May 6, I think it is a safe bet that an official investigation into the Cumbrian massacre would already have been announced. In the Commons on Thursday, Alan Johnson, the Shadow Home Secretary, asked his Conservative successor at the Home Office, Theresa May, a series of rapid-fire questions that hinted heavily at what he would have done if still in office. Would there be a review of firearm laws? Were the follow-up checks on those issued with firearm certificates adequate? Was co-operation across police forces sufficient? Was a small, rural force such as Cumbria’s “properly equipped to deal with events that are more often predicted to happen in urban areas”?
One could see the former home secretary’s nerve-endings twitching with the old instinct to open an inquiry, launch an initiative, assemble a taskforce, appoint a firearms “tsar”. It is to the Coalition’s credit that it has thus far resisted this temptation, often clumsily but accurately described as “initiativitis”. When the nation’s attention is gripped by a tragedy of this scale and horror, the pressure upon a prime minister to make promises, no matter how vapid, and take action, no matter how rushed, is immense. But David Cameron showed courage and maturity in declaring that there wasn’t always “an instant legislative or regulatory answer”.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment