The Failings Of Theresa May MP

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Mrs May likes a list, she particularly likes to list the collective failings of the Police Service and thinks that it’s fair to go back 25 years or more when doing so, despite the obvious fact that most of today’s serving officers weren’t serving 25 years ago, but somehow it’s still their fault.

So I thought I might draw up a little list of my own, please feel free to add any that I’ve forgotten in the Comments section at the bottom, and I’m sure I will forget some, there have been so many.

May was appointed the first female Chairman of the Conservative Party in July 2002. During her speech at the 2002 Conservative Party Conference while illustrating the reason why her Party must change, May naïvely coined the phrase that the Conservatives were then perceived as the “Nasty Party”, later to be sacked from this post by Michael Howard.

In August 2013 Mrs May was accused by Lord Macdonald of an “extremely ugly and unhelpful” attempt to implicate opponents of David Miranda’s detention in condoning terrorism. She had suggested that anyone opposed to using controversial anti-terrorism laws against journalists was condoning terrorism. [quite ironic given the current controversy about the Met investigating journalists using so called Terror Laws]

The Home Office refused to release a mentally ill Nigerian man Isa Muazu on hunger-strike living in an asylum centre. In order to strengthen the Home Office’s tough stance an “end of life’ plan was offered to the individual. [an end of life plan? How considerate]  Immigration minister Mark Harper said Mr Muazu had “no right” to be in the UK and had been “successfully removed” “Halting the removal of Mr Muazu because of his protest would undermine our asylum and immigration system – and provide a dangerous incentive for others to follow suit,” he said.

In June 2012, May was found to be in contempt of court by Judge Barry Cotter QC, standing accused of “totally unacceptable and regrettable behaviour” having said to have shown complete disregard to a legal agreement to free an Algerian from a UK Immigration Detention Centre. As she eventually allowed the prisoner to be freed, May avoided further sanctions including fines or imprisonment [Correct me if I’m wrong but Mrs May holds the unenviable record of being the ONLY Home Secretary to have been found guilty of Contempt of Court.  Miraculously she still has her job, many would have have been sacked. Why not her?]

My thanks to @Badger1202 for reminding me of the £220 million wasted on the UK Border Agency IT system.  New rules requiring foreign nationals from outside the EU to have a biometric residents permit had left the IT system unable to cope. The system that was brought in was not ‘Fit For Purpose’ and collapsed under the strain of the extra work it was required to handle. [Hoe many Police Officers or Border Guards would £220 million pay for?]

Under her tenure at the Home Office, Ugandan lesbian, Jackie Nanyonjo was deported. On 10 January 2013 the UK Border Agency told her she was to be deported on an EgyptAir flight, despite having applied for a judicial review of her case. She was accompanied on the flight by four security escorts from Reliance Security who, her friends claimed, beat her throughout the flight forcing her head down between her legs, and attempted to strangle her. [Similar allegations have been made against G4S staff under similar circumstances I believe]

In November 2013, May removed the passport of Hilal Al Jedda, although he had won an appeal in the Supreme Court in November 2013. The Supreme Court had ruled that rescinding Al Jedda’s passport was unlawful. Having entered the UK under the guise of an asylum seeker in 1992, he first lost his British passport in 2007 after serving three years at a military detention centre in Iraq for suspected terrorism offences. Al Jedda became the first person to be stripped twice of British citizenship. [Yet again May shows her total arrogance and disregard for the rulings of the Courts].

May came under criticism by Labour and human rights organizations over her comments about a deportation case involving a man who fought deportation by providing details of his relationship with a woman from the UK, including the fact they had a pet cat. Human Rights campaigners criticised the comment and said May “urgently needs to get her facts straight“, while Amnesty International said May’s comments only fuelled “myths and misconceptions” about the Human Rights Act and the fact “that someone in Theresa May’s position can be so misinformed as to parade out a story about someone being allowed to stay in Britain because of a cat is nothing short of alarming.”

In June 2014, an inflamed public argument arose between Home Office and Education Ministers about responsibility for alleged extremism in Birmingham schools. Prime Minister David Cameron’s intervened to resolve the row, insisting that May sack her Special Advisor Fiona Cunningham for releasing on May’s website a confidential letter to May’s colleagues, and that Gove, the Education Secretary, apologise to the Home Office’s head of Security and Counter-Terrorism, Charles Farr, for uncomplimentary briefings of him appearing on the front page of The Times [clearly a Home Secretary not in control of her Department].

By mid 2014, American company 3M which makes the RFID microchips hidden in new passports, and their client, the Passport Office, revealed allegations of a large backlog in developing processing passport applications appeared. David Cameron suggested that this had come about due to the Passport Office’s receiving an “above normal” 300,000-rise in applications. It was revealed, however, that May had been warned the year before, in July 2013, that a surge of 350,000 extra applications could occur owing to the closure of processing overseas under Chancellor Osborne’s programme of cuts. Well over £600,000 were paid to staff who helped clear the backlog [A total farce which could easily have been avoided]

Abu Hamza and Theresa May, between them, reduced the Extradition System to a total farce.  He used every trick in the book to avoid extradition and she (along with previous Home Secretaries it must be said) failed to effectively counter them, taking many years to finally get him extradited to America.  Her shortcomings notably included getting the dates wrong and all owing him to remain due an oversight by her Department. Shabby.

In 2011 she was embroiled in a controversy over the UK Border Agency, leading to the resignation of Brodie Clark despite Mrs May’s eventual admission to Parliament that “she had not told the Cabinet of her decision to allow officials to relax checks on some European travellers arriving in the UK.” [Personally I feel that our Borders have never been less secure, and times of jihad that is not a good thing]

I have no need to comment about Cruella and Call Me Dave Camoron’s reforms of the Police Service. Much has already been said and We’re All Doomed.  And I still can’t work out why Tom Winsor never claimed his fee for producing the Winsor Reviews, very odd.  And all these reforms brought in without a single Impact Assessment or Risk Assessment!!

Of course, May and her cohorts will never admit that criminal investigations in the UK are severely hampered by the lack of real resources – not enough police officers – not enough cash to conduct investigations – police morale at an all-time low – and so on – all a DIRECT result of the policies of the Conservatives in government

My thanks are due to @30OnFrontLine for reminding (how could I possibly have forgotten) of the travesty they call Police and Crime Commissioners.  Nobody wanted them, nobody understood them and nobody voted for them.  And now we find that the system nobody wanted seems to cost more than the old system of Police Authorities.  Not to mention the alleged dubious activities of one or two.

Most recently we have the sad but somewhat ridiculous situation with the Child Abuse enquiries where she has taken heaven knows how long to find somebody suitably qualified to chair the enquiry and has spectacularly failed, twice now appointing someone who appears to be less than ‘Independent’.

It really is time for her to go.  She feels that she has the right to castigate successive generations of Police Officers, but all of her failings have occurred within a single career!!

The time is right to bring back #NoConfidenceInTheresaMay.

The time is right for Theresa May to resign.

If I have omitted any howlers please add them to the comments below or email them to me and I’ll include them in the body of the ‘list’ together with a suitable acknowledgement.

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13 thoughts on “The Failings Of Theresa May MP”

  1. Courtesy of Chris Hobbs, as his article is so apt to your excellent thread:-

    Theresa May and Front Line Police; An Irreparable Breakdown

    The revelation by the Police Federation that the morale of rank and file officers was at its lowest ever level will as no surprise to those struggling to maintain an effective police service in urban and rural areas throughout the UK. The Federation survey mirrored that carried out by the University of the West of England some months ago and indeed by internal police surveys compiled by individual forces.

    Whilst police surveys show much criticism in relation to the leadership of chief officer ranks, the police rank and file collective finger of blame for the inescapable fact that their morale has all but collapsed points only in one direction; namely towards Home Secretary Theresa May. It is no exaggeration to say that as Margaret Thatcher was to the miners and mining communities, Theresa May is to rank and file police officers and their families.

    Police officers expected tough times ahead regardless of which party took power after the 2010 general election; what they did not expect was constant criticism and vilification from the holder of one of the country’s greatest offices of state which culminated in her infamous speech to the Police Federation Conference in May of this year.

    ‘Teflon Theresa’ or ‘Cruella,’ as she has become known, listed every single police transgression going back 25 years to the time of Hillsborough. In fact the number of officers ‘responsible’ for such transgressions, and we should remember many remain alleged, probably numbers less than 100 in total. The anger of officers was compounded by the fact that ‘fiddled’ crime figures were listed amongst the series of transgressions. Amazingly later in the same speech she claimed credit for the apparent 20% reduction in crime figures which would have been based on the ‘fiddled’ figures she condemned just minutes earlier.

    There is strong suspicion that Theresa May’s attacks on police are part of an attempt to divert attention from the truly disastrous performances of her own law enforcement creations namely the UK Border Agency and UK Border Force. These dominated headlines earlier this week following yet another damning report, this time from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.

    The Home Office ineptitude in respect of UK Borders inevitably impacts on the police. Theresa May’s failure to strengthen ‘chocolate teapot’ border controls has resulted in hundreds of jihadists being able to travel back and forth with impunity. Foreign criminals, whether from within Europe or otherwise have also been able to exploit lax controls while drug traffickers are having a field day in that customs trained officers are frequently taken from anti-smuggling duties to ‘stamp passports.’ Cocaine seizures at airports are down by 76% and this again adds to the burden on front line police officers.

    Theresa May’s most recent onslaught on police took place at the Conservative Party conference last month. The main content of her speech concerned terrorism but the first ten minutes consisted of a blistering attack on front line Metropolitan Police officers accusing them, in essence, of racism based on stop and search.

    Despairing Met officers would have hoped that she might have tempered this criticism with a realisation it is not the fault of police that inner city areas suffer from poor schooling, lack of parental role models, poor housing and a woeful lack of job opportunities with 54% of young black males between the ages of 16 and 24 being unemployed. The blame for this sorry state of affairs can only lie at the door of successive, inept governments.

    Surely, they argue, these conditions invariably breed gangs, drug dealing and the violent crime that goes with it. In London this grim cocktail has resulted in the tragic deaths of innocent teenagers who have been murdered as a result of being wrongly identified or for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    Whether gang members or not, every murder victim is someone’s son or daughter and front line officers would argue that this is the primary motivation for officers carrying out stop and searches rather than simple racial harassment. The fact that dozens of young men and women would be alive today had their assailants been stopped and searched before encountering their victims appears to have been ignored by Theresa May and should have at least been considered in what remains a contentious issue.

    Now, to add to the woes of an already demoralised service, there is a very real threat to police officers, whether on or off duty, from ISIS or other jihadi terrorists, many of whom would have breezed through border controls to learn their craft abroad or have been indoctrinated within the UK’s justice system or via the internet.

    There is little confidence that Theresa May will take the necessary steps which will help ensure the safety of officers whom she clearly appears to despise. Sadly in the event of an atrocity being committed, one sight that no front line officer wishes to see would be the spectacle of the current Home Secretary ‘crying crocodile tears’ at the funeral of a police officer who has been murdered by terrorists. They will be only too well aware that such a tragedy will have been assisted by government hostility, complacency, cutbacks and sheer incompetence.

    It is indeed a sad indictment of the breakdown in the relationship between police and the Home Secretary that a number of front line officers have instructed that, in the event of them dying in the line of duty, ‘that woman’ be barred from their funeral.

    Follow Chris Hobbs on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/obbsie
    Steve Bennett http://www.thinbluelineuk.blogspot.com

  2. Courtesy of Chris Hobbs, as his article is so apt to your excellent thread:-

    Theresa May and Front Line Police; An Irreparable Breakdown

    The revelation by the Police Federation that the morale of rank and file officers was at its lowest ever level will as no surprise to those struggling to maintain an effective police service in urban and rural areas throughout the UK. The Federation survey mirrored that carried out by the University of the West of England some months ago and indeed by internal police surveys compiled by individual forces.

    Whilst police surveys show much criticism in relation to the leadership of chief officer ranks, the police rank and file collective finger of blame for the inescapable fact that their morale has all but collapsed points only in one direction; namely towards Home Secretary Theresa May. It is no exaggeration to say that as Margaret Thatcher was to the miners and mining communities, Theresa May is to rank and file police officers and their families.

    Police officers expected tough times ahead regardless of which party took power after the 2010 general election; what they did not expect was constant criticism and vilification from the holder of one of the country’s greatest offices of state which culminated in her infamous speech to the Police Federation Conference in May of this year.

    ‘Teflon Theresa’ or ‘Cruella,’ as she has become known, listed every single police transgression going back 25 years to the time of Hillsborough. In fact the number of officers ‘responsible’ for such transgressions, and we should remember many remain alleged, probably numbers less than 100 in total. The anger of officers was compounded by the fact that ‘fiddled’ crime figures were listed amongst the series of transgressions. Amazingly later in the same speech she claimed credit for the apparent 20% reduction in crime figures which would have been based on the ‘fiddled’ figures she condemned just minutes earlier.

    There is strong suspicion that Theresa May’s attacks on police are part of an attempt to divert attention from the truly disastrous performances of her own law enforcement creations namely the UK Border Agency and UK Border Force. These dominated headlines earlier this week following yet another damning report, this time from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.

    The Home Office ineptitude in respect of UK Borders inevitably impacts on the police. Theresa May’s failure to strengthen ‘chocolate teapot’ border controls has resulted in hundreds of jihadists being able to travel back and forth with impunity. Foreign criminals, whether from within Europe or otherwise have also been able to exploit lax controls while drug traffickers are having a field day in that customs trained officers are frequently taken from anti-smuggling duties to ‘stamp passports.’ Cocaine seizures at airports are down by 76% and this again adds to the burden on front line police officers.

    Theresa May’s most recent onslaught on police took place at the Conservative Party conference last month. The main content of her speech concerned terrorism but the first ten minutes consisted of a blistering attack on front line Metropolitan Police officers accusing them, in essence, of racism based on stop and search.

    Despairing Met officers would have hoped that she might have tempered this criticism with a realisation it is not the fault of police that inner city areas suffer from poor schooling, lack of parental role models, poor housing and a woeful lack of job opportunities with 54% of young black males between the ages of 16 and 24 being unemployed. The blame for this sorry state of affairs can only lie at the door of successive, inept governments.

    Surely, they argue, these conditions invariably breed gangs, drug dealing and the violent crime that goes with it. In London this grim cocktail has resulted in the tragic deaths of innocent teenagers who have been murdered as a result of being wrongly identified or for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    Whether gang members or not, every murder victim is someone’s son or daughter and front line officers would argue that this is the primary motivation for officers carrying out stop and searches rather than simple racial harassment. The fact that dozens of young men and women would be alive today had their assailants been stopped and searched before encountering their victims appears to have been ignored by Theresa May and should have at least been considered in what remains a contentious issue.

    Now, to add to the woes of an already demoralised service, there is a very real threat to police officers, whether on or off duty, from ISIS or other jihadi terrorists, many of whom would have breezed through border controls to learn their craft abroad or have been indoctrinated within the UK’s justice system or via the internet.

    There is little confidence that Theresa May will take the necessary steps which will help ensure the safety of officers whom she clearly appears to despise. Sadly in the event of an atrocity being committed, one sight that no front line officer wishes to see would be the spectacle of the current Home Secretary ‘crying crocodile tears’ at the funeral of a police officer who has been murdered by terrorists. They will be only too well aware that such a tragedy will have been assisted by government hostility, complacency, cutbacks and sheer incompetence.

    It is indeed a sad indictment of the breakdown in the relationship between police and the Home Secretary that a number of front line officers have instructed that, in the event of them dying in the line of duty, ‘that woman’ be barred from their funeral.

    Follow Chris Hobbs on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/obbsie
    Steve Bennett http://www.thinbluelineuk.blogspot.com

  3. Excellent post. She likes to destroy the reputation of ALL police officers over the actions of a few dodgy ones. How many MP’s fiddled their expenses? Does that mean we can call all of them thieves over the actions of those dodgy ones? Wait until the paedophile rings from Westminster are outed,then we can call them ALL kiddy-fiddlers.
    Have a happy retirement Insp Telford,I remember you from Bromley.

  4. It is only when you read the long list of oversights, mistakes and downright incompetence that you wonder what hold she has over David Cameron. I have just retired through ill health after 29 years service and I really do despair at the state of the police force today. I feel so sorry for the colleagues that I have left behind. God help them and God help the UK.

  5. It is only when you read the long list of oversights, mistakes and downright incompetence that you wonder what hold she has over David Cameron. I have just retired through ill health after 29 years service and I really do despair at the state of the police force today. I feel so sorry for the colleagues that I have left behind. God help them and God help the UK.

  6. Well said! I would just add that her refusal to respond to media requests for interviews is little short of outrageous. Do you recall seeing or hearing her on National TV/Radio in recent months? No, nor do I. In addition her snarling attack on every Police Officer in the land (and on those who have retired) delivered at the Police Federation Conference in May this year was appalling. The woman was actually shaking with rage as she spat out her venom. As I said in a letter to her (which of course she wouldn’t have read) written shortly afterwards I believe she is not a fit and proper person to hold high office. Can you imagine her ‘in charge’ of another Iranian Embassy Siege type incident or an Aircraft Hijacking or another 7/7. She clearly has a major problem in controlling her temper and a clearly evidenced disdain for the Police Service and even worse than that she is treating the public and indeed the Law with total and utter contempt on a regular basis. #NoConfidenceInTheresaMay

    1. Spitting and snarling with rage and venom is actually a very accurate description Andy. Awful woman, not fit to remain in government let alone Home Secretary of, Heaven help us, next leader of the Tory Party

  7. Well said! I would just add that her refusal to respond to media requests for interviews is little short of outrageous. Do you recall seeing or hearing her on National TV/Radio in recent months? No, nor do I. In addition her snarling attack on every Police Officer in the land (and on those who have retired) delivered at the Police Federation Conference in May this year was appalling. The woman was actually shaking with rage as she spat out her venom. As I said in a letter to her (which of course she wouldn’t have read) written shortly afterwards I believe she is not a fit and proper person to hold high office. Can you imagine her ‘in charge’ of another Iranian Embassy Siege type incident or an Aircraft Hijacking or another 7/7. She clearly has a major problem in controlling her temper and a clearly evidenced disdain for the Police Service and even worse than that she is treating the public and indeed the Law with total and utter contempt on a regular basis. #NoConfidenceInTheresaMay

    1. Spitting and snarling with rage and venom is actually a very accurate description Andy. Awful woman, not fit to remain in government let alone Home Secretary of, Heaven help us, next leader of the Tory Party

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