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His ‘aggressive’ new approach isn’t just hollow, it shows how willing he is to descend into rightwing populism
The thesis that Boris Johnson is a liberal in Tory clothing is shot to ribbons. His latest proposals on crime, leaked by a “Whitehall source”, are a shameless lurch to the wilder shores of rightwing populism. In next month’s Queen’s speech, he will apparently “get tough” on crime by increasing the severity of sentences. He wants “life to mean life” for child murderers, together with more prison places, simpler stop-and-search and less early release. His source says “most people think all parties and the courts have lost the plot on sentencing”. Johnson will act “aggressively”.
The source – we assume Dominic Cummings or a minion – offers no authority for “most people”. It also turns out that the proposed changes are almost all within the competence of the existing judicial system – and are in reality all for show. There is no call for them from within or outside the prisons. The worsening of prison violence and mental health, and the 70% recidivism rate among young offenders within a year, is glaringly due to austerity cuts since 2010. As the chief inspector of constabulary, Sir Tom Winsor, has written, reacting to Johnson’s proposals, “the cost [of crime] in treasure, blood and human suffering” is caused by the failure of prevention, not the laxity of punishment. We must ask if the new draconianism is approved by Michael Gove, who as justice secretary in 2016 called for a drastic cut in the prison population? Continue reading...