Theresa May in Cumbria

The Home Secretary took time out from trying to deport terrorists today to come to Cumbria to support Richard Rhodes, the excellent Conservative candidate in the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in the county.

The original plan had been for Theresa May to do a walkabout in the town centre in Penrith, but because of inclement weather she held an open meeting in the George Hotel instead.

This was Theresa May's second visit to the county to support Richard Rhodes: the Prime Minister was also here to support Richard a few days ago, and both the present and previous police ministers have come to Cumbria to back his campaign.

This is a sign of the respect in which Richard Rhodes is held by members of the government and the extent he would be listened to as a voice for Cumbria on policing issues if elected.

Comments

Anonymous said…
If he's a terrorists put the evidence before a court and lock him up.
Chris Whiteside said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chris Whiteside said…
That's precisely what she is trying to do.

In the case both of the gentleman who was extradited to the USA a few weeks ago, and the gentleman whose deportation to Jordan is still under discussion, the object is to

1) deport the individual to the country where they are wanted on charges of conspiracy to commit acts of terror, and

2) make sure he gets a fair trial when he gets there.

The dispute between the Home Secretary and the court was not over whether there was material evidence justifying putting Abu Qatada individual concerned on trial, but on whether evidence obtained by torture might be used in his retrial in Jordan.

The government argued that the assurances given by the government of Jordan promising not to do this were sufficient. The court was concerned that those assurances might not be kept.

I will accept that it might have been appropriate to use a qualification such as "accused" since the individuals have not yet been convicted through a process we would accept as robust.

Popular posts from this blog

Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria

Quotes of the day 19th August 2020

Quote of the day 24th July 2020