Quote:
Originally Posted by MargaretR
I think everyone would be surprised if the cost of providing security were revealed.
Ministers and ex ministers automatically get it.
I think that it started during the IRA bombing era.
I am personally aware of one particular expensive waste of public money on personal security.
You may recall a local tory who was Home Office minister for a short time, before he got 'lorded' and sent to the Bahamas as governor - can't recall his name - not really top brass risk.
When I was having some redecorating done at Melbourne House (many years ago), the contractor sometimes didn't show some days. I tackled him about it and he explained that he was working on this house in the Ribble valley  , which had been completely rewired with high tec security, and needed total interior redecoration.
Within months the chap was in the Bahamas - what a waste! |
That was David Waddington, former M.P. for Clitheroe/Ribble Valley ennobled to Baron Waddington by Thatcher, and sent to be Governor of Bermuda.
He was also responsible for what's known as the Waddington Ammedment.
The elected government tried to block it at the time, and which makes laughable the view that the unelected Lords has no real power.
Stonewall’s concern is that the Lords insistence on the Waddington clause sends a worrying message at a time when police figures show that homophobic attacks are on the increase. We remain of the view that the language of the Waddington amendment is deeply offensive and stigmatising.
Stonewall
'The controversy stems from last year's Criminal Justice and Immigration Act when Tory former home secretary Lord Waddington succeeded in amending the legislation dealing with inciting hatred on grounds of sexual orientation to allow for "discussion or criticism" of sexual practices.
The government was unable to remove the amendment last year due to a lack of parliamentary time but is now using the Coroners and Justice Bill to scrap it'
BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Ministers win vote on gay hatred
Hate crimes
Section 74 and Schedule 16 amend Part 3A of the
Public Order Act 1986 to extend hate crime legislation to cover
"hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to sexual orientation (whether towards persons of the same sex, the opposite sex or both)."
To prevent the Act being used to inhibit freedom of speech on the subject of homosexuality, paragraph 14 of Schedule 16 inserts a new section 29JA, entitled
"Protection of freedom of expression (sexual orientation)" but sometimes known as the Waddington Amendment (after
Lord Waddington who introduced it). It reads:
“ In this Part, for the avoidance of doubt, the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred.
[6] ” The government tried to insert a clause in the
2009 Coroners and Justice Bill which would have explicitly repealed section 29JA, but the proposed repeal failed and section 29JA remains.
Section 74 and Schedule 16 come into force on 23 March 2010.
Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia