So who cursed the position of Home Secretary?

Lets face it, each one since Douglas Hurd (barring Jack Straw) has hardly had staying power. Moved to the Treasury, losing the election, resigned or sacked, the position does not seem to lend itself to those who seek continuing influence and power in British politics.

In which case, we should probably look upon John Reid's (sorry, Doctor, never forget the title) current position as something of a mixed blessing, because the jumped up little Stalinist looks likely to have some problems in the near future. Or even closer than that, with the current prisons crisis, the insane deportation of genuine asylum seekers and ordering judges to lower penalties and jail time for all but the most serious offenders.

One almost wonders if he's on some sort of kamikaze mission. All its going to take is one more crisis and he'll likely be unseated (or at least, backbenchers will start to call for it). Especially if its something rather sensitive, say MI5 and the purposefully ambiguous stance of the current Government on the "Wilson Doctrine", setting out the limits of security service investigation upon MPs and Lords. Of course, Reid probably would not know of such an operation if it did exist, but thats not the point.

Of course, this all rather helpfully takes the heat off 10 Downing Street and its refusal to answer questions related to the secret email system set up there and the deleted emails in the cash for peerages scandal. This is starting to get very interesting indeed, it might be an idea to make sure you are sitting comfortably and have the popcorn within close reach....