[GordonS]

Sorry, but Labour's 'Wacky' Jacqui Smith was just as bad as Theresa May. The main difference here is that May has become prime minister, so is more able to push her vile ideas.

Whether it's Labour or the Conservatives in power, it seems inevitable that they will push these dangerous ideas in the name of 'keeping us safe from terrorists and paedophiles'.

[rahoulb]

People complain about having no opposition now but Tony Blair and New Labour's agenda was very similar to the Tory one and equally authoritarian. Now we actually have some ideological differences between the parties

[dTal]

It's a disease apparently particular to Home Secretaries. Something about the Home Office seems to have a way of 'radicalising' politicians into authoritarians (not sure if I've got the cause and effect the right way around there but that's certainly what it looks like).

The trouble is, if there's a toxic authoritarian culture in the higher levels of the civil service, there's really no way of ousting it. "Whoever you elect, the government gets in".

[ScottBurson]

> Something about the Home Office seems to have a way of 'radicalising' politicians into authoritarians

Perhaps the very name of the office. "Home" is a word with a lot of powerful emotional resonance.

[rorygreen]

I completely agree and have edited my comment to explicitly state that I do not support the Labour Party. I do however think that a Labour led coalition (the only other possibility?) would be the lesser of the two evils at the moment.