Her script had no fluff... it was proper bang ’em up stuff HENRY DEEDES
Criminals of Great Britain be warned: Priti Patel’s comin’ for you. Drug pushers, gang leaders, terrorists. Heck, even cattle rustlers. Gritty Priti’s comin’ for you all.
The Home secretary’s conference speech was red and raw, a throwback to those old hang-’em-high hall-pleasers norman Tebbit used to give in the 1980s.
When spitting image returns to our screens soon, perhaps, they’ll depict Priti as a snarling skinhead like norman.
restoring the Conservatives’ reputation as the party of law and order was top of her agenda.
Embarrassingly, just two hours before Priti appeared, the police had been summoned to our media area where Tory mP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown was embroiled in a daft kerfuffle with one of the security guards. Oops!
Back to Priti. There was no fluff in her script. no lily-livered chat about tackling social ills or the causes of crime. it was proper bang-’em-up stuff.
The language at times was pretty tasty. she’s used the word ‘spineless’ to describe criminals. i don’t recall Theresa may or amber rudd making speeches like this in the Home Office.
a Home sec needs the police onside and sure enough the rozzers got a right old treacle-hosing. We heard repeated talk of backin’ the police. Priti’s Essex lilt means the letter G often goes walkabout. see also gettin’ Brexit
done and exploitin’ children. The police need a Home secretary, Priti said, who stands beside them. Her voice then took on a sorceress- like tone: ‘ i am that Home secretary!’
Chief constables also needed the power to arm officers with Taser guns: ‘ i am giving them that power!’
To the delight of the auditorium, she recalled margaret Thatcher’s mantra which advised ‘an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay; live within your means; pay your bills on time; and support the police.’ That will have got the plods purring.
Priti’s always enjoyed a reputation as a right-winger but she looks ruthless, too. an unkind person might say she appears cruel.
Even when she flashes her pearly whites there is menace in that smile. i imagine her as a right little bruiser in her youth. One of the mean gals who
loitered at the school gates demanding yer dinner money. There was a big cheer when she announced plans to end freedom of movement and replace it with an Aussie- style points system. Let me tell you somethin’, she hollered. ‘ This daughter of immigrants needs no lectures from the north London liberal elite.’ This was a non sequitur, but the audience lapped it up anyway. The big message of her speech was that the UK simply isn’t safe under Labour.
It wasn’t just about who would be the next PM, it was about who would be the next Home Secretary. Do people really want Diane Abbott in charge of the country’s security?
‘Noooo!’ came the response. Invoking Diane’s name is always a sure-fire way to rattle delegates’ crockery.
We had another Maggie moment when Priti went on to praise ‘our brilliant security services’. Jeremy Corbyn’s lot, she added, trust Britain’s foes more than our friends.
‘To all of this I say, “No! No! No!” ’ Earlier we’d heard from Priti’s policing minister Kit Malthouse.
One to watch, Kit. He’d been explaining how the Government planned to fit yobs convicted of alcohol-related crimes with ‘ sobriety tags’ which alerted the police whenever they’d had a drink.
Apparently, when it’s strapped to an ankle it can detect alcohol when it comes in their sweat.
‘You’ll have noticed that after one of your heavy nights,’ he gestured to his female interviewer. What a charmer!
All I can say is it’s a good job MPs weren’t asked to try out the tags this week. The Manchester Police switchboard would be lit up like an ocean liner.