The test for Mr Javid

Sajid Javid’s political honeymoon is deserved. Here is a self-made, accomplished Conservative who can talk with a real-world experience that many MPS don’t have. Yesterday, the new Home Secretary spoke to the Police Federation and told them he believes he is the first person to hold the job with a police officer in his immediate family. He pledged to give his audience “the tools to get the job done”, which might include increased use of stopand-search. This marks a break from Theresa May’s approach when she was home secretary, and a timely adjustment in policy. Knife crime soared by almost a quarter last year in Britain.

If Mr Javid wants to spend more money, as he also suggested, then he’ll need to join the queue. Mrs May is said to be looking at a long-term funding deal to secure the NHS, in which case other departments – also squeezed by austerity – might be left fighting over the scraps. What will this mean for the taxpayers? Yesterday, Mrs May warned the House of Commons that a Labour government would mean “families paying higher taxes”, but many already did just that under the Tory-led coalition, and council tax increases are starting to be felt, too. If austerity unwinds in a dramatic flourish of spending, the money will have to come from somewhere.

Waste and bad policy contribute mightily to underperformance in services. It is time to acknowledge that focusing on historical sex crimes, phone hacking and bad online jokes has had a detrimental effect on the police, who, of all public agencies, ought to operate with common sense. Mr Javid’s success will be measured in bringing down the crime rate, not in reflecting Whitehall’s obsession with political correctness.