If you want to know how much Labour’s political skills have atrophied just consider how it has failed to land a hit on the Tories—and David Davis in particular—over their stance on civil liberties.
Take the Tory position on removing the DNA of all those who have been charged but not convicted of a crime from the national database. On Tuesday, Gordon Brown claimed in his speech that if DNA had not been retained from these people,
“8,000 suspects who have been matched with crime scenes since 2001 would in all probability have got away, their DNA having been deleted from the database. This includes 114 murders, 55 attempted murders, 116 rapes, 68 other sexual offences, 119 aggravated burglaries, and 127 drugs offences.”
Brown’s speech was overshadowed by events, notably the theft of Hazel Blear’s computer which had government data improperly stored on it.
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