Jack Straw - Man o' War

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Home Secretary

Daily Mail
Hear them wail
“We must force parents not to fail!”

Jack Straw
Hear him roar!
“Children must obey the law!”

Curfew passes?
Parent classes?
Legislation swiftly passes.

(Jack acquires rimless glasses)

Enter Willie

Willie Straw
Bought some draw
Tried to sell it at a pub door.

Will got caught
And it taught
His dad a lesson,
Of a sort.

(Or so we thought.)

Foreign Affairs

Jack promoted,
Cook demoted.
Hawkishness
Becomes full-throated.

Hans Blix
Finding nix.
Forget the carrots –
Jack’s for sticks!

Jack Straw
Man o’War!
Beats his chest
And calls for more.

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I wrote this rhyme at a time when I was becoming increasingly dismayed about the extent to which the Labour Government in the UK had been trying to act 'tougher than the Tories' on crime and defence. Jack Straw started political life as a rebellious lefty, but as a Labour Home Affairs spokesman and later Home Secretary (1997-2001) pandered to the Tory right wing newspapers on criminal justice issues (though his son, was only cautioned for Supplying Cannabis, an offence usually carrying a sentence of imprisonment). Later, as Foreign Secretary, he supported the Bush/Blair invasion of Iraq, despite the fact that the UN Commission led by Hans Blix found no weapons of mass destruction. Whilst Russia, Canada, France and Germany all recommended a continuation of diplomacy combined with a tough inspection regime, Straw played a key role in British Government efforts to justify the war to the British public and the international community even though, as John Kampfner has found, he had urged Tony Blair not to send British Forces just ten days before the bombing started. It seems likely to me that the 'Man o'War' act was just that - an act for public consumption, concealing a rational objection to a reckless policy.