Lord Digby Jones wants to legalise drugs

It always amazes me how sensible the views of government ministers can be once they leave office.

Lord Digby Jones who until a year ago was Minister of State for Trade is a good example. After leaving the government he was quoted as saying that his time as a junior minister was "one of the most dehumanising and depersonalising experiences" anyone could have. Perhaps his comments last night on Newsnight reveal part of why this might have been as it is clear that Lord Jones favours legalisation of drugs which as we know is anathema to our current government.

Lord Jones was asked as part of the "Politics Pen" segment for ways to reduce spending and/or raise more taxes. He could have chosen anything. Here is what he said:

It’s a time for desperate measures because we are in desperate times. I would legalise prostitution. I would regulate it and out of it I would produce billions of pounds of revenue. I could also appoint a working party to look at a form of legalisation, regulation, clinically clean up and taxation of drugs, in a form. (My emphasis)

He also suggested a flat tax as his final point.

OK, so he hedged it a little bit with appointing a working party (although this sort of approach is sensible and probably necessary to ensure it was done in the best way) and used the words "in a form" or "at a form" twice (old obfuscatory habits clearly die hard) but there is no mistaking what he is saying. There is no fundamental reason in his view why drugs cannot be legalised. It would just come down to the details of how exactly this was done. Good on him for speaking out like this.

So the next time a government minister tries to paint the idea of legalisation and regulation of drugs as a far out, wacky idea on the margins, just remember that the eminently sensible and mainstream Lord Jones (former DG of the CBI and Knight of the Realm) was until recently a member of the government and he doesn't think so.

Then ask yourself how many more in our government actually agree with him but cannot speak out because of the straitjacket of collective responsibility.

Is Paxman/Boris the new Frost/Nixon?

It was highly entertaining to see Jeremy Paxman interview Boris Johnson last night on Newsnight. Boris was most definitely not "on message" but I guess trying to make him toe the party line is a bit like trying to herd cats! However Jeremy's attempts to Paxo him did not really work out as you might expect...

Boris answered Paxman's questions about the Lisbon treaty and David Cameron's Bullingdon days in his own inimitable style, giving as good

as he got and taking the interview off on some fascinating tangents. He even at one point delivered a direct to camera statement after Paxman insisted following Boris' assertion that Paxman was seeking to "intermediate" too much!

It is well worth checking out and will surely become a classic of the genre. It is currently on the iPlayer here from about 16 minutes in or you can watch the embedded Youtube of it below:

Vince Cable - our not so secret weapon

Watching Newsnight yesterday where they interviewed a panel of voters in Watford about the MP's expenses scandal it was telling to me how the questions seemed to focus on Brown and Cameron. Clegg wasn't even mentioned but Brown and Cameron were both prompted for by the questioner.

In fact the only reference to the Lib Dems came as an aside from the questioner "What about the Lib Dems" and there seemed to be murmurs of approval but the audience really got animated when one of the mentioned Vince Cable. He was described as "always talking sense" and several people were quick to sing his praises. One person said he was exactly the sort of MP that they want to see and one voter who clearly had never supported the Lib Dems before said she was wavering because of Vince. It's so good to hear that he is appreciated beyond our own party like this!

It was also interesting to hear Harriet Harman afterwards try to claim that voters generally in Watford think Claire Ward (the local Labour MP) is a good MP. That's not what Sara Bedford (one of her constituents) thinks and a number of the comments on her blog post agree with her.

Mark Thomas on Newsnight

Mark Thomas was great last night on Newsnight (watch it here from about 26 minutes in). He managed to summarise what he perceives as the main problem that the G20 should tackle (tax havens) in a very short space of time. He even seemed to know more about the situation than Paxman. He made a comment that the government actually rents some of its buildings from companies that operate from tax havens and Paxman asked "Is that true?".

Unfortunately Wee Douggie Alexander did not respond to this but instead emphasised that global action is needed. He has a fair point but everything he said was hedged with "I hope we can do this." emphasising how limited the British Government's power is on this.

Before Mark Thomas even opened his mouth I knew he was going to go for tax havens. I have been listening to his podcasts recently which are very much focussed on the recession within the context of fairness and tackling corruption. He clearly thinks that the crisis is an opportunity for fundamental reform and I agree. For each podcast he interviews a different person such as Vince Cable, Caroline Lucas and many other activists. They usually make for fascinating listening and I have learnt plenty I did not know before. You can get them on iTunes or from here.