Jack Straw (politician)

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“Jack Straw” redirects here. For other uses, see Jack Straw (disambiguation).
The Rt Hon Jack Straw
Jack Straw (politician)
Preceded by Geoff Hoon
Succeeded by Incumbent
Constituency Blackburn
Majority 8,009 (19.2%)
Born August 3, 1946 (age 60)
Buckhurst Hill
Essex
England
Political party Labour

John Whitaker Straw (born August 3, 1946) is a British Labour Party politician. He was Home Secretary from 1997–2001, and Foreign Secretary from 2001 to May 5, 2006, when he was made Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal. He has been the Member of Parliament for Blackburn since 1979.

Contents

[edit] Early life and career, 1946-87

Born in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, England and brought up at Loughton by a single mother on a council estate, he was educated at Staples Road School, Loughton, and Brentwood School (where he was already expressing political ambitions and took the name "Jack," allegedly after the 14th century peasant leader Jack Straw — although "Jack" is a common diminutive of "John") and read law at the University of Leeds. During his time at Leeds he was elected president of Leeds University Union with the support of the Broad Left, a coalition including Liberal, Socialist and the Communist Societies. Having joined the Labour Society when he arrived at Leeds in 1964, Straw was elected chairman of the Society in 1966 at an annual general meeting packed with members of the Communist Society who had joined days earlier. The Society's name was immediately changed to Socialist Society to reflect the fact that it no longer supported the Labour Party. In 1966, when Straw disrupted a student trip to Chile, he was branded a "troublemaker acting with malice aforethought" by the Foreign Office.[1]

In 1969 he was elected President of the National Union of Students after gaining a reputation for effective student militancy after he appeared to lead a successful occupation of Leeds University in 1968, though he initially opposed the protest and not one of the students' demands was conceded. He was regarded as a radical on issues of social equality and race, though he opposed the legalisation of drugs. He qualified as a barrister and practised criminal law. From 1971 to 1974 Jack Straw was a member of the Inner London Education Authority and Deputy Leader from 1973 to 1974. He served as political adviser to Barbara Castle at the Department of Social Security from 1974 to 1976 and then to Peter Shore at the Department for the Environment to 1977. He then worked as a researcher for the Granada TV current affairs series, World in Action.

During his time as political adviser, Straw was asked by Castle to examine the social security file of Norman Scott, who had claimed that the Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe was behind an attempt to murder him. Castle had been asked by Harold Wilson to investigate Scott's file to see if it contained any evidence that he was involved in a security conspiracy against Thorpe. Straw informed Castle that when he went to examine Scott's file, he found it was missing. The journalist Barrie Penrose has alleged that Straw subsequently leaked details from the file to the media. Straw remains silent on that matter. He has denied allegations by Joe Haines, Wilson's press secretary, that Wilson asked for Scott's file to be viewed for party political purposes, in the hopes of gaining information that could be used to damage Thorpe if he attempted to form a coalition government with Edward Heath. By the time he was asked to view the file, Heath had ceased to be leader of the Conservative Party. At the time of the scandal, the general view, promoted in particular by Private Eye, was that Wilson was using his influence to help and protect Thorpe and certainly not to smear him. Thorpe was cleared of any involvement in the attempt on Scott's life.

Straw was selected to run for Parliament in Blackburn, Barbara Castle's seat, in 1977 after Castle decided not to run again. He won the seat in 1979 and has held it since, also becoming honorary president of Blackburn Rovers. In the 1980s, he was an opposition spokesman on economic affairs and later on the environment before promotion to the Shadow Cabinet in 1987.

[edit] Shadow Cabinet, 1987-97

Straw's first Shadow Cabinet post was as Education spokesman from 1987. In this role, he called on Local Education Authorities to give private Muslim and Orthodox Jewish schools the right to opt out of the state system and still receive public funds. He also stated that the schools should be free to enter the state system. His comments came at a time of great controversy regarding the funding of Muslim schools. Straw argued that the controversy arose out of ignorance and stereotyping about women's role in Islam, pointing out that Muslim women acquired property rights centuries before European women. Straw played a significant role in articulating the Labour party's interest in and sensitivity to the issue.

Straw briefly served as Shadow Environment Secretary under John Smith from 1992 to 1994, speaking on matters concerning local government. When Tony Blair became leader after Smith's death, he chose Straw to succeed him as Shadow Home Secretary. Like Blair, Straw believed Labour's electoral chances had been damaged in the past by the party appearing to be "soft on crime" and he developed a reputation as being even more authoritarian than the Conservative Home Secretary Michael Howard. Straw garnered particular attention for comments condemning "aggressive beggars, winos and squeegee merchants" and calling for a curfew on children.

[edit] Cabinet career, 1997 to present

[edit] Home Secretary

Appointed as Home Secretary after the 1997 UK general election, he brought forward the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, increased police powers against terrorism and proposed a reduction in the right to trial by jury. These policies won praise from Margaret Thatcher who once declared 'I trust Jack Straw. He is a very fair man.' However, they were deemed excessively authoritarian by his former students' union which in 2000 banned him from the building — a policy which lapsed in 2003. However, he also incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into British law, and pressed for action on institutionalised racism in the police revealed by the Stephen Lawrence case.

In March 2000, Jack Straw was responsible for allowing General Augusto Pinochet to return to Chile. There were requests from several countries for Pinochet to be extradited and face trial for crimes against humanity. Pinochet was placed under house arrest in Britain while appealing the legal authority of the Spanish and British courts to try him, but Straw eventually ordered his release on medical grounds before a trial could begin, and Pinochet returned to Chile.

[edit] Foreign Secretary

Straw appears at a press conference with American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
Straw appears at a press conference with American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

Expected by commentators to be demoted to Transport Secretary after the 2001 UK general election[citation needed], there was some surprise when he was instead appointed Foreign Secretary to succeed Robin Cook. Within months Straw was confronted by the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks. He was initially seen as taking a back seat to Tony Blair in the UK Government's prosecution of the 'war against terrorism'.

According to polls, Straw is - along with Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and John Prescott - one of the few British government ministers who is recognised by a majority of the British public. On November 26, 2003, he made an unannounced visit to Iraq.

In the run up to the 2005 UK general election Straw faced a potential backlash from his Muslim constituents over the Iraq war — the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPAC) attempted to capitalise on anti-war sentiment with 'operation Muslim vote' in Blackburn. In addition, Craig Murray, an ex-British ambassador to Uzbekistan, stood against Jack Straw on an anti-torture platform. Jack Straw's vote fell by 20% compared to the previous general election in 2001 (21,808 to 17,562). Nonetheless, he was re-elected. Speaking moments after his re-election during the BBC's election night coverage, Jack Straw called MPAC an 'egregious group' and expressed disappointment at its campaign tactics, which he saw as overly aggressive. Straw enjoys a reputation for involved local campaigning in his constituency despite his cabinet post, often spending many hours in the run up to elections literally standing on a soapbox in a high street area taking questions from the crowd and responding to criticism with a microphone[citation needed].

On October 13, 2005 Straw took questions from a public panel of (mostly anti-war)[citation needed] individuals in a BBC Newsnight television special on the subject of Iraq, addressing widespread public concerns about the exit strategy for British troops, the Iraqi insurgency and, inevitably, the moral legitimacy of the war. On several occasions Straw reiterated his position that the decision to invade was in his opinion the right thing to do, but said he did not 'know' for certain that this was the case. He said he understood why public opinion on several matters might differ from his own — a Newsnight/ICM poll showed over 70% of respondents believed the war in Iraq to have increased the likelihood of terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, but Straw said he could not agree based on the information presented to him.

In February 2006 Straw attracted publicity after he condemned the publication of cartoons picturing Mohammed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.[citation needed]

In August 2006, it was claimed by William Rees-Mogg in The Times that there was evidence that Straw was removed from this post upon request of the Bush administration, possibly due to his expressed opposition to bombing Iran.[2]. Other commentators also speculated that Straw had effectively been 'fired' by the Bush administration [3].

It has also been alleged that another factor in his dismissal was the large number of Muslims amongst Straw's Blackburn constituents, supposedly considered a cause for concern by the US.[4] Dissentents in Iran have mocked Straw as "Ayatollah Straw" for his frequent visits to Tehran. [10]

[edit] Leader of the House of Commons

After the Labour Party suffered major defeats in local elections on 4 May 2006, losing 317 seats in balloting for 176 councils, Tony Blair acted the following day with a major reshuffle of his ministers during which he moved Straw from Foreign Secretary to Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal. Straw had apparently requested a break from high ministerial office after serving in two of the four great departments of state for nearly ten years. Straw's close relationship with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was said to have 'infuriated' Number 10, with particular reference to her visit to Straw's Blackburn constituency which caused significant organisational difficulties. It is believed that Straw's public opposition to potential military actions in Iran during his tenure as Foreign Secretary was one of the main reasons behind his demotion[citation needed]. To lessen the apparent demotion, Blair gave Straw responsibility for House of Lords reform and party funding, issues which had been part of the portfolio of the Department for Constitutional Affairs. In addition, Straw was given the chairmanship of the Constitutional Affairs cabinet committee.[5]

On 25 March 2007, Straw announced he is to run Gordon Brown's campaign for the Labour leadership - the first official confirmation the Chancellor will stand.[6]

It is claimed that Jack Straw may become the new Chancellor of the Exchequer under a Brown government.

[edit] 2006 veil controversy

Main article: United Kingdom debate over veils

In October 2006 Straw attracted controversy by suggesting to a local newspaper (The Lancashire Evening Telegraph) that women wearing a full-veil (niqab) can inhibit inter-community relations, though he denied the issue was raised for political gain, stating that he had raised it in private circles in the past and it had never progressed beyond discussions. Although he did not support a law banning a woman's right to choose to wear the veil, he would like them to abandon it all together. Asked whether he would prefer veils to be abolished completely, Mr Straw said: "Yes. It needs to be made clear I am not talking about being prescriptive but with all the caveats, yes, I would rather."[7] He said that he had asked women visiting his constituency surgeries to consider uncovering their noses and mouths in order to allow better communication. He claimed that no women had ever chosen to wear a full-veil after this request.[8][9][10]

There is debate within the Muslim community whether the Quran and hadith based sharia principles allow the full face to be visible or only allows the eyes to be visible, while most Muslims respect some form of veil as it was worn by the female members of the Prophet's family.

Tony Blair and Salman Rushdie have stated that they support Straw,[11] while Ken Livingstone and Steven Berkoff have come out on the side of the Muslim minority.[12][13][14]

Nazreen Nawaz, a spokeswoman for the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir said: "The Muslim community does not need lessons in dress from Jack Straw, any more than it needs lessons in parenting from John Reid."[15]

The Stop the War Coalition and the political party Respect both denounced Jack Straw's declarations, accusing him of pandering to anti-muslim prejudices.[citation needed]

[edit] Family issues

In 1998, Straw was said to be embarrassed by newspaper revelations that his teenage son was dealing cannabis; Will Straw had apparently sold 1.92 g of cannabis resin to an undercover reporter,[16] and was cautioned by police after his father turned him in.

There was further embarrassment in 2000 when Jack Straw's brother — also named William — was fined for indecently assaulting a 16 year old girl.[17]

In June 2006 Private Eye magazine revealed that Straw's wife, Alice Perkins, joined the board of the country's largest airports operator BAA in March of the same year, shortly before it was taken over by the Spanish firm Ferrovial.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Partial bibliography

[edit] Author or co-author

  • Implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998: Minutes of Evidence, Wednesday 14 March 2001 (2001) ISBN 0-10-442701-9
  • Making Prisons Work: Prison Reform Trust Annual Lecture (1998) ISBN 0-946209-44-8
  • Future of Policing and Criminal Justice (Institute of Police & Criminological Studies Occasional Paper S.) (1996) ISBN 1-86137-087-3
  • Policy and Ideology (1993) ISBN 0-9521163-0-8

[edit] Reports

  • Reform of the Race Relations Act 1976: Proposals for Change Submitted by the Commission for Racial Equality to the Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for the Home Department, on 30th April 1998 (1998) ISBN 1-85442-210-3

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ Times Online. "How the US fired Jack Straw", 2006-08-07. Retrieved on August 14, 2006.
  4. ^ [3]
  5. ^ The Guardian. "Clarke sacked in major cabinet reshuffle", 2006-05-05. Retrieved on May 5, 2006.
  6. ^ BBC News. "Straw to run Brown leadership bid", 2007-03-25. Retrieved on March 25, 2007.
  7. ^ In quotes: Jack Straw on the veil - BBC News. October 6, 2006
  8. ^ http://www.blackburncitizen.co.uk/news/newsheadlines/display.var.954145.0.straw_in_plea_to_muslim_women_take_off_your_veils.php
  9. ^ http://www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=22773
  10. ^ BBC News – Straw's veil comments spark anger
  11. ^ Blair, Rushdie support former British foreign secretary who ignited veil debate The San Diego Union-Tribune. October 10, 2006
  12. ^ The Evening Standard - October 10. Quote by Ken Livingstone[4].
  13. ^ Letter to the Independent by Steven Berkoff[5]"
  14. ^ Ken Livingstone in the Daily MailDaily Mail
  15. ^ http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/06/news/london.php
  16. ^ [6]
  17. ^ CNN: UK minister's brother fined for sex assault
  18. ^ [7]
  19. ^ [8]
  20. ^ [9]

[edit] External links

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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Barbara Castle		 Member of Parliament for Blackburn
1979–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
?		 Shadow Secretary of State for Environment
1992–1994		 Succeeded by
Frank Dobson
Preceded by
Tony Blair		 Shadow Home Secretary
1994–1997		 Succeeded by
Brian Mawhinney
Preceded by
Michael Howard		 Home Secretary
1997–2001		 Succeeded by
David Blunkett
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Robin Cook		 Foreign Secretary
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Margaret Beckett
Preceded by
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2006–present		 Incumbent
Lord Privy Seal
2006–present
Order of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
The Rt. Hon Mr. Michael Martin, MP, Speaker of the House of Commons		 The Rt. Hon Mr. Jack Straw, MP
United Kingdom Order of Precedence
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The Most Hon. the Marquess of Cholmondeley
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