Clarke insists he's not resigning
Tories say Charles Clarke's position is untenable
More than 1,000 foreign criminals who should have been deported have been released from jail into the community, the home secretary has admitted.
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Wednesday, 26, Apr 2006 12:00
Charles Clarke was forced to defend his position in a hostile House of Commons today about why over 1,000 foreign prisoners were released when they should have been deported.
The Conservatives have warned that the failure to deal with the problem after it was first identified last summer meant the home secretary's position was now "untenable".
But Mr Clarke insisted that while he took full responsibility for what was a "systematic failure" in the immigration system and had apologised, he would not resign.
"This is entirely a matter for government ministers to take responsibility, and in particular myself, and not to shelter behind officials in this regard. This is a systemic issue that is my responsibility," he said.
"I interpret this as meaning it is my responsibility to get the system working correctly and in the most efficient way and that is what I intend to do."
Yesterday, Mr Clarke said 1,023 foreign national prisoners had been released since 1999 without being assessed for possible deportation. It then emerged that 288 of these had been released since the Home Office was told of the problem last summer.
Although the Tories held back from calling for his resignation yesterday, leader David Cameron today warned this latest revelation showed Mr Clarke "cannot give the Home Office the leadership that it so badly needs".
The home secretary said last night that the number of people released since last year was "very, very few", but given that the true figure was 288, Mr Cameron said he had "mislead people about the scale of the problem".
Mr Clarke revealed that he had offered to resign over the issue, but Tony Blair refused to accept it, and today he stood by his minister during prime minister's questions.
But when Mr Cameron was calling for the home secretary's head, Mr Blair only said: "I do not accept that the home secretary did not act on this matter." This is a lukewarm defence for one of his key allies and one of the most senior members of the government.
Mr Blair also admitted that he did not know that 288 people had been released since last summer "until today", prompting another attack from the Tory leader.
"Let us be absolutely clear – the prime minister backs incompetent ministers even when he doesn't know the facts. When is this government going to back the public and protect the public instead of protecting their backs?" Mr Cameron said.
When it came for Mr Clarke to make his statement to MPs at the end of prime minister's questions, Mr Blair did not stay to support him. The home secretary was left to begin his speech to the cries of "you're on your own" from the opposition benches.