The home secretary of the day, picking up the pieces of a ramshackle and discredited security act, produces a fresh version primed for the digital age. But the investigatory powers bill hits heavy weather. It features a judicial commissioner signing off on police and sundry requests to bug phones, chart private emails and the rest. But how does that safeguard journalism’s sources if newspapers and broadcasters aren’t even told their sites are cleared for snooping by a judge who wasn’t given all the facts before signing the warrant? Think of the intelligence chiefs and that dodgy dossier mill. Think of Scotland Yard playing fast and loose too many times.
Where are the safeguards, home secretary? The lack of them alarmed the House of Lords last week, and the whole of the press is much alarmed in turn. Too much investigative reporting lies in pawn. Too many sources stand at risk. You’ve been very difficult over this, and we’ll have to appeal to the prime minister to change your mind … oh, you are the PM now. Which means it’s Catch-22. But also a first test for flexible thinking behind a new desk.
■ There are, perhaps, no John Cole memorial awards to hand out as a fortnight of political convulsions winds down, but if I were dishing out prizes there’d be a modest but high quality one for Norman Smith, assistant political editor at the BBC – and the suffering soul forced to get up early to do three minutes of briefing for Today at 6.35am.
He’s worked at Westminster for 23 years. He isn’t flashy: an understated, underrated fiftysomething. But he’s shrewd, subtle and concise, offering good, independent judgment. Often, when you’ve heard his predictions of what to expect, you can take the rest of the morning off. Remember the name again: Smith.
