In 2004, Privacy International, a civil liberties campaign group based inLondon, awarded Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP for Barking in East London and
the first ever Minister of State for Children, the 'Big Brother' Award for
"Worst Public Servant" after she backed controversial government measures that
trespassed upon personal privacy, enhanced the power of the burgeoning
database state and helped compromise our hard-won civil liberties.
Also, in 2004, she strongly defended the idea of greater state regulation of
individual's choices and supported more state interference in family life,
particularly in the way we bring up our children, by declaring, "some may call
it the 'nanny state', but I call it a force for good".
Of course, Margaret Hodge plans to be 'Super Nanny' in any such state!
On other matters concerning civil liberties she has strongly backed the power of the state to regulate our personal choices and tastes, including support for the smoking ban.
She has been consistently inconsistent in her approach to democracy as well.
She favours a fully elected House of Lords, which will do nothing more than
create more party politicians riding the gravy train, yet she opposes the
British people having a say on the Lisbon EU Treaty in a UK-wide referendum.
She has also rejected the idea of external audits on MPs' allowances, opposed the strengthening of the Freedom of Information Act, voted against the idea of allowing legitimate protest outside parliament, backed controversial measures on terror suspects being subject to control orders with only limited judicial
review, supported the Iraq War, yet opposed an investigation into its conduct and, significantly, strongly supported the introduction of ID cards, costing millions of pounds and which will only bolster state interference into our lives.
Can we afford MPs like Margaret Hodge?
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