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| Norman Baker has sacrificed his career for a worthy cause | Norman Baker has sacrificed his career for a worthy cause |
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| “I was a cuckoo in the nest... kept on a tight leash... forced to walk through mud.” The Liberal Democrat minister, Norman Baker, resigned on Monday in a flurry of metaphor abuse. All unhappy coalitions, as Tolstoy might have said, are unhappy in their own way. As in this case. Baker wanted a Home Office that worked as a coalition. His boss, Theresa May, wanted a Conservative one. They clashed. | |
| Since Baker was able to boast advances on female genital mutilation, animal experiments, antisocial behaviour and an “evidence-based approach to drugs policy,” it is hard to see he has much to complain about. He has achieved more than most ministers in that benighted department. He was right to be angry at May’s dire attempt to suppress his report on global drug legalisation. But he won this battle. | Since Baker was able to boast advances on female genital mutilation, animal experiments, antisocial behaviour and an “evidence-based approach to drugs policy,” it is hard to see he has much to complain about. He has achieved more than most ministers in that benighted department. He was right to be angry at May’s dire attempt to suppress his report on global drug legalisation. But he won this battle. |
| Baker’s party leader, Nick Clegg, pleaded with him to stay, talisman of Clegg’s remarkable ability to hold his party in coalition to the bitter end. But Baker was a maverick with a local party fight with the Conservatives. He is unlikely to prompt a stampede for the door. Clegg deserves a medal for services to the cause of coalition. | Baker’s party leader, Nick Clegg, pleaded with him to stay, talisman of Clegg’s remarkable ability to hold his party in coalition to the bitter end. But Baker was a maverick with a local party fight with the Conservatives. He is unlikely to prompt a stampede for the door. Clegg deserves a medal for services to the cause of coalition. |
| Where Baker has performed a service is in the cause of his resignation, the difficulty of stimulating a sane debate on drugs in Britain. He might well have complained that his own party has for years been lily-livered on the topic, while the Labour party has been downright cowardly. Even last week, Ed Miliband and his colleagues lacked to guts to follow the logic of the Home Office report, as they have failed to do through years in office. | Where Baker has performed a service is in the cause of his resignation, the difficulty of stimulating a sane debate on drugs in Britain. He might well have complained that his own party has for years been lily-livered on the topic, while the Labour party has been downright cowardly. Even last week, Ed Miliband and his colleagues lacked to guts to follow the logic of the Home Office report, as they have failed to do through years in office. |
| The Tories have the biggest hang-up. In opposition, half the shadow cabinet admitted to taking drugs. Cameron signed a report deploring politicians who “postured with tough policies”. Yet Cameron and May alike seem terrified of even a passing brush with hard evidence. To May drugs are not an issue on a par with sex abuse or immigration control or payday loan fraud. They are not a matter for rational policy. They are left in the realm of faith, ignorance, superstition, taboo. | The Tories have the biggest hang-up. In opposition, half the shadow cabinet admitted to taking drugs. Cameron signed a report deploring politicians who “postured with tough policies”. Yet Cameron and May alike seem terrified of even a passing brush with hard evidence. To May drugs are not an issue on a par with sex abuse or immigration control or payday loan fraud. They are not a matter for rational policy. They are left in the realm of faith, ignorance, superstition, taboo. |
| That drug illegality causes more harm to society than drug misuse is surely beyond argument. But to May facts are no concern. Foreign experience is to be denied. Debate must not be informed. Don’t just say no, cries May, shriek it. In highlighting this stupidity, Baker has sacrificed his career for a worthy cause. | That drug illegality causes more harm to society than drug misuse is surely beyond argument. But to May facts are no concern. Foreign experience is to be denied. Debate must not be informed. Don’t just say no, cries May, shriek it. In highlighting this stupidity, Baker has sacrificed his career for a worthy cause. |
| • This article was amended on 4 November 2014, to correct a reference mistakenly attributed to Jane Austen. It was, in fact, Leo Tolstoy. |