…from Lord Mackenzie, on ID cards:

He told BBC News: “Let’s look at the Soham murders. If Ian Huntley had had an identity card, would he have got the job at Soham school which allowed him to commit the murders? I think not.”

Erm, I think so, your lordship. Huntley didn’t disguise his identity to get the job so where would an ID card confirming that help? (Ignoring the too-often-forgotten fact that he didn’t work at the school attended by his victims.) The problems highlighted by the Bichard Inquiry related failures in the way Humberside and Cambridgeshire police forces recorded intelligence information, and how that weakened criminal records checking, an entirely separate issue from ID cards. A shameful attempt to use an emotive crime to distort a controversial issue.