Police reforms: getting on the right side of history

Who was the one MP to attack the record of the police unequivocally during last week's debates?

"From the bungled arrest of the ricin plotters to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the failure to investigate the ringleader of the July 21 suicide bomb plot, the arrest of Damian Green, the admission that not one of its 100,000 stop and searches under the Terrorism Act had led to a terror-related arrest, and finally the 'Hackgate' scandal, the Met has stumbled from one blunder to another," the senior MP said. "The result: its reputation, and its confidence, has been severely damaged. For a decade we've seen the consequences of the Met's flawed counter-terrorism strategy, and now London is suffering as a result of its failure to tackle gang culture and control the riots."

That was David Davis, the traditionalist Tory and former home secretary (and Prospect contributor). His powerful words, joining the dots of what he called the Met's "litany of disasters" in recent years—I would add the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 riots—contrasted with the positioning of Ed Miliband, the Labour leader.

Having spent some time with Miliband, I believe that his instincts are liberal when it comes to home affairs. They were evident during his first set-piece speech as Labour leader last year, when he said he would not attack the Government's justice policy from the right. And they were privately clear when, according to one MP, he whispered to a colleague during a Commons debate recently, seeking reassurance that he was "doing the right thing."

Yet as is sometimes the case, he has allowed his instincts to be swayed by those around him. Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper have been among those persuading him to adopt the pro-police position which he is outlining in a speech as I write. The tactic is clear, and it has become a new Labour favourite: outflank the Conservatives in order to portray them as "weak."

But when Ed Miliband repeatedly calls for Cameron to re-think his police cuts policy, you can tell his heart just isn't in it. And as the Murdoch affair showed, Ed Miliband should trust his instincts. In the short term, Labour may be on the right side of popular opinion in opposing the police cuts. However, in siding with the police, conservative and opposed to change as they are, Miliband may be making a bigger strategic mistake. Police cuts are not the same as reform, but they do come alongside the welcome introduction of elected police chiefs, and the force will have to change if it is to do more for less. Cameron's relationship with the police is spiralling out of control, and if it results in the first real attempt to shake up this sealed-off institution, then it will be Cameron and not Miliband who ends up on the right side of history.