Why Ed Miliband is wrong to call for Ken Clarke to go

Ken Clarke’s bungling defence of the government’s policy of halving rape sentences in the event of early admissions of guilt on Radio 5 Live this morning was rightly controversial, and ushers in extremely serious questions over rape and a criminal justice system which so often fails victims. The old-fashioned language used by Clarke when distinguishing between different types of rape—the justice secretary talked of “serious rape”—was ill-advised and damaging. The government is in trouble over this policy and almost certainly wrong on rape, of which there are disgracefully many more cases than convictions.

However, does that mean Ed Miliband was right to jump on the back of the interview at Prime Minister’s Questions today and call for Clarke to be sacked by the end of the day? Would it really be in the national interests for Miliband to force out one of the very few cabinet ministers with real liberal qualities and with whom the Labour leader shares key values on criminal justice?  After all, this is what Ed Miliband told his party’s conference after becoming leader last year:

“When I disagree with the government, as on the deficit, I will say so loud and clear and I will take the argument to them. But when Ken Clarke says we need to look at short sentences in prison because of high re-offending rates, I'm not going to say he's soft on crime.”