2 + 2 = 3

Today we have a Cabinet row between the Home Secretary and the Attorney General, over the (woefully soft) sentencing of a paedophile, which exposes the rot at the heart of New Labour.

The Government no longer knows which way is up. Their flagship policy direction has failed. The public are no longer willing to put up with it. Cabinet Ministers start clutching at straws and then attacking each other.

More than anything, it is their weak, ineffective and complacent attitude to the law for which this Government will be remembered most. "Education, Education, Education" and "24hrs to save the NHS" are positively funny compared to "Tough on crime. Tough on the causes of crime".

Blair and his gawping wife have always been wonderfully well endowed with general electability but the sting in their collective tail has been their premeditated assault on our Justice system. Their approach to Government as a whole and justice in particular has been so childishly rebellious.

The Human Rights Act is pernicious. If needed at all, such an Act should only need to exist in emerging democracies. The HRA was never needed in this country because we invented Common Law and there were no Human Rights at risk. The only consequences were correctly predicted at the time - the guilty and the conceited will abuse it and society will suffer.

Law abiding people desperately want someone to stand up and protect them from the explosion of crime and anti social behaviour that hides behind the real legacies of New Labour - Human Rights and political correctness.

The Conservatives must learn quickly that no social policy will ever work until crime and punishment are tackled without compromise and life means life.