More resigning thoughts...

"I knew in my own mind that I had no personal case to answer, because it is what is in my head and on my conscience that matters to me. I would never compromise my integrity or my honesty, and I am not resigning because my conscience is clear. I believe that, working with my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, I have made systematic and significant progress in implementing our policy and delivering real change and improvements. I am neither incompetent nor dishonest and I intend to carry on doing my job as long as the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary want me to do so." - Beverley Hughes three days ago in Parliament.

So what changed?

There is no gloating - it is always tragic when someone loses their job - but this does raise serious questions not only about how we process immigration applications but also about just what this government's values are. While it is just conceivable that this slipped her mind, what is not conceivable is that her memory was never jogged once by all the furore, that she had to be 'reminded' by another Minister (who clearly had nothing to do and so could remember). It is, however unfortunately, entirely conceivable that when concerns were raised about this a year ago absolutely nothing was done!