Resignation

Under what circumstances should a politician resign? If he/she is running a department should any minor misdemeanor by departmental staff be a resignation issue? Certainly not. If he/she murders someone in cold blood? Certainly, although the judicial system should take care of that. So, what about all the possibilities in between? At what point does a politician become responsible for the actions of his/her underlings and what level of responsibility demands the rolling of heads?

All these questions have come to the fore, yet again, in British politics recently with the actions of Charles Clarke (former Home Secretary) and John Prescott (Deputy Prime Minister). For those readers not into the intricacies of the Westminster "village", the former presided over a period when hundreds of foreign criminals we not considered for deportation upon release when they should have been, and the latter had an oh-so-traditional affair with a secretary in his department.

While the actions of Mr. Prescott might be immoral, it's debatable whether or not they demand the use of the governmental axe. Those of Mr. Clarke, however, are inexcusable. It would seem sensible to me that making such a serious sequence of errors over such a long period of time and failing to inform the Prime Minister, even when asked about it directly, and then ignoring several reports identifying the problem should demand an instant resignation - but not in the world of New Labour! Mr. Clarke refused to fall on his sword and had to be sacked by Tony Blair in his recent reshuffle.

So, it seems that my earlier assumption was right: anything but murder is fine...