And lo

It seems the report the HO have brought out, which Andy Burnham is keen to point out was only supposed to illustrate the fact that ID Theft is a growing crime, simply hasn't washed. Loads of newspapers have demonstrated how much the figures have been manipulated and misrepresented. What is more, some of the criticism has come from the finance industries themselves, who have a somewhat narrower definition of identity theft. Apparently the HO's figures even include money spent on police dealing with people who pretend to be gasmen and the like to gain entry to people's houses. Burnham has been backing out of the idea that the report was supposed to support the ID Card Bill, despite the fact that he has used the report to support the ID Card Bill and it's been released just in time for the vote. Had it been more negative, it would have been released on the morning of the vote, of course, and probably would've been a good deal longer. Nice to see how readily people are smelling a rat over it.

That said, with the recent embarrassment over the religious hatred bill, the whips will be working at the hurry-up, so anything could happen. A weird sort of balance occurs, though - if the ID card bill goes bye-bye then it will be an even bigger embarrassment for Tony, and that might be worth rebelling for, no matter what threats the whips will trot out.

Of course I'm stuck with Jowell. Can't be helped.