Guardian Watch: Gestapo Tactics

Anyone who has paid any attention to the news in the last few days will have undoubtedly come across reference to Sarah Helm's My family's ordeal in police probe article in Sunday's Observer.

In the article, Sarah Helm; journalist, author and wife to Tony Blair's former chief of staff Jonathan Powell, complains about the Assistant Commisioner John Yates Gestapo tactics while investigating the cash-for-honours allegations.

Describing the hell her family was put through in the last few months, Helm isolates an incident when police (legitimately) question Ruth Turner over her role in the affair, bemoaning how the police "Pick on a woman living alone, give her a scare and hope she'll slip up."

Am i the only one who finds this a little bit hypocritical?

Coming from an administration that has presided over the greastest assault on civil liberties in post-war years, knowingly allowed US extraordinary rendition flights through its territory and introduced more new offences than any government before it, Helm's charge would be laughable if wasn't so insulting to the thousands of people who are now feeling the sharp end of New Labour's New Britain.

The Labour leadership obviously couldn't resist bringing down some heat on Yates and is men, and in Helm they've found a relatively indirect way of doing it, free from the uncomfortable questions any formal legal proceedings might dredge up.

As a piece of journalism the article reads like it would be more at home in Pick Me Up than The Observer with Helm adopting an outraged, anecdotal tone to underline the concerned mother angle and maximise effect.

One positive aspect does come from the article however:

For those worried that The Observer has strayed from its leftist roots, this piece of pravda-esque reporting should no doubt put them a little more at ease. (ouch!)