Jack Straw says Charles Clarke made an 'error' in shutting down group overseeing response to Macpherson report
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Charles Clarke was wrong to close down the Stephen Lawrence steering group, according to Jack Straw. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian
Jack Straw wrote earlier this month that establishing the Macpherson inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence was the "single most important" decision he made as home secretary.
In its first recommendation, the inquiry called for the establishment of a "ministerial priority" for all police services "to increase trust and confidence in policing amongst minority ethnic communities".
Straw accepted that recommendation when he established – and then chaired – the Stephen Lawrence Steering Group. The pan-Whitehall group was established in May 1999, three months after the publication of the Macpherson report, to oversee its 70 recommendations.
David Blunkett, Straw's successor as home secretary, maintained the steering group whose membership included Doreen Lawrence, the mother of the murdered teenager. But Charles Clarke, who served as home secretary from 2004-06, scrapped the steering group in October 2005.
In an interview with my colleague Jonathan Freedland for Radio 4's The Long View on Tuesday, Straw says this was a mistake:
JF: That's a point though isn't it, Jack Straw – there was this Stephen Lawrence steering group to take charge of senior, particularly senior management in the police. It was the Labour government that dropped it...
JS: Yes, David Blunkett and I kept it going and David's commitment was as intense as mine. For reasons quite frankly I never quite understood, at the time or subsequently, Charles Clarke decided that it had run its course and that alternative arrangements would be just as satisfactory. Now, we now know that that's not the case.
JF: So Charles Clarke made a mistake in closing it?
JS: Yes he did and Charles knows that's my opinion. For perfectly good reasons, but it was an error.
Doreen Lawrence criticised Clarke's decision. In an interview with the Observer in October 2005, she said:
A steering group was set up by Jack Straw to make sure the implementations happened, and he was very committed to it. When David Blunkett came in I felt he wasn't that committed to the steering group and there were times that we had to question the amount of time he attended meetings.
Since Charles Clarke has taken over, it's even more obvious that it's not as important. He did try and say the government was still committed to improving race relations, but people from the black community don't feel that. I don't feel that.
A month earlier Mrs Lawrence was highly critical of Clarke when news emerged that the steering group would be disbanded. In a speech to the National Black Police Association conference, she said:
I cannot believe we have achieved anything near what we should have done on the steering group. For the first time in British history we had independent people sitting around a table with the home secretary, acting as advisers to him as to how the community was feeling. The government should be applauded for that...but why have they dropped it?
Lee Jasper, then Ken Livingstone's policy director on policing and equalities, criticised the decision:
I urge the Home Secretary to rethink his decision to stand down the Stephen Lawrence Steering Group. It would be, at this time, a mistake to disband this taskforce. At a time when community-police relations, in particular with Muslim communities, are strained the work of this group assumes even greater importance.
Whilst the taskforce has achieved much in ensuring that recommendations of the Macpherson report are implemented, the work is far from over. The fact is that across the country there is still a problem similar to those that existed in London a decade ago. There is a continuing and compelling need to ensure the Lawrence Inquiry recommendations are implemented nationwide.
Clarke explained his decision to disband the group in a written ministerial statement on 21 October 2005:
The Lawrence Steering Group (LSG) was set up in 1999 to oversee progress and advise on the implementation of the 70 recommendations from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report. With the advice and support of its members, the majority of the 70 recommendations have been implemented. Those that are outstanding are being actioned by the relevant departments to ensure compliance with the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report.