You have to admire the way this government covers all the angles sometimes. By ‘covers’ I mean ‘papers over’, obviously.

Sending refugees back to Iraq? Don’t worry if it’s not as safe as you claim, get them to sign a piece of paper waiving your responsibility should any of them get bombed, shot, raped or drilled on their return.

Worried about whistleblowers highlighting the failures of government? Don’t fix the failures, fix the whistleblowers.

And now, worried about coroners pointing out the mistakes, incompetence and political mendacity on the part of the Ministry of Defence that led to the deaths of British soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan? Don’t worry about the mistakes, incompetence and political mendacity, just shut the coroners up.

Problem solved. A lack of body armour, or radios, or Snatch Land Rovers led to soldiers’ deaths ? It can’t be the MoD’s fault if nobody says so, can it? If Iraqi militias had dragged Private Jason Smith through the streets of Basra, Des Browne would have gone mental.

He sees nothing wrong however with dragging Private Smith and his family through the courts to spare a few blushes and avoid ‘civil liability’. A liability, let us not forget, which would mean a bit more cash for the families of dead soldiers killed because fat, self-serving Des Browne is more interested in covering his arse than the torsos of his men heading into battle.

(Via Mike.)