Neocon Frum approves of Blair's new glove-puppets

David Frum - widely acknowledged as the author of the phrase 'axis of evil' to describe Iran, N Korea and Iraq - and co-author [with Richard Perle] of "An End to Evil" which was described in a Salon review as a "CAT scan of the Bush administration's collective brain" has come out firmly in support of Blair's re-engineered cabinet. He is particularly satisfied with the replacement of Jack Straw - who was beginning to show signs of weariness with Blair's continuing reckless militarism - with the blank sheet of paper that is Margaret Beckett:

Outgoing foreign secretary Jack Straw has repeatedly described military action against Iran as "inconceivable." Incoming foreign secretary Margaret Becket has not. Straw was a prominent figure in the Labour party; Beckett owes her rise entirely to Tony Blair. The prime minister is replacing a foreign secretary whose weak words impeded successfully coercive negotiations with Iran with one much more beholden to him - in other words, he is reasserting his personal leadership of the Iran matter. Which means that the British position on the matter will harden, as already have the positions of the French and German governments.Link

Frum also approves of the ditching of Clarke - whom he describes as 'ultra PC' - partly due to, as he sees it, Clarke's willingness to make "concessions to sharia and British Islamism".

It's interesting to note that Frum and Pearl advocate ID cards - quoting the Salon item again,"Their domestic policies are equally arresting: Requiring all residents to carry a national identity card that includes 'biometric data, like fingerprints or retinal scans or DNA,' and empowering all law enforcement officers to enforce immigration laws".

We've said it before - Blair is indeed our very own neocon PM [for the time being].