18th November, 2011, 1:34 pm John Reid: I didn’t say “not fit for purpose” Share this article: John Reid’s tenure as Home Secretary is perhaps best known for his quote that the department was not “fit for purpose”. Except, he revealed last night, that he’d never actually said the phrase. Watch the video below: Tags: Immigration / John Reid / Home Office / Subscribe to our daily email More from LabourList News ‘If we don’t define our ends, populists will define them for us’ At Davos, Mark Carney challenged the world’s middle powers, including the UK, to “take the signs down”. He… Calvin Bailey MBE MP 5th February, 2026, 6:00 am Columnist Ben Cooper column: ‘Stop protecting golf courses, start building homes’ Look closely at a map of any city in England, and you will see vast tracts of well-maintained… Ben Cooper 5th February, 2026, 6:00 am News Government accepts change to Mandelson document release amid rising backbench pressure The government has put forward a change to its own amendment regarding the process of document release on… James Tibbitts 4th February, 2026, 5:19 pm
News ‘If we don’t define our ends, populists will define them for us’ At Davos, Mark Carney challenged the world’s middle powers, including the UK, to “take the signs down”. He… Calvin Bailey MBE MP 5th February, 2026, 6:00 am
Columnist Ben Cooper column: ‘Stop protecting golf courses, start building homes’ Look closely at a map of any city in England, and you will see vast tracts of well-maintained… Ben Cooper 5th February, 2026, 6:00 am
News Government accepts change to Mandelson document release amid rising backbench pressure The government has put forward a change to its own amendment regarding the process of document release on… James Tibbitts 4th February, 2026, 5:19 pm
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‘If we don’t define our ends, populists will define them for us’
Ben Cooper column: ‘Stop protecting golf courses, start building homes’
Government accepts change to Mandelson document release amid rising backbench pressure