""It is plainly an attempt to drive the conservatives towards the libertarian right.""

It's all in the perception Richard.

I would have said it is plainly an attempt to prevent any further slide toward the totalitarian, communist left (as opposed to the genuine socialist left), adding only that it is a singularly stupid way to make such an attempt.

I can't recall who said it, and I don't have the time right now to find out, but I am reminded that someone once said "He that will give up freedom in exchange for security, will, in the end, have neither".

WLD, that's the view of a Tory.

Don T.