Finally I've been able to locate that nagging sense of deja vu ...
Who remebers ....
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1369496/Drug-confessions-ambush-Widdecombe.html
(article in full)
telegraph.co.uk
Drug confessions ambush Widdecombe
By George Jones
5-6 minutes
MEMBERS of the shadow cabinet received an urgent bleeper message from James Arbuthnot, their Chief Whip, at the end of last week.
"Journos," he warned them, were surveying the Tory front-benchers on whether they had taken drugs. He advised them to answer truthfully. His aim was to save them from wrecking their political careers and embarrassing the party leadership by being trapped into lying about youthful indiscretions.
In doing so, he unwittingly delivered the biggest blow yet to the political credibility of Ann Widdecombe, the shadow home secretary and one of the party's most visible figures. Seven members of the shadow cabinet, including Francis Maude, disclosed that they had tried drugs with varying degrees of enthusiasm in their youth.
It was probably the biggest mass voluntary "outing" of past illegal behaviour by a group of senior politicians. The image of Tories as the party of law and order has undoubtedly taken a knock. So has Miss Widdecombe's "zero tolerance" policy on the possession of drugs.
According to a senior Tory yesterday, the disclosure that seven of the shadow cabinet had tried drugs would have come as "quite a shock" to Miss Widdecombe, who had led a "sheltered life". Had she been a student in the 1970s instead of the 1960s the party might not be in turmoil now over her proposals.
Her generation largely missed the drug culture. It only became commonplace among later intakes of students - as was demonstrated by this weekend's admission by her colleagues. She now faces a shadow cabinet revolt over her policy of introducing a £100 minimum fine for the first offence of possessing even a small amount of drugs. It is a proposal which many of her colleagues and fellow Tory MPs fear will alienate young voters as well as their parents.
Miss Widdecombe, however, is digging in her heels. She is furious that attention has focused on the policy of mandatory fines for cannabis users and not on what she regards as a serious attempt to tackle drug dealing and drug-related crime. The row has all the hallmarks of the "back to basics" furore which helped to destabilise John Major's government.
After Mr Major served notice at the 1993 Tory conference that his Government would champion family values and challenge the permissive society, a series of Tory MPs and ministers split from their wives or were shown to have mistresses. The latest row has revealed serious short- comings in Tory policy-making and presentation, as well as effectively torpedoing the central thrust of last week's party conference - that the Conservatives were now "ready for government".
Initially, party spin doctors believed that a "zero tolerance" policy on drugs would be a winner - sending out a tough law and order message, building on a series of "populist" initiatives.
Last Tuesday, on the eve of Miss Widdecombe's conference speech, The Telegraph and three other newspapers were briefed in advance that she was going to announce that a Tory government would no longer tolerate the possession of drugs. A briefing paper from the Conservative Research Department stated that the Tories planned to introduce a minimum punishment of a fixed penalty fine of at least £100 for the first offence of possession of illegal drugs.
"Those caught will receive a criminal record," the document stated. It pointed out that around 50,000 of those caught possessing drugs received only a police caution. In future they would not get away "scot free".
Conservative party officials later confirmed that even those caught possessing small amounts of soft drugs, such as cannabis, would receive the fine and criminal record, not a caution, even for a first offence. The Telegraph, realising the implications of the policy, splashed the report on the front page with the headline "Tory crackdown on cannabis" on the day of her speech. Immediately alarm bells started ringing among her colleagues - and many younger representatives at the conference.
Her message was at odds with the attempt by Michael Portillo, the shadow chancellor, to show that the Tory Party was "inclusive" and tolerant of those with alternative lives. Police and groups working with drug offenders also branded the plan unworkable. Miss Widdecombe was told by William Hague, who had initially approved the policy, that she had to "explain it better".
She stressed that the fine would be like a "speeding ticket", that it would not carry a criminal record, which could damage a young person's job prospects. Her colleagues, however, believe that their own admissions have shown her to be woefully out of touch with changing attitudes to soft drugs.
Mr Hague's inclination is to back her and ride out the storm, but a fierce debate is raging within the party on whether the policy can stand or should be watered down. The outcome is likely to have a major impact on British drugs policy - and the Tories' electoral prospects.