Jacqui Smith's U-turn and the BBC

Sky are reporting that:

"In an interview with Sky's Adam Boulton on Sunday Live, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said youngsters caught with knives would be forced to confront the possible consequences by bringing them face-to-face with blade victims in hospitals...

"One of those proposals is that people caught carrying knives should be taken to see people in hospital who have been stabbed, or to meet the families of victims, is that correct?" Adam asked.

"It is," replied Ms Smith....

But now, the Home Office said they would instead only be expected to meet doctors to be educated about the injuries caused by knives."

So on Sunday the Home Secretary agreed that her new policy would involve

"people caught carrying knives ... taken to see people in hospital who have been stabbed, or to meet the families of victims"

whilst today her department say that they would only be expected to meet doctors.

This is confusing enough, but it is even odder is that the whole story has all but disappeared from the BBC news web site. If you search around the BBC site you will still find this page from yesterday evening (last updated at 20:57) entitled "Shock tactics for knife carriers", which starts thus:

"Young people who carry knives will be made to visit hospitals where stabbing victims are treated, in a bid to shock them into changing their behaviour. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said seeing "gruesome" injuries would be a tougher deterrent than sending all knife carriers in England and Wales to jail."

and continues later:

"Ms Smith told the BBC: "I'm concerned particularly about the way in which those who are carrying knives and those who are the victims appear to be getting younger."

She said the hospital visits would "make people realise that there is nothing glamorous about carrying a knife, it doesn't help you to be more safe and you will end up in serious trouble.

"I just think that's a better way of making people face up to the consequences of action and making them more likely not to carry knives again in the future.... Earlier she told Sky News it was "tougher" than imprisonment to make people "face up to the sorts of implications of young people carrying knives on our streets"."

Now the BBC are reporting that

"The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has denied suggestions of a Government U-turn over knife crime. Ministers had indicated that they wanted some knife offenders to be forced to see stab victims in hospital A&E units, to see the consequences of their actions. But Jacqui Smith, responding to a question from shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve, told the Commons that instead the visits would involve talking to doctors about the dangers of knives.">

You can see the video on that page. Jacqui Smith ends her answer thus:

"We are not, and I have never said we are, proposing to bring young people into wards to see patients"

I am confused; did the exchange with Adam Boulton reported at the top of this article take place? The video on the aforementioned Sky News page would seem to confirm their news article. In fact she goes on to confirm it from about 2:18 of that piece of video, talking about how seeing the injuries caused by knives would be a tough punishment. Do also contrast her Sky interview facing the camera with her House of Commons answer reading from a prepared statement. Does the word shameless cover it? Maybe David Cameron could raise this story at PMQs on Wednesday along with Gordon Brown's answer re Vehicle Excise Duty on 4 June.

You might ask why the BBC have decided not to query Jacqui Smith's story today? I think we all know why...