Straw does claim one liberal credential.
It shows that the home secretary, as a former member of Liberty, is quite stung by the accusation that his proposals, such as limiting the right to choose trial by jury, ride roughshod over long-held civil liberties. I think he was acting on the principle that when you have a bad case the best line of defence is to abuse the other side. His defence of the government's case on drugs and freedom of information was unsurprising. But he gave an interesting hint that the government's determination to press ahead with its plans to restrict access to jury trial might be weakening. When the government was defeated by the House of Lords on January 20, ministers suggested that they would bring the measure back in a few weeks.