The former Shadow Minister for Police Reform and the main driver behind the concept of elected commissioners, Nick Herbert, has been announced as the new policing minister.

Most recently, Mr Herbert was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in January 2009. He last held the post of Shadow Minister for Police reform in December 2005, before being promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of Stat for Justice in July 2007.

Mr Herbert will take up a challenging role alongside Home Secretary Theresa May in implementing plans for elected police commissioners as they remain strongly opposed by many senior police officers.

The idea was heavily led by Mr Herbert as early as 2006, when he undertook work as Shadow Police Reform Minister. In an interview with Epolitix at the time he said:

“I think you have to put in place a local accountability mechanism, and we`re looking at direct forms of accountability which I think will be radical and exciting and will I hope reengage the public with the police.

“We`re not talking about elected chief constables. What we`ve said is there needs to be some form of direct local accountability, and that means a directly elected body or individual…you could directly elect police authorities rather than have them as partially-appointed bodies and give them a democratic legitimacy, [or] there could be an individual who is directly elected who then is responsible for the police.”

Even then he was aware of concerns raised by policing figures and attempted to reassure that operational independence is very important and suggested that increased government direction has, to date, compromised this.

“We would actually enshrine the principle of local accountability with operational independence of police chiefs, and I think that`s very important.

“What I think is that having a directly elected element in the process will re-energise the relationship the police have with the public. I think it will get the police facing more towards the public and less towards Whitehall and all the bodies that seek to direct them.

“I think we need the energy that an electoral process can provide to reflect the community’s desire to see some real action in relation to criminality,” Mr Herbert said.

(Read the full interview at http://www.epolitix.com/interviews/interview-detail/newsarticle/nick-herbert-shadow-police-reform-minister/)

Prior to his election in May 2005, Mr Herbert was the Director of Reform, the independent think tank which he co-founded in 2002.

Between 1998 and 2000, Mr Herbert was Chief Executive of Business for Sterling, where he launched an anti-euro campaign.

His website claims “He continues to believe that too much power has been transferred to the European Union and that the process not only needs to be halted but also now put in reverse so that powers are returned to national parliaments where they belong.”

MP for Arundel and South Downs, Nick Herbert, has been announced as the new policing minister.

Most recently, Mr Herbert was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in January 2009. He last held the post of Shadow Minister for Police reform in December 2005, before being promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of Stat for Justice in July 2007.

Prior to his election in May 2005, Mr Herbert was the Director of Reform, the independent think tank which he co-founded in 2002.

Between 1998 and 2000, Mr Herbert was Chief Executive of Business for Sterling, where he launched an anti-euro campaign.

His website claims “He continues to believe that too much power has been transferred to the European Union and that the process not only needs to be halted but also now put in reverse so that powers are