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How libertarian is the new cabinet?
Before the election, Liberal Democrat Voice, a blog site of LibDem supporters, compiled a ranking all members of the last Parliament by how libertarian they were based on their votes on a variety of votes relating to freedom of speech, trial without jury, ID cards, a national DNA database, and other similar civil liberties issues. The most authoritarian on these issues were ranked 100, those most libertarian ranked 0. It is by no means a precise rank, because of the difficulty in scoring votes missed by MPs, but with IDS ranked most authoritarian of the new cabinet, Huhne ranked most libertarian, it seems to be a reasonable guide. Particularly welcome are the low scores from Home Secretary Theresa May and from Attorney-General Dominic Grieve, in the most relevant positions to civil liberties.
| Position | Minister | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Minister | David Cameron | 12 |
| Deputy Prime Minister and Lord President of the Council | Nick Clegg | 9 |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | George Osborne | 9 |
| Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | William Hague | 6 |
| Secretary of State for the Home Department | Theresa May | 3 |
| Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice | Kenneth Clarke | 3 |
| Secretary of State for Defence | Dr Liam Fox | 12 |
| Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills | Dr Vince Cable | 3 |
| Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | Iain Duncan Smith | 15 |
| Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change | Chris Huhne | 0 |
| Secretary of State for Health | Andrew Lansley | 3 |
| Secretary of State for Education | Michael Gove | 9 |
| Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government | Eric Pickles | 9 |
| Secretary of State for Transport | Phillip Hammond | 6 |
| Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Caroline Spelman | 3 |
| Secretary of State for International Development | Andrew Mitchell | 3 |
| Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | Owen Paterson | 9 |
| Secretary of State for Scotland | Danny Alexander | 6 |
| Secretary of State for Wales | Cheryl Gillan | 3 |
| Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport | Jeremy Hunt | 6 |
| Chief Secretary to the Treasury | David Laws | 3 |
| Paymaster General | Francis Maude | 9 |
| Minister of State in the Cabinet Office | Oliver Letwin | 6 |
| Minister of State for Universities and Science | David Willetts | 9 |
| Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons | Sir George Young, Bt | 6 |
| Chief Whip | Patrick McLoughlin | 6 |
| Attorney-General | Dominic Grieve | 3 |
