EVIDENTLY as surprised as all the pundits and the party leadership itself at the massive mandate given to Labour, the new Home Secretary, Blackburn's MP, Jack Straw, reveals today the frustration of the long years without power.

For that bitter defeat of five years ago when, under Neil Kinnock, victory eluded Labour provoked doubts over whether government would ever be in the party's grasp.

Today, as one of the most powerful politicians in the country, the East Lancashire MP has been disabused in startling fashion of both that worry and disappointment that went with Labour's age in opposition.

The talented and ambitious Mr Straw presides over the Home Office, having shadowed his new post for years - and, as a front bench spokesman for even longer and been a minister-in-waiting for all but a year of his 18 years as an MP.

He will need to draw on all his experience as a frustrated understudy, now that the star role is his at last.

For as the government's lawman, he has the task of addressing one of the country's major concerns - crime.

It is a factor that impinges on the lives of millions, determining how safe and confident they feel. And, as a politician, Mr Straw will need no reminding of the influence that the crime levels can have on the government's popularity.

He has, of course, shown himself to be a remarkable tough Shadow Home Secretary, lambasting the anti-social "winos and squeegee merchants," drafting proposals for curbing so-called neighbours from hell and coming down hard and swiftly on juvenile offenders.

Now, catapulted to power and unrestrained by a decimated new opposition, he is among the first of the new ministers with the task of proving that New Labour can deliver.

For out of an otherwise largely indistinct manifesto, the party's law and order proposals, embracing the very sort of measures Mr Straw has advocated, form one of the few clear policies that are due for early deliverance in the Queen's Speech. The voters will welcome the toughness - and would perhaps greet it even more if the last government's proposals for automatic severe sentences for persistent criminals were also adopted - but the test will be the effect.

And Mr Straw has to make an early mark as the Home Secretary who made the streets and homes of Britain safer.

He has evidently an ear for the voters' concerns on law and order - not least those of his constituents whose own grim experiences have directly influenced his proposals for dealing with bad neighbours.

But he must ensure that the cares and demands of high office and also the freedom-of-action granted by Labour's massive majority does not insulate him from them and the country's grass roots.

We wish him well in what is one of the toughest jobs in government.

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