Is John Reid the right person to be in charge of the Home Office, and is he likely to be able to live up to his reputation as Blair's Mr Fix It? No, and no, respectively.

Some reckon that Reid is a possible future contender for the leadership role of the Labour Party, once Blair's long overdue departure has taken place, but his track record as a (self-professed) 'hard man' should disqualify him from any public office, if logic were how decisions are made in politics.

Former UK ambassador, Craig Murray, wrote this about Reid: "A hardened Stalinist with a long-term reputation for personal violence, at Stirling University he was the Communist Party's 'Enforcer', (in days when the Communist Party ran Stirling University Students' Union, which it should not be forgotten was a business with a very substantial cash turnover). Reid was sent to beat up those who deviated from the Party line."

To find out what influence Reid is likely to have on the Home Office (HO) we need to put their charts together and see how they interlock. One of the primary interconnections that leaps out is Reid's Neptune in close opposition to the HO's Sun, sesquiquadrate the HO's Mars, conjunct HO's Neptune, and trine HO's Pluto.

This means that Reid strongly activates the HO's Sun-Neptune-Pluto configuration. On the one hand, this configuration speaks of the hidden machinations of power. On the other, it represents a self-destruct mechanism. Reid's Neptune tightly locking into this natal configuration symbolises his undermining of the institution, his erosion of its power and its integration, and his washing away of its identity.

Reid also has Uranus square the HO's Mercury, and this symbolises his capacity to fragment the institution, shattering it.

Reid has a couple of astrological connections with the HO that suggest strengthening: Saturn trine the Sun, and Jupiter opposite Mars. Unfortunately his Saturn is also opposite the HO's Pluto, curtailing its power and/or making it more negative, and the Jupiter opposition to Mars suggests bad judgements and over-zealousness in matters of fighting crime.

So, then, the astrology strongly suggests that Reid is a bad choice to head this institution.

References:

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,1877939,00.html

http://www.fifth-estate-online.co.uk/comment/theukterrorplot.html