Does taking personal responsibility mean anything?

Much has been and will be written about the fiasco of the release of foreign prisoners. But The Independent puts its finger on the vulnerability of Mr Clarke (here):

"The fiasco - which only came to light after repeated questions from a Tory MP - plunged Mr Clarke into the worst crisis of his 16-month spell in charge of the department and dismayed Labour chiefs hoping to highlight the party's law and order credentials in next week's local elections. The pressure on him intensified last night when it emerged that 288 of the prisoners were freed after August 2005 when MPs first alerted the Home Office to the problem."

So, even although Home Office Ministers were alerted to the problem last August, the authorities continued to let foreign prisoners leave prison with any consideration of deportation; and, apparently, the practice continued up until March of this year. It is difficult to blame Mr Clarke and his team for failings which predated his appointment or of which Ministers were simply uninformed. But it seems entirely justified to hold the current set of Ministers personally responsible for the 288 most recently released.