It Was This Fair, But....

Seeing this image of Tony Blair taken during yesterday's speech in Sedgefield reminds me of the fisherman's tale.



It was this fair, but it got away.

You know in 1997 I was somewhat excited, sure the Labour landslide meant they didn't have to rely on Lib Dems for support but there was a hope that things might get a little better, if not a Lib Dem better. I'd been a child of Thatcher I was 9 when she entered Downing Street I was 27 when the Conservatives finally left office.

To be honest there was some great fair stuff in that first term. A ten pence tax rate, a national minimum rage, civil partnerships, devolution to Scotland, Wales and erstwhile Northern Ireland (of sorts). But there were also taxes by stealth, the start of a central controlling state over our personal information, but there was pandering to the banks and the unions trying to keep sweet with all and having control over neither.

Then of course near the start of that second term 9/11 happened, thing became even more hyper sensitive, our liberties were getting more and more closed down, as if the terrorists had won, only the terror was coming from our own government. We set out to get rid of Saddam and to hell with a factual accurate reason for doing so or a UN resolution for that matter, we were going in. There were a few brave Labservative members of Parliament who voted with the Lib Dems against war in Iraq on the ground laid out, but they were not enough.

No that 10p tax rate has gone, there are more stealth taxes, the personal allowance of income is frozen despite a 3% inflation rate. So when Tony is saying:

Look, Gordon he's a good friend of mine. He's served for 10 years as chancellor and 3 as Prime Minister, he can give you a future that is fair for all.

Remember that Tony himself promised that things could 'only' get better. Which they have stopped doing for some time now they are getting worse so much for that only. There are 4 steps for a fairer Britain but they are not going to come from voting Labour, or Conservative in this election. It truly is the one that has got away from the Labour Party and the Conservatives have never really had a bite at that particular fish.

Chilcot's Blair Damb Squib

Well what exactly did we learn from Tony Blair's appearance before the Chilcot inquiry yesterday.

Pretty much nothing, as Jackie Ashley writes in today's Guardian:

"the inquiry members had failed to nail him on the central issue of their quest – why had he taken the country to war when the Attorney General's advice had been lukewarm at least, on the legality of such action?"

So what was the point?

Blair even tried to turn on to the offensive asking where Saddam would be in 2010 if he hadn't taken action. Well a decade on from the first Gulf War we saw exactly what a decade of sanctions against arm deals to Iraq had left him. Jonathan Freeland puts it like this:

"To which the answer is surely that the 2003 invasion exposed Saddam and his ragtag army as a toothless tiger, whose rusting arsenal would be even more useless seven years on than it was then."

The former Prime Minister:

• gave no substantial ground over why he sent 40,000 UK troops to war to disarm Saddam of weapons he did not possess
• blamed blamed 'the very near failure of the Iraqi occupation' on Iranian interference
• arguing that if the west had backed off Saddam would have reassembled the invisible WMDs

As for regrets. He had none saying as his parting statement:

"Responsibility – but not a regret for removing Saddam Hussein. I think he was a monster."

This led to the jeers and calls of 'murderer' and 'liar' from the public gallery.

But then did we expect anything else key questions were left out from Jack Straw and Lord Goldsmith's questioning. There was the lack of the Paxman punch to get any answers to the tough questions. The real answers that needed to be got at were left out, there wasn't that sense of digging any deeper. Fern Britton proved to be a tougher, if shorter, inquisitor of Blair than Chilcot.

It's Friday....so...Tony Blair Pre-Chilcot

It is Friday and no doubt the event of the day is Tony Blair's appearnce before the Chilcot Inquiry. But here are a few things from before today.

First up is this contempt of Parliament bing carried out here, we may already know.



Here is what he revealed to Fern Britton, wonder if he was as open today before Chilcot.



But as this is a heavier Friday take than normal how about some Bird and Fortune.



And finally a Culture Show look back at Tony's reign.

War! Iraq! What is it Good For?

1980s

Frankie Says
War!
What is it Good For?

1990s

John Says
To return sovereignty to Kuwait
From illegal occupation

2000s

Tony Says
To stop WMD getting here
In 45 Minutes

2010s

Tony Says
Well, err, actually what I meant to say.
Was, well, you know.
It was to stop Saddam
Building those WMDs.
Err.
Yes the ones I said he'd had
Ready to fire in 45 minutes.

Regime Change was Goal of Blair not WMDs

Steve Bell Cartoon from the Guardian 8 July 2003

"I would still have thought it right to remove him [Saddam Hussein]. I mean obviously you would have had to use and deploy different arguments, about the nature of the threat."

So says Tony Blair, who has also admitted that the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) were only a convenient, in inaccurate, tool to bring about the goal of regime change. He was being interviewed by Ferm Britton, who has managed to get more candor out of the former Prime Minister that some of the hard pressed political operatives in news. He added:

"I can't really think we'd be better with him and his two sons still in charge, but it's incredibly difficult and I totally understand...

"That's why I sympathise with the people who were against [the war] for perfectly good reasons and are against it now, but for me, you know, in the end I had to take the decision."

So it would appear that the Lib Dems were right before we went to war. This was an illegal war.

This was one not so much about removing WMDs from the region but a dynasty from the region. This was something that not even when the same man had invaded another sovereign country. The dodgy dossier has just become a whole lot more dodgy as Blair has now revealed it was a convenient stick with which to beat Saddam.

Having to "deploy different arguments" if the 45 minute threat hadn't existed to enter another sovereign state and remove its leader shows premeditation to do something. The intent was there before anything resembling a 'just' cause. In a court of law that would be grounds to press for murder rather than manslaughter, but in the international field Blair being bold enough to admit it thinks that he should get away with it. Over recent weeks it has been becoming clear that George W. Bush and Blair were looking for a way to get Saddam implicated in 9/11 so that Bush could go an complete the job that daddy started but didn't complete.

So now from his own mouth we have the truth that WMDs was just a convenience that could be used to drag the country, or at least enough MPs, along with him to invade Iraq.

President Blair's Titanic

Well Capt. Brown had ordered the stoking of the engines and it was full steam ahead for the 'good' ship Blair to sail to the European Council Presidency.

Whoops! Mere hours after the captain gave a strong backing in a press conference, just as news that Vaclav Klaus appears ready to sign up the Czech Republic sign up to the Lisbon Treaty, it has run aground on an iceberg.

Neither Nicolas Sarkozy nor Angela Merkel are 'terribly enthusiastic' about the idea of President Blair. His main backer outside of his good captain is Silvio Berlusconi guess all those holidays in the Italian leader's villa haven't quite paid off as expected for the Blairs, as such an endorsement may as well come from Silvio Briatore or John and Edward in today's political circus.

Indeed Sarkozy, the French president, and Merkel, the German chancellor,discussed the position over dinner at the Elysée palace on Wednesday. They are understood to have agreed the post should be filled by a central right member of the EPP grouping in the EU, so there goes the hopes of any UK Tory as well.

The reason for the French lack of support was summed up by Jean-David Levitte, Sarkozy's most senior foreign affairs adviser who said:

"The UK is not in the eurozone, nor in the Schengen [free travel area in the EU] and it has a number of opt outs. These are not advantageous in this search for a candidate."

Very valid points, hard to lead Europe if you keep asking for exclusion. The list if the Tories take over would be even longer, opting out of the EU convention on Human Rights, pulling out of the cross border police agreements, even seeking to unravel the treaty that is about to be signed.

Bizarrely of course both Labour and the Tories say they want to lead Europe, but on their own terms. It is clear from the view of our EU members that is not the view that is tenable across the rest of the members. The decision of David Cameron's party to pull itself away from the mainstream centre right grouping is putting even more distance between us and the people who should be our closest allies.

Does this bode well for Labour's fall back of David Milliband for the the other new position, that of high representative for foreign policy? Personally I think Milliband is right to distance himself from seeking the role, as he is likely too to fail on similar grounds. Add in there though the view of the UK as a foreign aggressor by many in the world and this role surely is beyond the hope of any member of the ruling party in the UK just now.

So while the cabinet plays on it looks like the Brown/Blair Line's ship Titanic is sinking in the cool, cold waters of European politics.

So Here's to You Mrs Robinson (Something About Mary)

Writing in today's Scotsman* but repeated on his own website Lib Dem MEP George Lyon has outlined the Lib Dem objections to Tony Blair being named the first President of the EU under the terms of the Lisbon Treaty. In the same paper this morning families of Iraq soldiers killed in the Iraq conflict say that far from be elevated to President in Brussels he should go to the Hague to face charges of war crimes.

George ponders how the man who was responsible for the illegal invasion of Iraq, ignored millions across Europe who opposed the war, rode roughshod over our European neighbours who warned against it, angered Muslim nations who feared it, and circumvented the UN that tried to avert it, could possibly represent the EU on the world stage. Blair is seeking to use his role as a soft-landing after a hard fall, one we are also still hoping the economy although after his watch, but because of his Government's actions is also hoping for.

But Labour will tell us, who is the alternative candidate? Surely we need someone we can trust? Well George has an answer to Labour trying to promote their golden smiled hero to one last great office, and it is one I agree with, former Irish President Mary Robinson.

Not only did she enjoy a successful period as President of Ireland but after that she went on to be UN High Commissioner for Human Rights a role she also excelled at. While Blair made enemies for the UK and took away his own country's human rights, Mrs Robinson did just the opposite. She is a respected campaigner for human rights the world over.

In concluding George says:

"It is the duty of a responsible Government to back a candidate that can enjoy the support of the majority, not the minority. In backing Mary Robinson over Tony Blair, the UK Government can show that the position of EU President is far too important to be governed by tribalism.

"There is already a great deal of scepticism over the position of EU President, we should not add to it by fuelling the fire with nepotism. That is the danger the UK faces by backing Blair.

"So, here's to you Mrs Robinson. You've got my vote. It's time you had Britain's too."

George has even got a petition on his website that you can sign if you hate the idea of President Blair as well, I already have.

*Requires Premium membership of the Scotsman website.

I See Your True Colours Shining Though

Call me Dave, a liberal Conservative has shown his true colours today. Yes David Cameron has said that he is going to shut down the peace camp on Parliament Square and move it on.

He says that the encampment right outside Parliament is "pretty poor place" and looks like a shanty town. While he may be correct he is forgetting one important thing. The reason people feel the need to camp out in Parliament Square is because of the draconian approach to protest taken by the Labour Government. If the right to bring protest to Parliament Square were allowed people wouldn't feel the need for guerrilla warfare to stay their ground and fight the whole time.

Look at Holyrood in Edinburgh or the Synedd in Cardiff where protests can be taken to the seat of Government the protests are made and people then disperse. The problem is that by surprising free speech on the doorstep of the Palace of Westminster the protesters have had to camp out claiming their ground for fear of never being able to return and protest again, its the old case of squatters rights and that is not a democratic way to protest.

Wasn't Tony Blair who once said he liked the fact that people in the UK could protest right outside Downing Street and Parliament? Yes, believe it or not it was only about 8-9 years ago.

Deeper Reckonings: Mark's MP Meme II (The Political Geek Cut)

After I posted my response to Mark Thompson's meme listing all my MPs through life I read some of the others including Caron's, the political geek in me got interested. Caron had given a brief pen-picture of each and her own connection if any to others. North Down my home constituency is known for being an eccentric or unusual or trend-defying Northern Irish constituency and as for the others I knew there were tales to tell. Here are those tales.

September 1969 - February 1970 George Currie (Ulster Unionist) North Down: George was first elected in 1955 in succession to Northern Ireland's first female MP* Patricia Ford who had succeeded her father Sir Walter Smiles who was a victim of the MV Princess Victoria disaster in Great Storm of 1953 (Sir Walter's great-grandson, Patricia’s grandson may have relished the challenge of surviving that storm he is Bear Grylls). But I digress.

George Currie was first elected in 1955 as I said with a 96.9% share of the vote. This would have had more to do with the only challenger being Sinn Féin's Joseph Campbell actually achieving that party's highest ever box count in North Down than due to Communist era electoral rigging. Four years later he was returned with a largest numeric and percentage majority of 98%. He had already announced his intention to stand down by the time I was born. He died in 1978 hence I never got to meet him in the flesh.

February 1970- September 1988 Sir James Kilfedder (Ulster Unionist-1977; Independent Unionist-1980; Ulster Popular Unionist-1995): Kilfedder was first elected to Westminster for West Belfast in 1964 but lost out to another Northern Irish celebrity politician Gerry Fitt the founding leader of the SDLP in 1966. West Belfast's lost became North Down's gain as Kilfedder served from 1970 to his death in 1995 as the MP for North Down. He also elected for the 1973 Assembly for North Down, in 1975 for the Constitutional Convention, and the 1982 Assembly where he served as speaker to 1986 (earning at the time more than the Prime Minister for his dual roles).

On 20 March 1995 the Belfast Telegraph ran with a story that an Ulster MP was one of 20 MPs targeted by LBGT group Outrage!, led by Peter Tatchell, to come out in an open letter. Kilfedder was died of a heart attack the same day on his train in to Westminster from Gatwick Airport. A 2005 article in the same paper carried a story alluding to Kilfedder's past pointing to being that MP.

September 1988- July 1991 Richard Tracey (Conservative) Surbiton: Moving to Kingston for at the time the Polytechnic I found the third lawyer turned MP Richard Tracey as my MP. In the land of Tom and Barbara Good though he served merely as a JP and followed a career in journalist and Radio and TV current affairs before his election.

He's now a Member of the London Assembly elected in 2008. In 1997 he stayed (see later) to fight for the Kingston and Surbiton seat after boundary changes losing out by just 56 votes to our own Ed Davey. Although I first ran into Tracey on my return to the area in the Surbiton club, I was there playing for Surbiton Chess Club, I'd abstained on the vote to move to such a Conservative hotbed.

I enjoyed the summer all over the place before:

September 1991 - April 1992 Dave Nellist (Labour) Coventry South East: Another character of an MP, many Scottish socialists will find his mantra 'a worker's MP for a worker's wage' very familiar. For yeah in the height of Militant I found myself in the constituency of a Trotskyite Labour deselected Member of Parliament who was the next target of Kinnock's cohorts.

In 1983 when he was first elected it was initially allocated to share an office with the newly elected MP for Sedgefield. But the differing views of the two soon meant that the later was swiftly moved in with another of that year’s intake the member for Dunfermline East so possibly Nellist had something to do with the Blair-Brown pact.

I got to vote in my first election in 1992 Nellist stood as Independent Labour gathered 10,551 votes, trailing the Tory Martine Hyams on 10,591 and my next MP Jim Cunningham on 11,902. Nellist went on to form the Socialist Party (not to be confused with the Socialist Party of Great Britain. In 1998 he was elected to Coventry City Council, 12 years after he had last been a Labour Councillor for Coventry on West Midlands County Council.

April - August 1992 Jim Cunningham (Labour) Coventry South East: As said above Jim won my first Westminster election I could vote in, without my vote, and still represents Coventry South today. For the first time I was represented by a Scottish-born MP as Cunningham hail from just out West at Coatbridge. He has in the past called for the Queen to pay Income Tax as well as serving as PPS to Harriet Harman and Mike O'Brien while they were Solicitors General.

August 1992 - May 1996 Norman Lamont (Conservative) Kingston Upon Thames: Returning to complete my Economics degree I found accommodation in the constituency of the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and another Scottish born: did I not see the trend starting? Shortly after he became my MP and just before I resumed studies of course Norman presided over Black Wednesday and I had to reassure new landlord when he walked back in through the door that his mortgage was no longer effectively 50% more expensive but back where it was where he stared the day.

A word of warning though for Darling Lamont starting to see the 'green shoots of recovery' in 1993 during the Newbury by election. After the Government lost that seat to the Lib Dem's David Rendel Lamont was sacked.

I have another chess anecdote about Norman, one evening I overheard the following conversation at the Surbiton club "Norman's seen the figures he's heading for a safer seat.", "Where?", "Harrogate." Of course that safe Conservative seat added to my joy on Election Night 1997 as while SW London went yellow through Twickenham, Richmond Park, Kingston & Subiton, Sutton & Cheam and Carshalton & Wallington. The look on the former Chancellor's face as Phil Willis accepted the people's decision to elect a Lib Dem to serve Harrogate and Knaresborough.

May 1996 - April 2001 Robert McCartney (United Kingdom Unionist) North Down: McCartney was originally an Ulster Unionist like Kilfedder. In 1987 the Unionist Party's agreed in a pact not to stand against each other just a year after all the Unionist MPs had stood down in protest at the Anglo-Irish agreement losing a couple of their number in marginals in the process. Of course North Down was not really in any danger of turning Nationalist but Bob refused to stand down. He was expelled from the party and stood as a Real Unionist. The resulting election proved the narrowest of Kilfedder's 25 year career in North Down in all elections.

He didn't contest the 1992 General Election which saw the Conservatives as the closest challengers to Kilfedder. But in 1995 following Kilfedder's death he was returned with 37% of the vote in an 8 challenger contest, the Tories losing all but 583 of their vote 3 years earlier.

McCartney was elected to the May 1998 Assembly Election and carried 3 other MLAs into Stormont with his former One Man Party. However, by December he'd fallen out Cedric Wilson in Strangford, Patrick Roche in Lagan Valley, Norman Boyd in South Antrim and Roger Hutchinson East Antrim, to remain a one man band in the Assembly getting re-elected in 2003. However, his demise came in 2007 when he lost out on the last seat for North Down to Brian Wilson (not the Beach Boy) the first Green to be elected at that level in Northern Ireland.

May - November 2001 Robin Cook (Labour) Livingston: Having had a Chancellor, Speaker (Northern Irish) I racked up my next high office MP with the Foreign Secretary just before the 2001 General Election. Robin was first elected to Edinburgh Central in 1974. But in 1983 like Lamont was in Kingston was worried that boundary changes might cost him his seat so moved to Livingston a new constituency.

Of course Robin famously took a call at Heathrow, en route to holiday, from Alistair Campbell shortly after becoming Foreign Secretary asking him to choose between his then wife Margaret or his then mistress, later second wife, Gaynor before the press announced the affair. He chose to tell his wife it was over and made the announcement via a press statement in the departure lounge.

He also resigned as Leader of the House on principle over the decision to go to war with Iraq in 2003. After winning the election in 2005 I last saw him at the start of the Make Poverty History March in Edinburgh the date of birth of this blog. Within weeks he was dying whilst walking down Ben Stack on 6 August. His gravestone bears the epitaph 'I may not have succeeded in halting the war, but I did secure the right of parliament to decide on war.'

November 2001 - November 2004 Sir Tam Dalyell Bt. (Labour) Linlithgow: Moving less than two miles from Stoneyburn to Whitburn found me in a new constituency.

Tam is, although he never uses the title, 11th Baronet Dalyell of the Binns. He is named after his famous ancestor General "Sir Tam" Dalyell (1615–1685) who was a military commander for both Charles I and Charles II in the Civil War.

Tam first was elected in 1963 for West Lothian and of course leading up the devolution debate in the 1970s asked the famous and so far thus unsatisfactorily answered West Lothian Question about the role of Scottish and English MPs post devolution. The former having votes over English matters while the latter had no say over devolved issues the other way around. In 1963 the seat was split into two and Tam chose to represent the Northern Linlithgow section in which the Binns, a National Trust of Scotland property is located.

Following the 2001 election succeeded former Prime Minister Ted Heath to the honourific position of Father of the House, whose only recognised role is to chair the vote to appoint a new Speaker, which is bestowed on the longest serving member of the House. In 2004 he announced he was standing down at the next General Election to spend more times with his bees and to write his autobiography. The bees must be very demanding and the autobiography has yet to appear.

November 2004 -August 2005 Robin Cook again see above.

September 2005 - March 2006 Jim Devine (Labour) Livingston: Devine served as Robin's agent for decades and is a former, and rumours have it, future psychiatric nurse. I first heard Jim Devine speak at a hustings for the 2005 General Election in Loganlea, Robin couldn't make it and the agent stepped in and quickly took over proceedings something that the candidate would never have done. Of course recent events do not need going over but yet another character in my list of MPs who will go down in history as an MP who never faced a General Election vote despite not dying in office following an by election in peace time.

March 2006 - Present Michael Connarty (Labour) Linlithgow and Falkirk East: Former leader of Stirling Council, former Economics teacher (there were three Economics graduates on the 2005 ballot for L&FE).

Of course Michael and I first crossed swords thanks to the Boundary Commission. Before the current boundaries although Bo'ness and few others where historically West Lothian they had been part of Falkirk Council since the end of Lothian District Council, and Grangemouth had never been with West Lothian before. This is also the closest I have ever lived to a MPs office. It is literally only about 90 seconds walk away from where I'm typing this in my lounge.

Although I have letters from 5 of my previous MPs (6 if you count the election 'letter' from Jim Devine) this is the MP I have had most interaction with. Partly because I've stood in direct opposition, partly because of the ease of email, which has once led to a response with 10 minutes.

However, as the fifth most expensive MP (excluding transport 2nd with), who considers it 'ridiculous and tiresome' to submit all expenses to his employer for scrutiny. And who's first response to the Telegraph printing his expenses was to attack the source as stolen rather than try and explain them, maybe his days are numbered.

Of course while some of the men (sorry WLDs everywhere no gender balance) who have represented me in the past have been replaced by a Lib Dem, just not in my time. So I'd love to be in a constituency with a Lib Dem MP. However, would that outcome really lead to a Lib Dem representing me? I guess that is up to the local party and the electorate.

*See trend setting though it took 46 years to get North Down's second.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

After taking a week off work, during which time I also decided to take a wee rest from blogging, I see that today's papers sound the bell twice (at least) on the death throes of Labour. As the great-nephew of the undertaker who buried my paternal grandmother I think I may be well placed to look at this impending death.

First with the European Election looming* there is the bad news for Darling that just is the IMF predictions against him but also those of the European Commission. Following on from his shock prediction of the UK shrinking by only 0.9% by the end of the year (after a late autumnal harvest so we are told) the Commission has adjusted its EU growth prediction downwards from -2% to -4%. Their prediction for the UK would equate to a 3.5% contraction not the 0.9% boldly proclaimed from the ballot box last month. However, there is a little good news for Darling next year. Where he expects a 1.25% growth the Commission is also sees it in the black, though only by 0.1%. In other words despite what the Chancellor expects we'll not be heading out by the end of 2009 but just starting to peek out by the end of 2010.

Elsewhere in the Scotsman another nail appears to have been brewing in Scottish Labour since the death of Donald Dewar. In an extract printed from Hamish Macdonell's forthcoming book Uncharted Territory: The Story of Scottish Devolution 1999-2009 he points out that the anointing in 2000 of the successor to the initial First Minister was carried out at the wake in Kelvingrove Art Galleries when he says:

"with the Scottish Labour Party leaderless for more than a week, it was inevitable that the gathering would be used for political purposes too.

"By that time it had become clear that McConnell would be McLeish's only real challenger.McConnell worked the room as subtly as he could, in the circumstances, as did McLeish.

"The prime minister did not stay for long but the short time he was there was hugely significant.

"Word reached McLeish that the prime minister wanted to speak to him, and his wife Julie, before he left.

"McLeish was ushered forward, with Julie just behind. Blair shook McLeish by the right hand, put the other hand on his shoulder and spoke a few words before disappearing.

"McLeish's aides beamed. McConnell was at the other end of the room and the prime minister was gone. It was clear that, in that moment, the prime minister had anointed his choice as Scottish Labour leader and the man he favoured as Scotland's second first minister."

With the current squaring up of Blairites and Brownites on the national stage there is for Labour no arm from a kingmaker to be extended, but then the King though dead is just not yet been placed in a coffin. With Kinnock bigging up the BNP as there is nothing to big up in his own party that could fight off their worries, and with the head of the two camps still at logger heads where is the John Smith like steady hand and head. I for one don't see it.

Man the lifeboats and hoist the red flag!


*Register to vote by May 19th if you haven't already (that is my sub -agenty bit done for today).

Friday Blog Love: Where I Agree with Tony Blair

Now the title of this piece may be somewhat of a revelation to any who didn’t see my Tweet from Wednesday evening. But I was talking about a particular article that featured from the first Prime Minister in the UK to give an interview to a gay publication, not just give an interview but be the cover man.

On the occasion of that publication, Attitude, celebrating its fifteenth birthday they had a little bit of a retrospective in all sorts of ways including having the former Prime Minister back for another interview. Having missed his first interview in 2005 I may have been too busy with one election or another, I found myself agreeing with him for quite a lot of what he said*. Thankfully before Ruaraidh Dobson accuses me of being dead wrong (again) I’d like to point out that the area under discussion was equality of sexuality which has seen robust advances under the Blair years; not the various policy areas that I and the rest of Liberal Democrats still vigorously oppose the Blairite doctrine.

Like Blair I find myself in a similar position in one way as a person of faith with an interest in the politics of sexuality, and the aim to improve things socially in that area as far as possible. However, of course and any who saw my last full speech at a Lib Dem conference will attest while he can remain objective in his viewpoint mine is a bit more subjective. For years I was like one of those that Blair described as having a dialogue within religious circles about sexuality and faith, although a lot of that debating from my teenage years into my middle to late twenties was going on in my own head.

While for many years I mulled over the option as being an either or in relation to my faith and who I found myself to be it took a lot of searching to find out that both was an actual option. One thing I hope that people like Iris Robinson can come to understand in the long-term. Blair says in the interview:

"For many people in the world of religion, they have found they’re facing the same challenge as everybody else is in changing times, when it comes to the role of women, the issues to do with sexuality, and so on. But the problem within the institutions of organised religion as opposed, for example, to those in politics, is that those attitudes get mixed up with those of doctrine. For something that is religious in nature, it can be far harder for them to break with the past. They’re hard – they’re really difficult. Because people are debating – what is the word of God? If something is expressed in a particular way in the Bible or the Koran or elsewhere, can you possibly contemplate a process of modernisation where attitudes change over time? But my own view is
that it’s better to have these views debated within religious circles than to pretend that they don’t exist.

"...also to treat religious thought and even religious texts as themselves capable of evolution over time. You have to understand the context and the society in which they were expressed. So, when people quote the passages in Leviticus condemning homosexuality, I say to them – if you read the whole of the Old Testament and took everything that was there in a literal way, as being what God and religion is about, you’d have some pretty tough policies across the whole of the piece."

If you just look at the raft of legislation that has come in under Labour since 1997 and consider if the 1997 brand of Conservatism that was on offer would have made such in roads. 1997 homosexuals weren't allowed to serve in the military, teachers were unable to defend gay pupils in the classroom, there was a status of legal homophobia in the workplace and in failing to recognise partners. So great strides were being made towards equality (despite at the same time the liberties of us all being eroded simultaneously).

Blair says the highpoint of the various pro-gay legislation that he oversaw come into being was the introduction of civil partnerships. However, these are separate arrangement and still not equal. The equal marriage campaign is seeking for Scotland to:

1. Lift the ban on same-sex marriage and mixed-sex civil partners



2. Allow religious and humanist celebrants to legally solemnise same-sex marriage



3. Put an end to the discrimination faced by transgender people and their partners

As Ruaraidh said earlier this week that this is something that the Scottish Liberal Democrats could well take a lead. As Tony said in the interview we have come a long way from the 80s when if you campaigned for gay people expected that, well, that you were. The generation that make up LYS are the first generation that such a suggestion does not go hand in hand with campaigning. I'd be delighted to see them take this step forward backing up the Homophobia is Gay campaign and the policy they moved which got passed on the blood ban last month.

Is it doable? I think so. I think this statement of Tony shows that we are on an evolutionary trend where we can get this done.

"This process of evolution and change [in religious thought] carries on the whole time. Otherwise, you end up pitting religion against reason, and that is the single most dangerous thing you could ever do. Because in the end, if you force people to choose between religious faith and reason, they will choose reason. But that is not, in fact, what should happen. Religious faith and reason are actually in alignment, in my view – or, at least, that is the argument."

So while I'm quite certain that Ruaraidh would happily tell me I'm dead wrong in holding on to my religious faith, I'm sure he'd also the one of the first to ask me about the debates I've had with myself to deal with moving this debate on.

*You do have to register to read this link but it is free to do so.

Government Start to Come Clean on Rendition

Almost three years ago Tony Blair's normally calm persona at PMQs took a serious knock when he fumbled out an answer that there was nothing new on rendition flights. Even Iain Dale was impressed with how Ming had got the then Prime Minister on the ropes.



Then the Prime Minister said there was nothing new to from the Council of Europe's report that Britain had colluded with the USA on extraordinary rendition flights.



To be fair to Tony Blair it now appears that collusion is indeed the wrong way to describe it. The Labour government appear to have actively handed over suspects to them to catch these flights. Far more than even Sir Menzies Campbell hinted at on that particular Wednesday when it was only assumed that our airspace or airfields were being used.

Archbishop and Moderators Son Back Clegg on Religion Answer

"It matters less to me than to know they are honest and reliable and that what beliefs they have they hold sincerely"

So said Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury on Nick Clegg's one word answer to the question in a Radio 5 interview about whether he believed in God. For the record the word was no.

And OK I'll admit the son is not that of the current Moderator of the Church of Scotland but our own former leader Lord Steel, whose father as well as being a former-Moderator was once the Minister of St. Michaels in Linlithgow. Who said of Clegg's response:

"He is very straight-talking. I think that is quite typical of him."

Tony Blair didn't want to reveal his true religious convictions in Downing Street for fear of being branded a nutter. Maybe that should have been the least of his problems, what with Carol Caplin, phantom weapons of mass destruction and obeying voices from the current occupant of the Oval Office.

The Army Says No!

Well as I wrote yesterday the US Army said the situation in Iraq is too unstable to foresee a withdrawal of troops before 2010. Well British Army Cheif General Sir Richard Dannatt can tell them why. It's because we are there!.

This is most forthright statement from inside the allied forces military which says that far from being the peace makers in Iraq our troops are seen as occupiers and a cause of the tension, which will only continue the longer we stay.

So not only has he called for an immediate plan for an exit strategy, but he has also hinted that the way we went into Iraq, i.e. not invited, may be affecting how we are viewed in certain parts of the world.

President Bush wants us to stay until 2010. The British Army says no.

2010 and All That

So now we know something about the withdrawal strategy from Iraq, 'It ain't gonna happen before 2010. The US Army have announced that new indications show the situation is too unstable to foresee an end to the 'war' (yes they used the word war) in the next four years, so they are going to have to maintain troop levels at least until them.

So Iraq War 2003-2010+? will mean that the US/UK alliance are gearing up to occupy Iraq for longer than Germany occupied Europe from 1939-1945. Strange that this new intelligence must come from the same sources that told Bush and Blair that the Iraqi regime had weapons of mass destruction. Well at least the country has them now even if they are in the hands of the occupying forces.

Tony May be Getting Nostalgic but...

...look what Guido Faulkes had dug up. Yes is is the Prime Minster's attack on the Tories when he first stood in Sedgefield in 1983.

He attacks them for closing hospitals. Whoops!
Also on health he attacks them for increases in prescription charges of 700%

On defence he attacks the Tories for getting us into the Falkland's war which cost us billions. This from a future Prime Minister who would take us into an illegal war in Iraq. Add in the war in Afghanistan and the war on terror that's a cost of £4.9 bn for 2005

He also attacks the Tories for planning to spend £10bn on Trident instead of trying to stop the arms race. He on the other hand is preparing to spend between £25 bn and £76bn on the replacement less than 20 years later, with the cold war over, to do what use it as a terror threat over rogue states instead of encouraging them there is no need for a nuclear arms race.

Coming to all TV Channels Soon

I love Peter Brookes cartoon in today's Times.



With the Prime Minister away in Manchester next week anything might happen in London.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Weidersehen, Adieu

So Tony is about to name the Date. Maybe we should have a special of the reality show How do you solve a problem called Maria? and line up Gordon Brown, Charles Clarke, Tom Watson et al in bright coloured dungarees so that they can sing to Tony as he prepares to exist stage right.

Watch out for Graham Norton hosting such a show next May.

What Tony said.

What Gordon said.

If You Believed...

They put a man on the moon.
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool

REM Man on the Moon

Well 37 years ago today Neil Armstrong took his one small step and 12 years ago the man who is running out of tricks up his sleeve once known as Teflon Tony was elected leader of the Labour Party.

The last line of the REM song before the repeat of the refrain is 'Hey baby, are we losing touch?'. Or in today's language of choice on the world stage 'Yo Tony, are we losing touch?'.

The response will probably go something like. 'Well George. You and me are in constant touch and at least the UN haven't been accusing us of War Crimes unlike elsewhere so we must be in touch with reality.'

Well actually Tony and George one thing the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, is saying about the situation in Isreal, Gaza and Lebanon is that is responsibilty on all parties to respect the "principle of proportionality" and the need to protect civilians. Applying the same strenuous measures to Afghanistan and Iraq would be interesting, however still we have silence or lack of condemnation from the US and UK governments for the disproportionate killings of civilians by Isreal in both Gaza and Lebanon.

How Healthy is Blair's Green Energy Committment?

So we've all heard Tony Blair talk the talk:

I am not saying that nuclear is the only answer—of course it is not. There are renewables, energy efficiency and everything else.

Hansard 14 June 2006 Column 764

So why if is and Jack McConnell the Scottish First Minister do we read today that a renewable energy firm is in danger of closure due to lack of orders.

Some people have complained that all we ever seem to have on the renewable agenda is wind farms yet here is Camcal doing great work to harness wave energy under threat of closure. Where is the promise to a balance portfolio of renewable resources? Is Camcal just the tip of the iceberg? Is the Prime Minister's nucleur myopia going to have ramifications on orders for the renewable energy industires that are trying to make a difference to how we generate our power?