I read with Paul Donovan's article some alarm.
He is of course entirely correct to warn against the treachery of the Blairite sect. But he is entirely incorrect to link that to Sunday's Observer open letter to Ed Miliband on immigration.
He is of course entirely correct to warn against the treachery of the Blairite sect. But he is entirely incorrect to link that to Sunday's Observer open letter to Ed Miliband on immigration.
The signatories to that were all more
than seasoned enough to know that one does not sign such a thing without at
least tacit clearance from the addressee, and John Prescott's Sunday
Mirror echo of it rather confirmed the semi-official character of the
enterprise.
As an interesting spread, they had
clearly been put together in order to be representative, with each name
standing for several more in a complex web of overlapping tendencies.
Just as, for example, the Labour Whips did, or at the very least allowed, when it came to those Labour MPs who voted against the Coalition's House of Lords proposals when the official line was to abstain.
But none of Sunday's signatories could be described as a Blairite, and all but one of them (John Mann) also subscribed to Early Day Motion 1334, which condemned the BBC's blackout of the Morning Star.
Ronnie Campbell was one of the sponsors of that EDM. He is hardly a Blairite. Nor is any of the others.
Just as, for example, the Labour Whips did, or at the very least allowed, when it came to those Labour MPs who voted against the Coalition's House of Lords proposals when the official line was to abstain.
But none of Sunday's signatories could be described as a Blairite, and all but one of them (John Mann) also subscribed to Early Day Motion 1334, which condemned the BBC's blackout of the Morning Star.
Ronnie Campbell was one of the sponsors of that EDM. He is hardly a Blairite. Nor is any of the others.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/leading-article-nauseating-and-pathetic-1559689.html
ReplyDeleteThanks to Ed West for pointing me to this classic anti British Left- wing editorial from the Maastricht era; which gives the lie to the claim ( now often made) that's the EU is just about economics.
Oh no it isn't.
This revealing Indie editorial says of the Maastricht rebels;
""The spectacle is nauseating because this heterogeneous rump of Thatcherites, little Englanders, xenophobes and eccentric constitutionalists..appears to have no concept of loyalty.
In their conceit they are convinced they know better than the Government (and the Opposition) where this country's true interests lie.
But what vision do they substitute? ....a country whose outdated notions of sovereignty led either to Britain being marginalised in Europe, or to a historic undermining of the EC's role as a bulwark against resurgent nationalism."
"The Europhobes' idea of the EC reverting to a mere Common Market is a naive anachronism."
Fasconating peek into recent history,
And?
ReplyDeleteSome Kremlinology, as it were. Frank Field was very much a Blairite, and would have loved for Blair to serve a fourth term (although he denied this post hoc). Kate Hoey has been to the right of Blair on most issues. Both of them are at the top of lists of Labour MPs who everyone thought had defected to the Conservatives years ago. When Brown replaced Blair, John Mann (who has written for the Morning Star, interestingly enough, as well as for Progress) set out his list of what he believed should be Brown's priorities, as Blair had failed to do them. Top of the list was ID cards, second was more benefit cuts. Despite his long-established Euroscepticism, Graham Stringer used to be a spear-carrier for Peter Mandelson. Broadly speaking, these four are all Eurosceptic Blairites (an odd combination, but not unique).
ReplyDeleteThe other three are more diverse. Ian Davidson is somewhere between traditional soft-left and Brownite but his out-spoken and usually ill-judged attacks on the SNP have undermined his credibility and the relationships he had with other Labour MPs. Roger Godsiff isn't a Blairite, or a Brownite, and certainly not any sort of left-winger, but is reputed to be very dodgy and generally isolated. Ronnie Campbell is solidly on the left, but a detached member of the Campaign Group. On the whole, this is a list of the most maverick and isolated members of the PLP, those who don't even fit very well into the small factions, and not I think at all representatives of various strains, networks or trends.
Then you need to get more.
ReplyDeleteCertain Tory-aligned blogs used to feature comments below the line that Field and Hoey were about to defect, and certain Hard Left ones used to feature comments wishing that they would, but no one who knew anything ever suggested anything so ridiculous. (Neil Fleming once did to me about Hoey, but there you are.)
Field couldn't stand Gordon Brown, but he was never a Blairite. Hoey voted against the Blair Government very frequently, including on Iraq.
Stringer and Mann would laugh out loud if you called them Blairites, while Blair would be rather less amused.
Writing both for Progress and for the Morning Star is the quintessence of belonging to whole Movement, and the very opposite of any sign of detachment from it.
You cannot be too anti-SNP for Labour MPs. Davidson's "against devolution, but we are stuck with it" view is that of most of them. He just says it in public, that's all.
Godsiff turns up as a signatory to things often enough if he is so "isolated". He signed that Guardian letter about Palestinians only this week, for example.
And Campbell is "semi-detached" from the Campaign Group according to whom? Not according to the rest of the Gangway Gang, for a start. Including Dennis Skinner of the NEC since before Noah and of yet another Durham Miners' Gala this year. Campbell will be on the platform again. He always is.
No, this is a deliberately broad-based, semi-official project, and the endorsement of it in John Prescott's column on the same day more than confirms that.
Love the idea of anyone telling these things to David Lindsay. Good anti-Fleming anecdote, far too few of them in recent months. Or is he no longer worth mentioning by the Director of the One Nation Society and Editor of the Lanchester Review? He mentions them. And you.
ReplyDelete