Saturday 22 June 2019

Not Just Immoral, But Illegal; Not Just Heartless, But Hypocritical

Peter Oborne writes:

When I was at school, we were taught in history lessons about Britain’s shameful failure to take a stand against fascism in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.

I believe that future generations will look back with equal horror at our role in the Saudi bombing of Yemen over the past five years.

Britain has continued to supply arms and military assistance to the House of Saud while it has pursued a murderous policy of destroying the lives and livelihoods of thousands of innocent Yemeni people.

On Thursday, the Court of Appeal ruled in a landmark decision that Britain’s supply of arms to Saudi Arabia was not just immoral, but illegal.

It’s an episode that exposes Britain as not just heartless, but hypocritical.

Our protestations of horror against the atrocities of the Assad regime in Damascus carry no weight at all, given our readiness to stand idly by while nearby the Saudis inflict such bloodshed in the Yemen.

Even Jeremy Corbyn has failed to bring this back to the floor of the House of Commons, so many are his party's MPs who are in the very deep pockets of the House of Saud.

Another hung Parliament is coming, however, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it. A new party will be registered before the House of Commons rises for the summer recess, even if I have to pay for it myself, ongoing lawfare or no ongoing lawfare.

And I will stand for Parliament here at North West Durham even if I can raise only the deposit, which I could do by going pretty overdrawn, although that was not how I was brought up. I would still prefer to raise the £10,000 necessary to mount a serious campaign, but I am no longer making my candidacy conditional on having done so. In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.

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