Evolution In Action
Had to happen eventually. Four things come together in my mind over the last couple of days that suggest the Labour Party is beginning to evolve a backbone:
1) Jack Straw is really, really angry. His former press secretary writes on Comment Is Free about his boss' removal, and if that article isn't a front for Jack's real views, I'm a Dutchman. Which I'm not. It's not the first time our Jack has bitten the foot that kicked him up the arse, if my metaphors are right. He may be a lying, immoral sack of shit, but he's not a neocon true believer, just a conventional devious politician (Condi Rice and Colin Powell likewise, which is why the loonies in the Pentagon got rid of one and are busy marginalising the other). I suspect there's more to come. Of course, he's definitely been cuddling up to Gordon Brown a bit recently, presumably hoping for a job, and pissing on Tony won't hurt.
2) Up to 150 MPs are demanding a recall of Parliament in order to be patronised and lied to by Tony Blair. OK, I'm cynical, but the man in charge of recalling Parliament is...Jack Straw. He wouldn't drop his old mucker in it, surely?
3) Labour MP Jim Sheridan has resigned as PPS at the MOD in protest at the war and specifically the use of Prestwick in rearming the criminal Israeli onslaught on Lebanon. His resignation comments are revealing, between the lines - while appearing to praise Blair's sincerity, he's actually saying that Blair is totally divorced from reality in the Labour Party and the country. Which we've been saying for ages, but good work fella for speaking out, although I strongly suspect he's an ally of Gordon Brown. I wonder if he'd do an interview for us?
4) I live in Hounslow, west London, in what is effectively a Labour area with the husband and wife team of Ann and Alan Keen holding the two Westminster seats. They're both staunch loyalists with no rebellions at all. However, Ann Keen is reported tonight (although I'm stumped for corroboration or detail, having caught a snippet on C4 News which isn't on their website) as being a bit critical. She is, however, very definitely a Brownite, being his PPS.
So what do these have in common? Answer: bad news for Blair and good news for Gordon Brown, who is otherwise as invisible as usual at times of any crisis. The sulky Scot likes doing his dirty work through others, of course, but kicking Tony while his back is turned over issues of US-UK foreign policy? One has always suspected that Brown's Atlanticism is as deep as Tony's, although possibly having less of a religious worship component. Watch this space.
I agree with your
I agree with your observations particularly about the man of straw. He has shown himself to be one of those incompetent people who despite being 'hejucated' - at the taxpayers expense of course - are as thick as shit and have no idea of their own limitations. I guess that losing the FO, which like all his previous posts was way, way beyond him, was bad enough, but the real killer must have been the appointment of that muppet Ken Dodd look alike, the Buckett woman, to succeed him. It would certainly upset me if I were him! Even Jack knows how thick she is. I bet that Jolly Jack wears a 'Bollocks to Blair' t shirt, but of course being him, he hides it under his shirt and tie.
And then, suddenly, out of
And then, suddenly, out of the blue - Airport Bombplot Terror! Be afraid, cos we've jacked up the security alert to Critical! Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!
Neat timing, eh? Reading between the lines of the BBC's blanket coverage of, er, not really very much (in the sense that they are going over and over the same few details like a media version of repetitive behaviour syndrome), it appears that MI5(orwhoever) has been monitoring this latest bunch of nutjobs for a while and decided that NOW was the moment to jump in and do the grab and cuff. Yeah, NOW, just after a big antiwar demo and just after a large chunk of MPs made their displeasure with Blair utterly clear, and just after the resignation of Jim Sheridan.
Timing is everything, and so is news management.
I was just in the middle of
I was just in the middle of writing a post about John Reid and this article when I heard the news. I also mentioned the tanks at Heathrow just before the BIG anti-war protest etc.
I think I'm going to hold off a while yet.
Add Kitty Ussher to the
Add Kitty Ussher to the list: she's written a critical piece in the latest issue of the New Statemsman. Here's the opening line: "The only conclusion any right-minded person can draw is that the Prime Minister thought it was OK for Muslims to keep dying"
Another loyalist goes off-message.
Added...
Added...
The vultures are circling -
The vultures are circling - and with genuine anticipation. It seems that the Labour Party is belatedly realising what we have guessed for some time - Tony's delusions of 'world statesman grandeur' and messianic belief in his own rightness are classic signs of mental instability. He has lost it. His mind is no longer capable of analysing opposing argument. It seems possible that he really believes he is the 'second saviour'.
Time for this site to start the morph to 'Brownwatch' - monitoring of the cycloptic celt will be at least as vital as that of the BLiar, if not more so. I wonder if he will assume the cloak of invisibility when the going is tough when (if) he is in charge ?
Newsight had a 'terror
Newsight had a 'terror primer' last night, mentioning in a report how there are 1,500 potentially active terrorists in the UK - another nice peice of timing.
Who needs terrorists when you have an evil bastard like John Reid running the show while Tony's away and a rogue security service (MI5) working for the CIA and Mossad.
Besides all that the UK is now a valid target for attacks thanks to our material and political support for the IDF, just as the London bombings were motivated by the Iraq war - if you believe the public inquiry's conclusions - oh yeah, there wasn't one.
"Sometimes we may have to
"Sometimes we may have to modify some our own freedoms in the short term in order to prevent their misuse by those who oppose our fundamental values and would destroy all of our freedoms,"
John Reid, 9th August.
"A plot to blow up planes from the UK mid-flight and cause 'mass murder on an unimaginable scale' has been disrupted"
BBC News, 10th August.
Do they think we are fucking stupid?
"Last September, I visited
"Last September, I visited Afghanistan. I saw for myself the real hope that the International Community has brought to a new generation of Afghans."
John Reid, 26th January.
"UK troops in Afghanistan face fighting which is more intense and prolonged than any other conflict in the past 50 years."
BBC News, 10th August.
John Reid is a serial deciever and liar.
Unlike vervet, I'm not so
Unlike vervet, I'm not so sure that Blair has 'lost it' in terms of mental illness - the messianic tendencies were always there, and certainly increasingly evident since 9/11. On the other hand, I think he's been dangerously out of control since at least the David Kelly affair. It's obvious that he thinks he can rule UKplc alone and the Cabinet/Labour Party/Parliament are just there to reflect his godlike political genius (see also John Reid's 'I blame everyone else' speech mentioned elsewhere in the comments). The context of Iraq/Israel-Palestine-Lebanon/Afghanistan, parliament in recess, the cabinet nowhere (so what's new?), and Blair in the US to kiss right-wing ass (the Unholy Trinity of Arnie, Dubya and Rupert) created the current perfect storm for Blair to think he alone can save the planet while everyone else thinks he's got it wrong and must be stopped. As for the current emergency, my first thought this morning was 'here we go again'.
Expect a train wreck (of the political variety) the longer this (and Blair) goes on.
Perhaps Jack Straw is
Perhaps Jack Straw is really, really angry, or perhaps he isn't. The evidence is still fragmentary. If he is angry, it is an unfocused frustration, like Homer Simpson when he realises that he has been conned once again. The enormity of it all is only gradually sinking in. There is still a great deal of denial. He hasn't quite got to the stage of realising that his own stupidity was a big part of the problem. He hasn't yet got to the "How could I be so stupid?" moment that John Kennedy reached after the Bay of Pigs.
Perhaps it's gradually becoming clear to people like Straw that the US neo-con agenda is not to help mainstream Muslims against the extremists, and that the US neo-cons wouldn't mind some giant conflagration in the Middle East. Perhaps they are gradually seeing that the UK has zero influence on events, despite standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the USA so as to have some influence with the USA. Perhaps they are gradually seeing that they've left the UK with the worst of both worlds: standing should to shoulder with the USA has brought a whole host of serious problems and not one ounce of influence. (Parliament isn't being recalled because the UK has no influence on events. Shouldn't Parliament be recalled so that it can think about why the UK has no influence on events?) But people like Straw haven't yet come to terms with the fact that they should have understood this beforehand: they haven't yet thought about all the assumptions they were making and how weak these assumptions were.
The Guardian article was written by a former Straw spin-doctor, and one of the authors of the dossier of September 2002. The week before he wrote in the Guardian CIF something about Lebanon, but in which he took the opportunity of saying that those who supported the invasion of Iraq don't need to apologise. They're still in denial, obviously.
I was at a political meeting
I was at a political meeting in Manchester, the speaker was Dr. John Reid then the Health Secretary. After his speech he, to give him his due, asked if there were any questions from the floor. A young, average looking man, a bit scruffy really, but clean, stood up and said "I haven't actually got a question Dr. Reid, but having heard your speech and considered its contents, I have come to the conclusion that your are a dedicated onanist". He then sat down. Dr. Reid stood up and with a smug smile all over his face said, "Thank you young man, I do my best".
The press were there, noone reported it, weird eh?
The PsyOps today are giving
The PsyOps today are giving John Reid a platform while Blair is away, no doubt he will be running his own leadership campaign soon.
Why oh why does Police and the BBC keep falling for these blatant attempts to keep the British people scared?
Tell me one single advantage to be had if this is true? Surley the best thing is to keep quiet about such activities until it comes to trial.
They have now blown any chance of serious counter intelligence operations. I don't remember the government running a mass-media campaign everytime they rumbled an IRA operation.
It makes no sense at all.
The Guardian article was
The Guardian article was written by a former Straw spin-doctor
Quite, which is why what he *doesn't* say is more important than what he *does*. Why would a Party loyalist who's been implicated in the whole spin shenanigans over Iraq and has spent his career lying for money suddenly turn on Blair over Straw's dismissal?