Brian Sedgemore, MP: I urge everyone to give Blair a bloody nose

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Independent of London
Dated Tuesday April 26

I urge everyone to give Blair a bloody nose at the election
By Brian Sedgemore, MP

The idea and practice of Britain as a liberal country has always been under threat but it has taken a Labour prime minister to secure its demise. For Tony Blair, principles and ideas have become impediments to the continuance of his lust for power.

His scorn for liberal Britain is surprising for one who had an expensive liberal education and who entered politics as an aspirant liberal lawyer, an ardent member of CND and a standard-bearer for the left.

People such as myself should have realised the writing was on the wall when a Labour government twice tried to abolish trial by jury. From there, it was a short step for Blair (but a huge step for the rest of us) to get suppliant backbench Labour MPs to vote for an unlawful war, the setting up of a gulag at Belmarsh for foreigners and deprivation of liberty through "control orders" and "pass laws" for British citizens.

I voted against the war on Iraq and it becomes clearer every day that Blair decided to go to war after meeting Bush on his Texas ranch in 2002. After that he lied to persuade the country to support him.

Read more.

I'm looking for reaction from our British friends.

[D-Notice]

1. Bliar's response:

via BBC

"They aren't particularly interested in someone they have never heard of who's not even standing as a candidate at the general election," said Mr Blair.

Ooh get you!

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. A couple of comments here in another thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=191x3289#3291

To expand on what I said there and elsewhere, it's not actually an earth-shattering decision by Sedgemore - it's stayed at the top of the election news today, but I doubt it will go on longer than that. There was, for instance, a retiring Lib Dem MP who, having gone from Labour to Lib Dem in Dec 2001 because he felt he wasn't allowed to expresss his dissent inside Labour, went back to Labour at the beginning of the election. It hasn't remained as much of a news story. And Sedgemore had made his disgust with Labour plain before - as the piece says, he already talked about Labour's "descent into hell" in Parliament, and voted with the Lib Dems rather than the government on various legislation.

The "give Blair a bloody nose" idea isn't new - the Tories started off saying "wipe the smirk off Blair's face" (though many pointed out that Howard tends to smirk too). This may indicate that the Lib Dems think they can persuade a few Tory voters that they are better placed to do it than the Tories, and persuade Labour voters that it's safe to vote Lib Dem and send the message to Blair - Kennedy followed Sedgemore up with "the Conservatives cannot win this election".

[non sociopath skin]

3. I'd some respect for Sedgemore, but he wasn't exactly a household name...

... Can't see his defection making an awful lot of difference.

The Skin

[Jack Rabbit]

4. A question from a Yank

There's not much to being a member of a political party in this country. As far as official records go, I'm a Democrat because I checked a box that said I'm a Democrat last time I registered to vote. There's nothing more to it than that.

Of course, if I ran for public office, especially a partisan office such as state legislature, the Democratic Party Committee in my state (California) would expect me to say nothing but nice things about other Democrats running for public office, regardless of how I really feel about any them individually.

It is a fairly big thing here when an elected politician switches parties. It most often happens when there is a change in party control of Congress; after the election of 1994, a few Democrats switched to the GOP. There is the occasional ideological quarrel, such as when Phil Gramm switched from the Democrats to the GOP in the early eighties or when Senator Jeffords, a former Republican, dropped any party affiliation in 2001 and caucused with the Democrats; Jeffords defection was a big thing because it caused a shift in control of the Senate. The only reason Senator Miller didn't completely switch to the GOP last year was that he was retiring anyway. If he hadn't been, his career as a Democrat would have been finished. These ideological defections are rare, but usually aren't unexpected. In each of these cases, it was well known that the individuals had serious problems with his party's leadership before defecting.

It seems that to even be a rank and file member of a party in Britain is more complicated than it is here. Should an American expect a member of a British political party to be more committed to his party than most Americans are to theirs?

I know switching parties happens in Britain. I know, for example, that Churchill switched from Conservative to Liberal in 1904 and back to Conservative twenty years later. But how common is it?

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Not that common for politicians to switch

I'd say an MP switches every 3 or 4 years, on average - out of about 650. And they're rarely well known ones (though, as you say in Congress, it's usually knwon the MP has problems with his party).

Party members pay a small subscription - £5 for Lib Dems, £15 for Tories, £12 Labour - though they're asked to give more if possible. So people will only join if they feel committed to the party.

[Jack Rabbit]

6. Thanks

!!