-Caveat Lector-
>From www.wsws.org
> The lengths to which the government is prepared to go in stifling
> opposition to its war drive is revealed ...
}}}>This is almost getting to be funny, in a cliche' sense. Every
time these lame brained politicians need to drive their point home,
they invoke the Spectre of none other than Der Phooey himself in
order to heap insult upon their opponents. The irony is -- of course
-- that they are striving for exactly what Der Phooey had in his
times of crisis, a bunch of people who waved at him, indicating their
assent to whatever he thunked up during his hours of revelry. Now,
we have a Britlander "Hilary", who, without the benefit of being able
to acquire the Britlandic equivalent of a Selective Service System
Card or an International "Most Dangerous Game" Hunting License, can
easily put war as "matter of conscience" out of her mind (which she
may be anyway: out of her mind). But, it's still nice to know there
is such a thing a "conscience" ovah theyah. A<>E<>R <{{{
}}}>Begin
WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : Britain
Britain: Government member says war is "not a matter of conscience"
By Richard Tyler
24 October 2001
Back to screen version| Send this link by email | Email the author
Cabinet member Hilary Armstrong said last week that war was “not a
matter of conscience”. The outburst came when Armstrong, Labour’s
Chief Whip, responsible for ensuring backbenchers support the
government in the House of Commons, called MP Paul Marsden into her
office to give him a dressing down.
Armstrong berated Marsden for publicly opposing the war in
Afghanistan, threatening him, “Those that aren’t with us are against
us.”
On October 13, the backbench Labour MP spoke out against the war at a
march and rally organised by CND in London that attracted up to
50,000 protestors. Prior to this on October 8, in the third debate on
the “international coalition against terrorism”, Marsden had raised a
point of order calling for a Commons’ vote on the conduct of the war.
Marsden also asked, “When will British citizens be given a written
constitution so that Parliament, not a prime minister, authorises a
declaration of war?” Both questions were brushed aside.
The lengths to which the government is prepared to go in stifling
opposition to its war drive is revealed by last week’s exchange in
the Chief Whip’s office, which Marsden subsequently passed on to the
press.
Armstrong: “We may hold a vote [on the war]... but it will be whipped
[i.e., support for the war would be made compulsory for Labour MPs].”
Marsden: “That is outrageous. You won’t even give us a free vote on
whether we go to war, which should be a matter of conscience.”
Armstrong: “War is not a matter of conscience. Abortion and embryo
research, they are matters of conscience.”
Marsden: “Are you seriously saying that blowing people up and killing
people is not a moral issue?”
Armstrong: “It is government policy that we are at war... anyway you
must stop using the media.”
Marsden: “That’s a bit rich coming from people like you and Downing
Street when [Transport Secretary] Stephen Byers’ spin doctor Jo Moore
says September 11 is a good day to bury bad news.”
Armstrong: “Jo Moore didn’t say that.”
Marsden: “That is exactly what she said in her email.”
Armstrong: “We don’t have spin doctors in No 10 [Downing Street], or
anywhere else.”
Marsden: (laughing) “You aren’t seriously telling me that you don’t
have spin doctors and they don’t exist. You are losing it, Hilary.”
Armstrong: (shouting) “You wait until I really do lose it. I am not
going to have a dialogue with you about that. It was people like you
who appeased Hitler in 1938.”
(The Whips take their name from the “whippers-in”, who kept hunting
hounds in line. Labour Whips are answerable directly to the prime
minister, until recently being housed adjacent to his official
residence at No 10 Downing Street. When they call a “three-line
whip”, every Labour MP is required to attend the Commons to support
the government in any vote.)
Not only did Marsden refuse to submit to the Chief Whip’s
remonstrations, he then provided the press with his own verbatim
account of the confrontation. This is considered an almost
unpardonable breach of parliamentary etiquette, according to which
the actions of the Whips are not subject to any public scrutiny.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who had been the first government
member to liken those opposing the war with supporters of appeasement
with Nazi Germany, also attacked Marsden for publishing his account
of what Straw described as a “private conversation” with the Chief
Whip.
Following publication of the exchange between Armstrong and Marsden
in the Mail on Sunday, armed forces minister Adam Ingram told Sky
television that Labour MPs opposed to the bombing were “moving
towards” those who appeased the Nazi regime in the 1930s.
The pressure was kept up on Monday, when Defence Minister Geoff Hoon
said, “Labour members... know what are the consequences of crossing
the Whips and abandoning party policy.”
Donald Anderson, Labour chairman of the Commons select defence
committee, also told the press: “when one does dissent in times of
war, it can help the enemy.”
However, Marsden stood by his call for a parliamentary vote, saying
Monday, “My view is that we should have free and open debate. What on
earth is the government so afraid of? Why on earth can’t we have a
vote in the Commons? The last Conservative administration had a vote
on the Gulf war.”
Having determined that they were unable to silence him, the
government then set about blackening Marsden’s reputation. The
Guardian wrote, “Mr Marsden now faces more insidious assaults from
Labour’s spin machine. The whispers are out already that the
gardening enthusiast is unpopular with colleagues and is even
emotionally unstable.”
In the affairs of state, if there is one single act that could be
considered a matter of conscience, then it is the decision to launch
a war against a foreign country, in which thousands upon thousands of
lives are at stake, both abroad and at home. By way of comparison,
when it comes to restoring the right of the state to take the life of
a convicted murderer MPs have always been able to cast their ballot
according to their own beliefs. Every vote on restoring capital
punishment since it was abolished in Britain in 1965 has been a free
vote.
Yet now, having launched the war against Afghanistan in the name of
defending democracy against terrorism, Labour has shown the
extraordinary lengths to which it is prepared to go in order to stamp
on even the slightest criticism from within its own ranks.
This has proved highly embarrassing for the Labour leadership. At the
same time that Marsden’s integrity and even his sanity were being
questioned, therefore, the prime minister’s office sought to distance
Blair himself from the affair. Officials were said to be
“embarrassed” at having to defend what was regarded as Armstrong’s
“heavy-handed” approach. The prime minister’s spokesman said, “The
prime minister doesn’t have any trouble with people expressing their
views even if they contrary to stated government policy.”
Such statements are a transparent evasion. Given the close working
relationship between the Whips’ Office and the prime minister, it is
highly unlikely that Marsden’s carpeting had not been discussed with
No 10. For one brief moment, the curtains parted, behind which much
of official politics are conducted. What was revealed was not so much
the “black arts” practised by the Whips’ Office, as the media
disingenuously puts it, but the venal and anti-democratic character
of the Labour government.
Copyright 1998-2001
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved
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