It turns out offering your two cents on controversial topics not relevant to your role as a politician might not be the cleverest move. After being firmly slapped down by the Scottish Secretary, Sturgeon’s openness to a no fly zone in Ukraine has now caused a row inside her own party. You could say explosive…
Buried in the Scottish Herald today Guido spots the convenor of the SNP campaign for nuclear disarmament movement has penned a withering letter about their leader:
“THE United States has intimated that Poland’s cunning attempt at mission creep around what is in effect a redeployment of its Mig-29s to the USAF base at Ramstein in Germany has been, quite rightly, vetoed by the US.
It ill behoves the First Minster to add her own to the voices suggesting that the option of a no-fly zone be kept on the table. A no-fly zone is precisely the sort of mission creep that could lead to a limited nuclear exchange. In case those who advise Ms Sturgeon on matters military have not pointed this out, tactical nukes in the Russian arsenal do exist. And as insane as it sounds, “escalate to de-escalate” is part of Russian doctrine.”
Sturgeon’s uneducated warmongering or SNP CND’s white flag waving? Guido rarely finds it this difficult to pick a side…
How’s this for a conference laugh. Labour’s “Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament” Fabian Hamilton has recounted the tale of what happened when Emily Thornberry met the Foreign Office permanent under-secretary Sir Simon McDonald during the election to discuss the event of a Labour win. The plan for day one: appoint a Cabinet minister with responsibility to disarm the UK…
“Just before the General Election on June 8th, Emily Thornberry and Jennifer Larbie, Head of International Policy for Jeremy’s Office, they went to see Sir Simon McDonald who is the Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, that means by the way that he is the boss, he’s the senior United Kingdom Diplomat… When Emily and Jennifer put to Sir Simon that the idea that if we won on Thursday and if we win in the future – when we win in the future – we will create, because it’s in the manifesto, a Minister, a Secretary of State, a Cabinet role, for Peace and Disarmament, and that would include the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. And McDonald’s reply was: ‘Brilliant, that’s a really good idea.'”
Oh to have seen Sir Simon’s face…
Speaking at a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament fringe meeting, Hamilton also recounted a phone call with Corbyn during which he said the Labour leader reiterated his opposition to nuclear weapons:
“He [Jeremy Corbyn] said: ‘You and I have been active in Parliamentary CND and I have always taken the view that our independent nuclear deterrent is a waste of money and worse.'”
A member of Labour’s National Policy Forum outlined plans to bring forward motions at next year’s conference to make nuclear disarmament official party policy. George Downs said scrapping nukes was “Jeremy’s vision” and the left’s capture of the party’s Conference Arrangements Committee could be used to bring it about:
“Fingers crossed this time next year we will be debating the National Policy Forum Report which includes nuclear disarmament, but if not a contemporary motion which isn’t ruled out of order by this new Conference Arrangements Committee, and we can get Labour Party policy which is in line with Jeremy’s vision.”
Could unilateral disarmament become official Labour policy this time next year?
10% of Jeremy Corbyn’s significant inheritance was set aside for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Guido can reveal. When the Labour leader’s mother passed away in 1989, she left Jezza and his three brothers a hugely valuable estate worth the equivalent of nearly £600,000 in today’s money. Mrs Corbyn expressed a “hope” that, after taxes, her sons would give one tenth of their inheritance to organisations including the CND and Greenpeace. So that’s where Jeremy got his strong unilateralist principles from. More awkwardly, did Piers Corbyn, the famous climate change denier, really give thousands to Greenpeace as mum wished?
So how much did Corbyn inherit? After taxes Jezza received the equivalent of around £100,000 in today’s money. Dave isn’t the only leader who enjoyed the privilege of well-off parents…
