"In the name of God, go!"
posted by k
On 8th May, 1940, the Conservative MP Leo Amery addressed his Prime Minister using Cromwell's words:
"You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, let us be done with you. In the name of God, go!"
The occasion was a vote of confidence in Neville Chamberlain's wartime government after the disaster of the Norway campaign.
History books aren't always accurate but records show that Chamberlain won the vote with the massive majority of 81. However, members of his party had turned against him and the lowered majority led to his resignation two days later - an honourable response to the debate and vote.
Tony Blair's government insisted today that no vote on the war was necessary. Margaret Beckett said the situation was too "delicate". I would have thought the situation was delicate in 1940, when German invasion threatened Britain.
Ministers said an enquiry might upset or endanger the troops. Young men and women sent abroad to be killed and maimed - and to kill and maim others - might wish to be more than canon fodder. But Blair's government take a view of soldiers that geos back to Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade":
"Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs but to do & die ..."
Presumably in Blair's cosy little world, soldiers sit contentedly round their campfires, singing a happy song from the trenches of World War I:
"We're here because we're here because
We're here because we're here ..."
In Blair's world, soldiers don't wish to know why they are in Iraq. But most of us don't live in Blair's world.
Today there was a vote in the House of Commons. Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Nationalists - and some Labour MPs - called for an enquiry into the Iraq war.
The government won by 25 votes.
That's not as good as 81.
It's not enough.
Given the mistaken loyalty and self-interest moving some Labour MPs who voted to save the government, it's clear that most MPs think the war in Iraq was a grave mistake.
It's time for Tony Blair - and those ministers who support him - to leave office.
Cromwell's words, used by Leo Amery, still resonate:
"You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, let us be done with you. In the name of God, go!"
On 8th May, 1940, the Conservative MP Leo Amery addressed his Prime Minister using Cromwell's words:
"You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, let us be done with you. In the name of God, go!"
The occasion was a vote of confidence in Neville Chamberlain's wartime government after the disaster of the Norway campaign.
History books aren't always accurate but records show that Chamberlain won the vote with the massive majority of 81. However, members of his party had turned against him and the lowered majority led to his resignation two days later - an honourable response to the debate and vote.
Tony Blair's government insisted today that no vote on the war was necessary. Margaret Beckett said the situation was too "delicate". I would have thought the situation was delicate in 1940, when German invasion threatened Britain.
Ministers said an enquiry might upset or endanger the troops. Young men and women sent abroad to be killed and maimed - and to kill and maim others - might wish to be more than canon fodder. But Blair's government take a view of soldiers that geos back to Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade":
"Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs but to do & die ..."
Presumably in Blair's cosy little world, soldiers sit contentedly round their campfires, singing a happy song from the trenches of World War I:
"We're here because we're here because
We're here because we're here ..."
In Blair's world, soldiers don't wish to know why they are in Iraq. But most of us don't live in Blair's world.
Today there was a vote in the House of Commons. Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Nationalists - and some Labour MPs - called for an enquiry into the Iraq war.
The government won by 25 votes.
That's not as good as 81.
It's not enough.
Given the mistaken loyalty and self-interest moving some Labour MPs who voted to save the government, it's clear that most MPs think the war in Iraq was a grave mistake.
It's time for Tony Blair - and those ministers who support him - to leave office.
Cromwell's words, used by Leo Amery, still resonate:
"You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, let us be done with you. In the name of God, go!"
posted by areopagitica at 7:53 pm
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