The McKinnon Test 87

 in The Election by

I am no more in favour of an alliance with New Labour than I am with the Conservatives – though if it delivered PR I would have to think hard.

But why tie ourselves to authoritarian war criminals. The culpability of Miliband in particular in strenuous efforts to cover up UK complicity in torture, should make it impossible for any Liberal to work with him.

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2010/05/new_labours_com.html#comments

Poor Gary McKinnon provides an important test. The Tories and Lib Dems have said they would halt his extradition under Blair’s vassal state one way extradition treaty with the USA. New Labour apparently remain determined to extradite him – and that means Miliband and Johnson in particular. That should be food for thought for anyone considering New Labour leaders touted as more acceptable to the Lib Dems,

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87 thoughts on “The McKinnon Test”

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  • Vronsky

    I’m confused. Right-wing conservative party A is having difficulty forming an agreement with right-wing conservative party B, and might instead consider right-wing conservative party C. Or have I got that backwards?

    I do hope it all sorts itself out and we get the best combination of right-wing conservative parties to run the country. It is so important to ensure that the thugs, spivs, gangsters and kept men running the country properly reflects the democratic wishes of the people.

  • Ishmael

    It will be educational to watch how that progresses. Gove & Mundell, Two very nasty men. They have a plan (Gove) I would be interested to find out anything about Gove so a picture can be made who the real Gove is. Gove is acting the nice concerned bloke. I am not convinced.

  • Doug Allanson

    I have just heard the Tories are now offering AV.

    This could mean the most important political issue in Britain now is stopping Miliband running for Leader of the Labour party.

  • Mark Golding - Children of Iraq

    I do not trust Cameron at all Craig based on webcameron insight as explained. Better the devil you know eh?

    Cameron’s administration would challenge the terms of an agreement between the British and the US governments used to charge McKinnon in America. The medical evidence on McKinnon’s autism and the likelihood of suicide should and must lead to the extradition being blocked.

    On torture remember Cameron contributed to the Conservative affiliated Young Britons Foundation branded guide to ‘essential reading for young Conservatives,’ according to the YBF’s chief executive, Donal Blaney, a Kent-based solicitor. The Guardian has also obtained photographs of him meeting the organisation’s director of strategy, vice-president, and then operations director before he denied knowledge of the group. Its director of research, Alex Deane, was formerly Cameron’s chief of staff.

    “The YBF’s tentacles reach deep into the shadow cabinet and show the influence of the extreme anti-NHS, pro-torture, neocon wing of the party,” said Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman. “If Cameron claims not to know who they are he is being completely dishonest.”

    Please be careful Craig in your deliberations – I myself was leaning towards Tory until I and many others learned the ‘inside track’ so to speak on webcameron.

  • Jon

    I am more inclined towards a coalition with New Labour. Yes, the leadership has been hijacked by a authoritarian, neocon and militarist cabal, but such views are greatly at home in the Tory party. In the Labour party, they are not.

    And such a coalition could produce voting reform, since ordinary Labour members are not dead set against it.

  • Andy

    Jon Snow was just interviewing Alastair Campbell on C4 at some out door location

    close to where it is all happening.

    Very chummy. Sickening. But we could all

    get AV! Doesn’t AV sound a little like

    a nasty virus you could catch from a wild duck?

  • Jon

    @Doug – David Miliband for Labour PM – that would amount to more hijacking! I regard him as a sort of Shadow Gove – both illustrate how to be ‘malicious in earnest’ very well indeed.

  • technicolour

    I don’t see why the Lib Dems have to dig any of these awful people out of their holes. I see Vronsky’s point, but at least the Lib Dem leadership haven’t got much form, by comparison.

    Perhaps Clegg’s being threatened with a ConLabour pact. But if that does happen, and the country sees the two main parties continuing to vote with each other on their rotten legislation, a) not much will have changed and b) at least he won’t have sold out. Lib Dem support could only go up in the next election. No?

  • Doug Allanson

    Jon

    Its actually difficult to know what the Labour party stands for. I actually always liked Brown, despite the several dubious things he signed up to. He was at least the most intellectually able politician since Thatcher. But the Labour party as you say was hijecked by Blair who suddenly found all his colleagues were willing to sell their souls and ride with him. Brown was associated with all that, failed to dissassociate himself and the new breed – Miliband, Balls – have either enthusiastically embraced the same philosophy or shown no sign of going elsewhere.

    Prior to New Labour the Labour party was supposed to be socialist. Now its supposed to embrace anyone with power and throw money at the public sector, at least investmentwise. What next?

  • Julian

    Craig, please can you explain something to me. You don’t think the Lib Dems should enter into coalition with the Tories or Labour, yet you want PR. Everyone says PR will lead to permanent coalition government. How would you expect the Lib Dems to bahave under PR if they couldn’t enter coalition?

  • Larry from St. Louis

    A whole bunch of you folks don’t seem to understand what “neocon” means. To you, if something is bad, it’s “neocon.”

    A very clear indication of herd mentality and lack of intellectual curiosity.

  • Jon

    @Doug – I agree completely, if by “Labour Party” you mean the cabal in charge. The membership base, as far as I know, still believes in the political space somewhere between social democracy and socialism.

    Clare Short – my last MP – was rather euphemistic when she said that ‘The Labour Party has lost its way’. Hmmpph!

    @technicolour – I would be worried that if Clegg doesn’t deal with the devil it knows (New Labour) then the next election will result in a worse showing for the Libs as the electorate is bullied into “delivering stable government” by the right-wing press. Meantime I don’t think electoral reform is possible without a referendum, and that will take a long time to organise (possibly longer than a coalition will last!). As CM has said before, it will also have most of the press maneuvering against it.

  • Craig

    Julian,

    Under PR I would be prepared to enter coalition.

    I think PR would lead to a reforming of political parties along new lines ref;ecting the authoritarian/libertarian split which is now the most critical division in british politics.

  • Jon

    I think most readers here could provide a decent definition of ‘neo-conservative’. But trolls continuing to lob “awkward grenades” into proceedings here is tedious – comments and discussion on-topic though is welcomed. Even from people who often disagree: where’s Alfred?

  • Suhayl Saadi

    Are you a neocon, Larry? Tell us what your idea of a neoconservative might be. Tell us, Larry, who you are. The time for obfuscation is over. Time for truth.

  • woody

    Miliband? He voted for the Iraq war and against an inquiry, like most of his nasty playmates. He’s eager to change the law in order to provide a safe haven for Israelis wanted for war crimes. Little twits don’t come any more loathsome than that. Why on earth would LibDems want to throw a lifeline to such freaks?

  • Jon

    Look at this bleedin’ lineup! Crumbs, what a depressing array (see link).

    (Apols, it’s the Daily Wail).

  • derek

    The way I see it is this; Labour cannot deliver on any form of PR including AV because it would only take a few rebels to scupper the bill.

    Whereas a binding referendum on AV could be won even with The Tory press campaigning against it (probably).

    I think the LDs should go with the Tories.

  • Clark

    Mary,

    indeed. But not very clever or web-aware, deleting from their office or own home connections, eh?

  • Clark

    It’s really rather urgent that we debate and learn about the various types of electoral system. Some systems would probably make matters worse.

    Craig?

    You have a tallent for making things clear…

  • brian

    if “the authoritarian/libertarian split …is now the most critical division in british politics”, you sound like you’re erring to the tories.

  • Duncan McFarlane

    I can understand that Craig – but look at it this way – you get PR, you prevent a double dip recession – and then you drop them and there’s another election under PR – and every election after that is under PR – and then the strangle-hold of the big parties is broken forever and the decent part of the Labour party can form it’s own party separate from the careerists and the money-grubbers.

    (to be fair to him Gordon Brown, for all his many faults as Chancellor and Prime Minister – including backing the Iraq war, was never in it for the money and status the way Blair and Byers were)

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