Thursday, June 12, 2008
More on principles
Much anger in the Black household last night as we discovered that our Labour MP had voted in favour of the 42 day pre-charge detention period. Siân James had been one of those rebel MPs who had previously voted against the 90 day detention period and she took a fair bit of flack in the local media for her decision.
Tonight's South Wales Evening Post reports that she was having doubts right up to the last minute and that it was only a last minute interview with Gordon Brown that led to her walking through the lobby on the side of the Government:
Earlier in the day, Mrs James told the Post that she had been put in a "difficult predicament" as she struggled to make up her mind whether to oppose the Government's plans, which she described as "intrinsically wrong."
Mrs James said she was "greatly saddened" that she had been put in such a "difficult predicament" by the Government and did not want her vote to be interpreted as her verdict on the beleaguered Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
"The choice appears to be between voting to save civil liberties or to save Gordon Brown," Mrs James said.
"I have always been a huge supporter of Gordon Brown and was even one of the first MPs to nominate Gordon for the leadership of the party, so that support for him is there and I know that he is a good leader.
"That's why it is such a difficult predicament that the Government has put me in.
"What I hope the people of Swansea East will understand is that I will vote in the way I believe is best in the circumstances overall."
So in the end she had to choose between opposing a measure which she believed was 'intrinsically wrong' but has the support of over sixty per cent of the electorate or a Prime Minister who can only command 25% of the popular vote in the latest opinion polls. How nice to see that it was principle that won out in the end.
Tonight's South Wales Evening Post reports that she was having doubts right up to the last minute and that it was only a last minute interview with Gordon Brown that led to her walking through the lobby on the side of the Government:
Earlier in the day, Mrs James told the Post that she had been put in a "difficult predicament" as she struggled to make up her mind whether to oppose the Government's plans, which she described as "intrinsically wrong."
Mrs James said she was "greatly saddened" that she had been put in such a "difficult predicament" by the Government and did not want her vote to be interpreted as her verdict on the beleaguered Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
"The choice appears to be between voting to save civil liberties or to save Gordon Brown," Mrs James said.
"I have always been a huge supporter of Gordon Brown and was even one of the first MPs to nominate Gordon for the leadership of the party, so that support for him is there and I know that he is a good leader.
"That's why it is such a difficult predicament that the Government has put me in.
"What I hope the people of Swansea East will understand is that I will vote in the way I believe is best in the circumstances overall."
So in the end she had to choose between opposing a measure which she believed was 'intrinsically wrong' but has the support of over sixty per cent of the electorate or a Prime Minister who can only command 25% of the popular vote in the latest opinion polls. How nice to see that it was principle that won out in the end.
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I noticed that in the BBC report on this item, it quoted that Lib Dems and Tories voted against this item, as did a few rebel Labour MPs.
In addition to the bulk of the Labour house members voting for this, they also had help from the Unionist who also voted in favour of the Bill.
What did Plaid do?
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In addition to the bulk of the Labour house members voting for this, they also had help from the Unionist who also voted in favour of the Bill.
What did Plaid do?
# posted by 
: 6:04 PM
: 6:04 PM<< Home
