Category Archives: Blog

Debating Iraq

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So – another chance to debate and beg for an Iraq inquiry – and another chance for the Labour Government to say no! And that is what happened. Although it has to be said it was game, set and match to the opposition parties (united now the Tories have realised how wrong they were to vote for the war) who really made mincemeat of Beckett. The Government had not a single good argument. Sadly, that didn’t stop them winning the vote. For goodness sake – even the US has had an inquiry!

Before that we were subjected to King Tony in the last days of his reign coming forth to the House of Commons, returned from the glorious G8 Summit where agreements to talks were the successes of the day.

Not to be too harsh (oh why not?) whilst it is good that the G8 agreed to a UN-sponsored process on climate change – actually there already is one in the form of Kyoto protocol which involves all of the key developing countries. And while the protocol’s first commitment period comes to an end in 2012 – the protocol itself doesn’t.

If Bush is serious about wanting to involve the US in climate talks all he needs to do is ratify Kyoto – and Bob’s your uncle. Then he can join the next commitment period talks – no probs!

That having been said – it’s at least a start to raising these issues amongst those who count – agreements etc must follow – otherwise it’s all hot air.

Al Yamamah: Panorama, 8.30pm, tonight

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Al Yamamah: sign the Corruption is a Crime petitionTonight (Monday) Panorama on BBC1 will be screening an investigation into the bribery scandal engulfing BAE, our government and the Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

There’s advance information about the show on Panorama’s website – where you’ll also be able to catch the program if you miss it this evening:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/default.stm

It’s a massive scandal – especially with the UK’s decision to drop the criminal investigation into the bribery allegations. But corruption is a crime, wherever and whoever carries it out – and for all Labour’s talk of being tough on crime, when it suits they seem happy to turn a blind eye.

The way to fight corruption in international deals is to enforce the international agreements that exist – not to ignore them, nor to (as The Guardian has reported last week) conceal evidence from international corruption probes.

You can sign our petition for a proper inquiry into why the Al Yamamah investigation was dropped – and get more information about the whole case – at: www.corruptionisacrime.com

Ed Vaizey's dress sense

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Just got back from the Westminster Hour. Ed Vaizey (Conservative MP), now clearly desperate to put me off my stride on our weekly Sunday tryst, has taken to wearing strange outfits. Tonight’s little number was a bright yellow phosphorescent jacket and shorts. That boy will try anything! So if I seemed distracted … perhaps next time I should bring a camera!

First up was the Opposition Day motion on an Iraq enquiry coming up this week in Parliament. The Scot Nats had a debate asking for an enquiry not that long ago – and whilst we Lib Dems voted for an inquiry – the Government (just) won the vote.

This time however, the interesting issue for me is the timing. With Gordon about to ascend the throne – if I was he and trying to put a bit of distance between myself and TB – I might very well in my first hundred days announce an Iraq inquiry. So let’s spoil it for Gordy and vote for one before he gets the chance to spin his involvement in taking us to war.

In fact, listening to a package before I went on tonight, several of the would be deputy leaders of the Labour party were – at one of their hustings in Oxford that the Westminster Hour’s Carolyn Quinn had been to – wringing their hands in grief over how misled they had been over the war (even though most were in the cabinet) and how wrong the intelligence must have been. Spare me the tears. We, the Lib Dems, were the only party asking the hard questions and we were reviled in the House for our stance. Those Labour MPs can’t get away with saying “we were misled”. The truth is – they not only failed to answer the right questions, they reviled those who did ask questions.

And those Tories are being very cheeky (if not somewhat opportunistic) having a debate for an Iraq inquiry as they were very much cheerleaders for the war (though boy David has flipped and flopped back and forth on the issue – saying he was for it, then saying he agreed with the Lib Dems, then changing his mind again, and now – I presume! – will be voting for an inquiry).

Anyway – we also had a chat about my colleague Tom Brake’s 10 minute rule bill on Freedom of Information – coming up on Tuesday. It really extends the original powers to request material under the Freedom of Information Act so that when the Government tries shenanigans to avoid giving up information the ultimate decision will be in the hands of the Information Tribunal or Commissioner – and not in the hands of ministers.

Interestingly, the Bill would also bring private contractors who work for public bodies into the realm of FoI. Quite right! Now virtually everything is outsourced – the companies to whom previously public sector contracts are now awarded should be subject to proper scrutiny and come under the FoI banner.

Too many exams?

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A few weeks ago I suggested to colleagues that our children were all being over stressed, trained like dogs for exams to tick boxes, that this wasn’t an education just a sausage machine and little else – and so we should look at how scrapping exams for under-16s and scrapping AS levels would work.

Blow me – the national exams sat by under-16s in England’s schools should be scrapped, a teaching standards watchdog has now urged: the General Teaching Council (GTC) believes the tests are failing to raise standards and placing “added stress” on pupils, teachers and parents.

I must be clairvoyant!

How would you react if four million people had been killed in the UK?

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Four Destroyed health post in Darfurmillion deaths – that’s the shocking figure for how many people would have died in the UK if we’d suffered the same proportion of our population being killed as has been killed in Darfur.

It makes ‘just’ asking another question or speaking at another rally seem rather inadequate in the face of this monstrous brutality. Which is why – I’m setting up a local group to help take more action. It’s the subject of my latest newspaper column (for the Ham & High this time):

Two and a half years ago, Tony Blair took a stand saying that ‘international focus on Darfur will not go away while the situation remains outstanding’. But that stand was only temporary – for last year, Salah Gosh – the Sudanese security chief who orchestrates the violence in Darfur – was twice “welcomed” to this country.

You can read the rest of the Darfur article on my website.

UPDATE: If you are on Facebook, please come and join my Darfur group.

Pirate radio station update

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Further to the story of Crimestoppers adverts appearing on a pirate radio station – Bizim FM – the offending advertisements look like having been downloaded from the web by the radio station and then broadcast.

However they got there – you cannot have the Met’s brand on an illegal radio station – and the Met are investigating. They say that they have had this type of problem before so we’ll see what they decide to do this time!

I have had a few emails saying that Bizim is better than London Turkish Radio (LTR). Not my focus – I am not judging the relative excellence or otherwise of the two stations – only their legality or otherwise. I am also getting a few identical letters from supporters of Bizim (so orchestrated clearly) who say that it is just a ‘licensing technicality’. I think that’s the sort of technicality that costs money – i.e. applying for a license – in fact quite a lot of money. Licensing is what keeps our airwaves clear – not just for our enjoyment but also for our safety in that the frequencies are also used by the emergency services. Illegal broadcasting is not acceptable. Nor is one station having to pay whilst another decides it won’t.

Listen guys – I have no axe to grind here other than a business in my constituency is being financially damaged by an illegal pirate radio station.

I am meeting with Ofcom in a couple of weeks – so watch this space!