Stephen Pollard needs “help”. He says so himself on his blog.
His “problem” (again, his word not ours) is that while he is a pro-war Labour supporter, his local Labour candidate is anti-war and not afraid to say so.
Hmmm… tough one, that. However, our team of experts has come up with a solution: Vote Conservative. This really is a no brainer, not only for Mr Pollard, but other pro-war Labour-voting types. After all, what is it that has led the likes of Stephen Pollard, Nick Cohen, Johann Hari and Norman Geras into what is, no doubt, a painful split with their anti-war Labour chums? It is a proper sense of priorities: The differences between different shades of democratic opinion – even between democratic socialists and rightwing Tories – are as nothing compared to the chasm between democracy and tyranny.
They will, of course, protest that it was Tony Blair that took us to war, not Michael Howard. But it’s not a President we’re voting for, but a ruling party – and which party voted overwhelmingly for the war? Yep, the Tories -- without whose votes we would not have gone to war because so many Labour MPs voted to keep Saddam Hussein in power. So, then, if Mr Pollard considers the war to be a more important issue than his various objections to the Conservative Party then he should vote Conservative, if he doesn’t then he should vote Labour.
Stephen Pollard is an ultra-Blairite and will find it hard to do the dirty on his hero. But his devotion is not blind, its is based on a genuine belief that New Labour at its reforming best can bring about the changes that will spread opportunity to all. Thus he is a big supporter of New Labour attempts to apply market solutions to our public services. Indeed, when he was asked the following question by Norman Geras -- “if you could effect one major policy change in the governing of your country, what would it be?” -- he replied, “introduce education vouchers, and have no state involvement in the running of education.”
And which is the only party committed to the education vouchers concept? Yep, the Tories. And what does Mr Blair think about that? Well, according to the Independent, not much:
“Tony Blair sparked a bitter row with the Conservatives as he accused Michael Howard of planning to take £2bn out of state schools by funding private education for thousands of pupils. Mr Blair launched an outspoken attack on the Tories' proposals for school vouchers, branding them "more extreme than anything in the Thatcher years".”
So, Mr Pollard, given that the Tories are closest to your position on an issue as important as the war, and Tony Blair considers a modest version of your favourite domestic policy to be “more extreme than anything in the Thatcher years", are your reasons for not voting Conservative really good enough?
Sorry to badger you, but we’re only trying to help.
"Yep, the Tories - without whose votes we would not have gone to war because so many Labour MPs voted to keep Saddam Hussein in power."
Are you confident of that? I am far from convinced that the Prime Minister would have pulled out of the Iraq war if Parliament had voted against it. It's not as though he required Parliament's consent for constitutional reasons.
Posted by: Tom Greeves | 29 April 2005 at 14:23