DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived Cleggeron era

Love to see Cameron getting behind our brave boys announcing an inquiry into torture just so Hague can give lots of interviews about how it's not the Tories' fault we're in Iraq,

They should totally accept full responsibility for Tony Blair's private war?

they should have opposed it when it was announced?

Oh come on, get some perspective, if there's anything that deserves an enquiry its the torture allegations, which aren't even Iraq related per se.

That said I think part of this is the desire to take some of the shine off David Miliband, but to be fair they could do that more cheaply with a a load of banana photos.

Perhaps opposed it having not spent the preceding months calling for tougher action on Iraq

If it's the right thing to do (and it is) then fuck a govt's (any govt) reasons.

Of course, and Cameron got all the credit for the Bloody Sunday inquiry, so he might as well get it for this too

Blair got all the credit for the Northern Ireland peace process so it evens out.

^ yep

Also Blair's apology for Bloody Sunday wouldn't have touched Cameron's, I imagine.

Blair had rather more to do with the Northern Ireland peace process than just standing up in the Commons and saying "Sorry"

Not as much as John Major did to drive it, back when that really was a huge step. Maybe not even as much as Thatcher tbh.

Uh, but John Major does get a lot of credit. Explain to me exactly what Thatcher did?

And coincidentally announcing it just at the exact same time that the former Armed Forces Minister starts giving evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry.

Given that to my knowledge Blair never even offered a full apology FOR THE SLAVE TRADE clearly just standing up in the Commons and saying "sorry" isn't something politicians find very easy.

Other than allowing 10 guys to starve themselves to death etc? (xp)

xp Anglo Irish Agreement was huge.

Lol fuck a hunger striker

Oh wait, he did it 2007, my bad.

(xposts)

If you were alive in 1981, then you 'allowed' a dude to starve himself too. I'm not sure that makes you guilty of anything when it happens.

LOL Southern Irishman

i don't even own a knitted sweater, for shame

I think the legacy of Cameron's party wrt Northern Ireland is one reason why it was harder for him to apologise in the Commons than it would have been for Blair. Obviously would have been a piece of piss for Brown.

Can always rely on Maggie:

'In 1998 Thatcher said she regretted signing the Agreement and said of Enoch Powell's opposition to the Agreement: "I now believe that his assessment was right"'

^ agree. The apology meant more from a Tory PM. We don't really have beef with Labour, tbh. Except on an individual level in my case, probably

(xp)

regretting something after doing it works both ways, thatcher might regret the AIA and tony can 'regret' illegally invading Iraq for no good reason.

But the Anglo Irish Agreement was a tad better than invading Iraq illegally

'works both ways'

mind you who was in govt when we were invaded illegally?

I blame Thatcher

Clearly a Blair policy tbh

BBC, Wednesday, 19 March, 2003

There was relief for the government after fears that many more of Labour's backbenchers would oppose Tony Blair's line on Iraq.

But the revolt among Labour MPs was still up on the last vote with 139 backbenchers opposing Mr Blair compared to 122 at the last vote.

Fifteen Tories defied their leadership by voting against the government.

Way to go Tories!

Tory natural tendency is to invade brown countries. 15 voting against is a bigger deal than ten times that on the Labour side doing, y'know, what a Labour Govt MP ought to be doing.

Straws *clutch* *clutch*

i dunno if that's true. have recent tory governments done that much invading?

clutching at straws- thatcher?

it was not a particularly serious point, this is not a particularly serious debate

Dunno, it's all very well and good but there were enough Labour MPs willing to forget their principles and do what the government told them for this to be a ridiculous argument.

Actually not sure there was any PM of modern times who committed to war more times than Tony Blair?

John Major. Little place called Iraq.

War on poverty, that was a doozy

Coalition have a new spin on that: War on the Poor

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/06/alan-budd-george-osborne-shambles

anyway, i powerskimmed this, could be a thing maybe

Oh oh

Various ministers keep mentioning that Budd guy, like it's a incantatory spell or something

This is also relevant in light of the Budd thing.

The country tipping back into recession would be disastrous for the country but also for any attempt to cut the deficit. Given Osbourne's response to any warnings of this kind has been to stick his fingers in his ears and go "ner ner ner not listening" he could get absolutely castigated for it. And no one liked Osbourne in the first place.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/7/6/1278432681132

really beginning to question the incestuous relationship btwn 'the thick of it' and real life labour party at this stage

Squirm, creep, squirm

I just don't believe that there is absolutely no money for this! Surely they could reserve something for a couple of hundred of the neediest projects.

i was beaten daily schooled in portakabin classrooms for a great deal of my higher ed and it did me no harm.

then i got on my bike and looked for work.

If it was that much of a priority they'd raise taxes, or reallocate money from elsewhere. It isn't a priority, big surprise.