IRAQ INQUIRY - LABOUR REBELS

Thanks to a Westminster source for passing on the list of Labour rebels who joined the call for an open, independent and publicly transparent inquiry into the Iraq War. There has been much spin that Brown has done a U-turn on this one. Not so. A concession, true, it is that some parts will now be in public but most of the hearing will still be in camera - and those conducting the inquiry do not have the independence needed to make it anything more likely than another whitewash. It truly beggars belief that only 19 Labour MPs had the guts to stand up and be counted on this one. The rebels were:

Jeremy Corbyn, Parmjit Dhanda, David Drew, Paul Farrelly, Frank Field, Mark Fisher, Paul Flynn, Roger Godsiff, Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins, Lynne Jones, Andrew Mackinlay, Bob Marshall-Andrews, John McDonnell, Gordon Prentice, Alan Simpson, Sir Peter Soulsby, Gavin Strang, Mike Wood.

Ths extract from Hansard outlines John McDonnell MP's intervention:

regret to say this, Madam Deputy Speaker, but the problem is the Prime Minister. The fact is that he does not understand that he does not understand. He came along last week to announce the inquiry and he handed it down like tablets of stone. What he basically said is, “We are the Government, so we decide.” That simply will not do. Things have moved on since last week. We were told that it was going to be a Franks-style inquiry—quite wrongly, I think, for reasons I have explained—but it has now mutated into something completely different. The Prime Minister and, downwards from him, his advisers, were panicking, so he wrote to Chilcot and asked him to see what he could do about having some sessions in public, using what is said in their phrase to be some “equivalent to the oath”. There is no equivalent to the oath; there would be more value in the wolf cub’s promise than what they are proposing. That is the fact of the matter. There is no such equivalent to the oath and the Prime Minister knows it. [Interruption.] If the Minister thinks I am wrong, I repeat my call for him to explain when he replies from the Dispatch Box what this equivalent is that will have the force of law and criminal sanctions if it were ever to be abrogated.
As I have said, the Prime Minister does not understand that does not understand. The real test of all the stuff he has been saying about rejuvenating Parliament—he almost puts the blame on the rest of us for bringing Parliament into disrepute—is whether he is prepared to acknowledge that this Parliament has the right to decide the nature of the inquiry into why and how it was misled on the Iraq war. I am buttressed in my arguments by many of the people the Prime Minister relied on to say what a good idea a Franks-type inquiry would be. One after the other over the past seven days, those civil servants and members of the judiciary, for example, have said that that idea is nonsense. A few nights ago, I cheered when General Mike Jackson said on “Newsnight” that evidence to the inquiry must be given under oath. It showed that the Government cannot hide the fact that some military people who have seen the conflict and seen the evidence knew what was going on. They say this must be an independent inquiry and that evidence must be given under oath. Why does the Minister not understand that? Why does his boss the Prime Minister not understand that?
It is time the Minister went behind the Chair and phoned the Prime Minister to tell him to accept the motion. If the Prime Minister does not do so, he may win the vote—I am not certain—but he will certainly lose the debate. The arguments for an independent inquiry will go on and on and on until one is conceded.

And George Galloway said.........

'People have queued up to say they have nothing against the membership of the inquiry. Well, I do. The more the Foreign Secretary adumbrated their distinguished characteristics, the more I saw a parade of establishment flunkeys—Sir Humphrey This and Sir Humphrey That. Those who are not just grey blurs are in fact partisans. Freedman is one of the authors of the intellectual case for the war. He and his neo-con friends were the people who made the then Prime Minister’s bullets for the war. Gilbert hailed Bush and Blair—imagine, they are already two of the most discredited political figures in the world, and history has not even started on them yet—as akin to Roosevelt and Churchill. Yet both Freedman and Gilbert are among the very small group of people who will conduct the inquiry.'

TOP 40 REBELS WITH A CAUSE........

..The numbers reflect the number of times each MP has rebelled since Gordon Brown came to power in 2007. Compiled by a team of academics and the subject of much column inches in today's papers, the figures make for easy tabloid fodder. Yet no Labour MP votes against the Government without serious thought beforehand. And even the most rebellios largely votes WITH the Government. On issues of principle, from the Trade Union Freedom Bill to 42 Days and the up and coming Welfare Reform Bill, we should be glad there are MPs who are prepared to stand up for their beliefs. They are the conscience of the PLP.

Corbyn, Jeremy 148
Drew, David 75
McDonnell, John 128
Hopkins, Kelvin 97
Hoey, Kate 77
Simpson, Alan 90
Davidson, Ian 37
Taylor, David 52
Jones, Dr Lynne 80
Mitchell, Austin 26
Field, Frank 27
Wood, Mike 47
Flynn, Paul 41
Marshall-Andrews, Bob 58
Prentice, Gordon 39
Riordan, Linda 40
Truswell, Paul 26
Abbott, Diane 37
Burgon, Colin 27
Cook, Frank 22
Fisher, Mark 56
Clark, Katy 36
Godsiff, Roger 24
Havard, Dai 21
Skinner, Dennis 34
Cousins, Jim 21
Grogan, John 32
Campbell, Ronnie 16
Dunwoody, Gwyneth 26
Gibson, Dr Ian 42
Kilfoyle, Peter 25
Mackinlay, Andrew 13
Meacher, Michael 26
Dismore, Andrew 13
Caton, Martin 7 19
Gerrard, Neil 25
Clapham, Michael 26
Dobson, Frank 20
Cohen, Harry 23

THE 37

Here is the list of the 37 rebels - sorry to say my MP Chris McCafferty is not among them. Hlaifax MP Linda Riordan and Batley and Spen MP Mike Wood are:

Diane Abbott; Richard Burden; Katy Clark; Harry Cohen; Frank Cook; Jeremy Corbyn; Jim Cousins; Andrew Dismore; Frank Dobson; David Drew; Paul Farrelly; Mark Fisher; Paul Flynn; Neil Gerrard; Ian Gibson; Roger Godsiff; John Grogan; Dai Havard; Kate Hoey; Kelvin Hopkins; Glenda Jackson; Lynne Jones; Peter Kilfoyle; Andrew MacKinlay; Bob Marshall-Andrews; John McDonnell; Michael Meacher; Julie Morgan; Chris Mullin; Douglas Naysmith; Gordon Prentice; Linda Riordan; Alan Simpson; Emily Thornberry; David Winnick; Mike Wood.

TUITION FEES REVISITED?

Remember when the departure of Blair was going to be the magic bullet? Not exactly worked out that way....... But I remember how everyone got terribly fired up by the rebellion over tuition fees in 2004.
At the time, it was said that if Blair lost the vote then he would go down. And he almost did - until Gordon Brown told his almost namesake Nick Brown to take the tanks off Number 10's lawn. The Prime Minister now of course advocates tuition fees and everything else - and more - which Blair stood for.
And where we are is with a situation where a vote against the Government is spun as "no confidence" and therefore eminently whippable. The Frank Field amendment, which seems to be the focus of attention, actually does not go far enough IMHO.
The 10p tax rate cut could and should be restored - I simply don't believe that it's impossible. Look how much money has been poured into Northern Rock , Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is the issue which will cost Labour hundreds of seats next week - and probably the next election. Promises it will be sorted out in 2009 simply won't wash with the millions affected by the loss of hard-earned money. Gordon Prentice, a splendid local MP who is "one of us" on the left, said that on Newsnight last night. And let's be honest. The issue of the low-paid being penalised affects far many more than the tuition fees issue ever did.