THE SILENCE OF THE TORY LAMBS

As one who supported Tony Blair`s decision to invade Iraq on the basis that he had come to that conclusion having studied sufficient reports, been assured of its legality and concluded that we, in the UK, were at direct risk of attack with WMD, I was despondent as were millions of others when the yet to be written conclusion is that he lied to parliament and to the British people. It was a lesson to many that faith in the probity of British politicians was misplaced.  Perhaps we were just naive.  I was.  And so to today`s report in the Guardian that when the devil is offered a finger he will take the whole hand. With the example of the arrogance of the George Osborne/ David Cameron double act being brought crashing to earth merely a few days past our mouthpiece of a Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond seeks to cast aspersions on the judicial decision last week at the High Court that a Saudi billionaire`s claim to hold diplomatic status to avoid divorce proceedings in this country was a chimera; an artificial device with no substance in international law.  

In the current pre referendum climate arguments are being deployed by Brexiteers that the European Court of Justice holds too much power by its unelected judges in its influence over British policies. The Foreign Secretary is a Remainer but that hasn`t prevented him from public criticism of the aforementioned high court decision. All too often of late we have witnessed this and the previous government seeking to appeal legal decisions which have confounded their policies. Perhaps he should seek advice from the presidents of Russia or Turkey. This case, however, is much more serious.  It is public knowledge that Blair intervened personally to prevent investigation into arms sales and kick backs revolving around the sale of £ billions of Eurofighters. In the present confusing state of alliances in Syria, Saudi involvement in the promotion of Muslim extremism and the precarious market for oil for Hammond to act as he has done is not merely typical of Foreign Office attitudes it must be verging on the unconstitutional........but then I am not a lawyer.

Minds much more politically tuned than mine have opined that with a defunct Labour party the reining in of the current lot will fall to its own supporters inside and outside parliament.  I await the sound of their voices or will it be the silence of the Tory lambs.