Blog de Paul Jorion

Billet invité.

Dear Paul,

On the subject of the video of Robin Cook’s resignation speech in 2003 which you show beside your regular Friday video, I just wanted to say how much I appreciated seeing that again. A model resignation speech, listened to intently by Jeremy Corbyn, as the video shows. At the time when the speech was delivered Mr Corbyn was, as is well known, one of those back-benchers who were very much involved in opposing the proposed invasion of Iraq.

The prospect of the Chilcot inquiry publishing its long-awaited report on the Iraq war while Mr Corbyn was leader of the Labour Party was clearly a nightmare for Mr Blair and his supporters in the Labour Party, the timing of whose coup against Mr Corbyn is well known to be widely believed to have been dictated by a desire to prevent him from condemning Mr Blair on behalf of the Labour Party, as the failure of the coup enabled him to do.

If it is indeed the case that the huge number of opponents of Mr Corbyn in the Labour Party group of MPs in the House of Commons thought it was more important to try to protect Mr Blair and the Labour Party as they define it rather than to provide an effective opposition to the Tory UK government at a time when effective opposition is crucially required, it is arguably apparent that the extent to which political in-fighting at Westminster is damaging the interests of the UK has reached a new low.

Rats in a sack.