PA photo
By
Hazel Speed
BBC Radio 4 ‘The Today Programme’ broadcast an interview with Owen Smith which is a Classic of its Genre, but not for the right reasons as far as Mr. Smith is concerned.
Do listen to the podcast as I am not going to go through it herein, but I do want to pick up one or two remarsk made by Owen Smith as I am sure he does not know what it is that he is shovelling, as they say!
Some are of the opinion that the Labour Party’s one time contender against Jeremy Corbyn, Angela Eagle, should not have stood down in favour of Mr. Smith. One can see why from two perspectives.
Firstly, she was polite, did not make extreme remarks, her thoughts and comments were measured, but was she strong enough in many senses to take on what was before her, an uphill struggle which the Labour Party system would inevitably ensure she would lose? In one way, she was wise to concede (if not pushed) to stand back in favour of Mr. Owen.
Owen Smith, being a man, takes the Leadership challenge to an equal level in gender terms (as it is still a man’s world), and does not think before he blurts out his remarks which are just as ridiculous as some his opposition is making in a different direction.
What concerns me about Mr. Smith, who should be old enough to know better, is that his reference to Brexit, (yawn, toys out of pram time), was utterly ridiculous, offensive and against the majority vote of this Country.
John Humphrys is a type of Marmite, one either loves him, hates him, or is ambivalent. I judge an interview based on each interview. However, one could not help but cringe on behalf of Mr. Smith as this tennis match of an interview scored Ace after Ace shot by John Humphrys. I salute you Sir for speaking on behalf of the majority of this Country and saying exactly the same things as we all would.
The vote was taken, the Country decided. If this constant ‘poor loser’ attitude does ever achieve another referendum on the same issue via one Trojan horse or another, either those who voted the first time will vote the same way again, not at all ever again, or take to the streets, march on Parliament and there ‘will’ be riots.
Blame was raised regarding monies quoted for the NHS. At the time of the election (and we all know comments made by politicians historically are always taken with a grain of salt), Mr. Farage quoted so many millions of Pounds could be saved for things like the NHS if we left Europe. That is a fact, even if the figure is not spot on. Voters knew that UKIP only had one MP and one Peer, so it was obvious Mr. Farage or UKIP could not initiate the action, rather, the sitting Prime Minister had the facility to do so if morally or legally she was so inclined post Brexit/payments to Europe ended.
The procedure of Leaving Europe is now becoming a farce, but the person to blame for that is Mr. Cameron who announced (thinking people would be voting to stay in Europe), if the Country votes to Leave Europe then I will initiate the required Article the very next day.
He chose not to do so, therefore, Mr. Smith, please interpret these facts in their right context and perspective and, if you want someone to blame, choose Mr. Cameron or Prime Minister May. In fact, if this were a civil issue, not protected by Parliamentary Procedure, Mr. Cameron should be charged with Breach of Promise/Contract.
If Brexit is not properly realised there will be riots, and ironically, our Country is the first to cry out if we feel democracy is denied to the people of other nations.
Great Britain got its name by being Great not whiners. Granted, we owe an apology to the Commonwealth Countries (or rather one or two former Leaders do) for neglecting them in favour of Europe. That said, Her Majesty The Queen is Head of this wonderful Family of The Commonwealth, and I think they remain loyal, independent or not. It is not just a little Club but a Family of Meaning throughout history, including Europe.
It is true Britain, like most Countries in the world, must take the blame for many bad historical times, but in the main Britain is known for standing for what is right, being democratic and fair to all.
When I lived in Toronto, Canada, (which has a high ratio of ex-Pats by the way), the Canadians themselves had a true and honourable respect for our Monarchy and Country and were proud of their Association within the Commonwealth.
If the Tories are answerable for accepting high donations, then selling one’s silver to boost Labour coffers does not seem right to me, more like a synthetic bribe form of lobbying. Labour has descended a long way since the days it represented working people in this Country which is why a lot of them went over to UKIP and remain loyal thereto.
Labour, I doubt, will never be in power for a very long time if ever again, so a split or birth of another Political Party would be better for them otherwise they are doing UKIP’s job for them, come any next election and in my view that will be fine.
Thank you John Humphrys.
Hazel Speed
Photo (c) Hazel Speed – used by kind permision to Tuck Magazine
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