Monday 15 December 2014

Branch Manager Jim Murphy Neo-Liberal Hawk.



Could the election of Jim Murphy the new Branch Manager of labour in Scotland see that Party looking even further right for votes?

Murphy us a member of The Henry Jackson Society a Britishn think tank. named after Henry M. Jackson, the late Democratic Senator and anticommunist defence hawk.i

Originating within the University of Cambridge, the organisation is now based in London. In April 2011 the entire staff of another London think-tank , the Centre for Social Cohesion (which has since been dissolved), joined the Henry Jackson Society. It is a society based on the premise that the best way to preserve democracy is to impose it abroad.

You are hardly likely to se a member of this Society opposing Trident or calling for an investigation into Tony Blair and the dodgy dossier.

Indeed I suspect despite its laudable commitment to Human Rights we will not see much call for an investigation into Britains role in the US torture of Terrorist suspect.

It principles are laid out as

  • Believes that modern liberal democracies set an example to which the rest of the world should aspire.
  • Supports a ‘forward strategy’ – involving diplomatic, economic, cultural, and/or political means -- to assist those countries that are not yet liberal and democratic to become so.
  • Supports the maintenance of a strong military, by the United States, the countries of the European Union and other democratic powers, armed with expeditionary capabilities with a global reach, that can protect our homelands from strategic threats, forestall terrorist attacks, and prevent genocide or massive ethnic cleansing.
  • Supports the necessary furtherance of European military modernisation and integration under British leadership, preferably within NATO.
  • Stresses the importance of unity between the world’s great democracies, represented by institutions such as NATO, the European Union and the OECD, amongst many others.
  • Believes that only modern liberal democratic states are truly legitimate, and that the political or human rights pronouncements of any international or regional organisation which admits undemocratic states lack the legitimacy to which they would be entitled if all their members were democracies.
  • Gives two cheers for capitalism. There are limits to the market, which needs to serve the Democratic Community and should be reconciled to the environment.
  • Accepts that we have to set priorities and that sometimes we have to compromise, but insists that we should never lose sight of our fundamental values. This means that alliances with repressive regimes can only be temporary. It also means a strong commitment to individual and civil liberties in democratic states, even and especially when we are under attack.

It has the support of a number of MPs  some of who Murphy my be embarrassed to be associated with

Conservative

David Amess MP
Rt Hon James Arbuthnot MP, Chairman of the Defence Committee
Bob Blackman MP
Nick Boles MP
David Burrowes MP
Alistair Burt MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Middle East, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Chariman of the Committee of Selection
Damian Collins MP
David Davies MP, Chairman of the Welsh Affairs Committee
Rt Hon David Davis MP, Former Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Nadine Dorries MP
Mike Freer MP
James Gray MP
Robert Halfon MP
Stephen Hammond MP
Bernard Jenkin MP, Chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee
Daniel Kawczynski MP
James Morris MP
Sir Richard Ottaway MP, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
Priti Patel MP
Mark Pritchard MP
Dominic Raab MP
Amber Rudd MP
Robert Walter MP
Julian Lewis MP
Nadhim Zahawi MP
Henry Smith MP

Ukip
Douglas Carswell MP is the Tory Mp who defected to Ukip one can only wonder  where Stressing  the importance of unity between the world’s great democracies, represented by institutions such as NATO, the European Union and the OECD, amongst many others.

Labour
Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP, Former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP, Former Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP, Former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Chris Bryant MP, Former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Dai Havard MP
Khalid Mahmood MP
Meg Munn MP, Former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Rt Hon Jim Murphy MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Rt Hon John Spellar MP, Shadow Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Gisela Stuart MP
Derek Twigg MP, Former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Ministry of Defence

Liberal Democrat
Dan Rogerson MP
Ukip
Douglas Carswell MP

 Carswel is  the Tory MP who defected to Ukip one can only wonder  where Stressing  the importance of unity between the world’s great democracies, represented by institutions such as NATO, the European Union and the OECD, amongst many others.

Yes three Welsh Mps Chris (no surprise here ) Bryant MP for the  Rhondda and  Dai Harvard the invisible MP for Merthyr Tydfil  and of course David Davis MP for Monmouth so right wing he's in danger of falling of the ledge,

A pretty ragbag  what so called socialist could even think about being in the same organisations as Nadine Dorris?

Some time ago some Conservative MSP were pondering  a name change in Scotland to remove the Toxic image of that party there . With Murphy they could probably change it to "New Labou"r there doesn't seem to be much of a difference.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't see what the problem is with the HJS. What, don't you believe in a 'forward position' in defence of democracy? Do you believe that human rights are different for Russians, Iranians or Afghanis? Do you want to actually live in a Marxist state - really?

I'm not sure I'd actually join the society (if ever asked) but I don't really want to allign myself with Venezuela who's economy is collapsing and is becoming a dictatoriship, or Cuba for that matter which is a one party state. Nor do I buy Putin's propaganda that the West caused the problems in the Ukraine and we should allow Ukraine to be a Russian satellite.

I suppose the problem is that if one takes any international position one is always open to 'what aboutery'. In the end, you just have to go with the set of principles which you feel has less 'what aboutery' to them than others.

Or, we try and recreate the 'non-allignement movement' which included dictators like Tito. or, we become little Englanders little Welshers and decide not to take part in any international event. That may be a good and logical and sensible decision (the Little Englanders where the people against the Boer war - not such a bad cause to be against). The problem then is that the Left will then have to stop having international campaigns and concerns if it's not ready to do something about it.

On balance, I'm more in favour of the HJS than many other scenarios on offer.