Trident: Our moral authority at stake

Tony Blair will announce later today that a new generation of Trident nuclear submarines is to be built, while also promising to reduce the number of warheads by around a fifth. Given that the Tories and also to a certain extent the Lib Dems are also committed to us retaining the so-called "deterrent," there is no chance of him not ultimately getting his way on this.

But like Charles Clarke, I am sceptical. Here's a bit of what I wrote in my weekend column in the Derby Evening Telegraph.

"Earlier this year, North Korea shocked world opinion by testing a nuclear weapon underground, and Iran is known to want to follow suit. What moral authority do we have in seeking to dissuade them from that potentially catastrophic course if we are planning to spend £20bn on ensuring we remain a member of the nuclear club?"

More of this in my Week in Politics Podcast, a text version of which is available HERE.

The hypocrisy of Tony Blair

I don't agree with everything that Matthew Parris writes. Earlier this year he wrote a spectacularly bitchy column about "the indefinably ghastly Chris Huhne" which I still haven't forgiven him for. But his piece this weekend on Tony Blair's gushing tribute to the late BBC radio man Nick Clarke was right on the money.

Here's an extract:

"Yesterday I telephoned a BBC press officer. Did Mr Blair ever accord Nick Clarke an interview on The World at One, I asked? A tight-lipped “we think not”, was the reply. She did not say why but we both knew. The aim was to punish Nick for his polite insistence on getting answers by starving his programme of senior interviewees.

So spare us the “Nick”, would you, Prime Minister? Spare us the “best elements” stuff. Your old mate whom, now he’s breathed his last, you call “Nick” was the man whose career your people tried persistently to undermine; the man whose programme I have myself heard Alastair Campbell mocking during his matey chats with the Westminster press corps."

It wasn't only distinguished broadcasters like Clarke who were subjected to this freezing out treatment, either. It operated at all levels of the Lobby and no-one was exempt from it.

On one occasion, a former editor of mine was told that his newspaper could have an interview with the Prime Minister, so long as it was not carried out by me. Thankfully, he refused to be subjected to such blackmail.

Hat tip for graphic: Comment Central.

Blair plays with words over English Parliament

In a speech to regional newspaper bosses earlier this week, Prime Minister Tony Blair raised the issue of an English Parliament in terms which some of those present quite understandably interpreted as giving support to the idea. He said that if people in England were asked if they wanted a Parliament like Scotland's they would overwhelmingly agree, adding: "I think to then take it a step further and say, 'Actually we want to bust up the UK'... no, I don't think people want to bust up the UK."

This has since been reported in the Yorkshire Post and followed up by Gareth Young on the CEP newsblog and Iain Dale both of whom justifiably take the PM at his word.

Unfortunately, the transcripts of the daily Downing Street briefings tell a rather different story. Blair's spokesman was specifically asked on the day of the speech whether he supported an English Parliament, and this is what he said:

Asked what the Prime Minister thought of the idea for a devolved parliament for England, the PMOS said that the comments running on the wires from the Newspaper Society event today would cover what the Prime Minister had said including why he values the Union, and he believes that the Union as a whole operates better together as a unit; his argument was that the momentum of history is towards better co-operation and in terms of Regional Assemblies, we have set out our position on that. Asked if the Government believed that there should be an English Parliament, the PMOS said no.

In other words, not for the first time, Mr Blair has been facing both ways at once, allowing an audience of English newspaper editors to think he was receptive to the idea of a Parliament while allowing Tom Kelly to piss all over it once they were safely on the train home.

What he seems to be saying is that the majority of voters in England who say they want their own Parliament are basically wrong - an interesting definition of democracy from our beloved leader.

Other recent interesting bloggage on the English Parliament issue from:

Iain Dale - 68pc want English Parliament but Cameron doesn't
Dizzy Thinks - Is the Union finished?
Little Man in a Toque - One Helluva Beating, and
Skipper - Labour's devolution strategy in danger of unravelling.