Straw

Back in May 2009 there was a brief programme on Radio 4 about the Privy Council. It featured the plight of the Chagos Islanders who were kicked off their island home to make way for an American airbase in one of the most sordid deals ever perpetrated by a Labour Government. Although not party to the original  decision, Jack Straw used the Privy Council to avoid having the matter discussed in Parliament. The following letter was duly sent to the Honourable Mr Straw.

 "I listened with increasing anger to your contribution to the ‘Privy Council’ programme on Radio 4 this morning. The Chagos Islanders situation is one of the most shaming episodes in our history. Your explanation as to why you chose to avoid Parliament fitted the image I have of you to a T. 

You come across as very plausible, sincere, thoughtful and reasonable. The reality is somewhat different. You have not one ounce of principle in your whole body. You will do and say anything that is expedient and which will keep you in power. You use your skills to come across as a consummate politician yet a study of your record reveals you to be a loathsome human being. 

Your avoidance of the democratic process for the Chagos Islanders, your part in contributing to the decision to go into the Iraq War and your part in the erosion of our civil liberties will not be forgotten. 

You are a disgrace to our democracy.  

That we are supposed to address you as ‘Right Honourable’ beggars belief."

Oddly enough, there was no reply! 

Now to add more ammunition to the case that Straw is a 'loathsome human being,' there is evidence revealed in the ongoing court case brought by the six Guantanamo inmates. 

As a Guardian leader article said yesterday, "Every prime minister says that the first duty of government is to protect its citizens. If only. Just 900 of a potential trove of 500,000 official documents have been released as a result of civil proceedings brought by six Guantánamo inmates – and they illustrate a government that sometimes could not be bothered about the safety of its own passport-holders.

Among the many revelations contained in these papers are the following: Downing Street blocked Foreign Office attempts to seek consular access to the six held in Guantánamo; the then foreign secretary Jack Straw told the British ambassador in Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, that the rendition of UK nationals from Bagram to Guantánamo was "the best way to meet our counter-terrorism objective"( he subsequently claimed he had no knowledge of any British involvement in rendition);" Guardian 16/07/2010 

Now fancy that! Honest Jack being less than straightforward - again!  As Baron Mandelson's memoirs have confirmed this week, what is said in public rarely resembles what is going on behind the scenes. 

A lesson for us all from the late journalist Louis Heron, who said that before any interview with a legislator he had in mind the following, "Why is this lying bastard lying to me?"  

He must have met Straw.