By Stuart Littlewood – London
What does it take for Britain’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to get the message? Having been deeply humiliated in the Euro elections and local government elections, he hangs on by his finger-nails. He simply will not do the decent thing and stand down.
The verdict of the people was clear enough. They’ve had enough of Brown and his ghastly crew. Oliver Cromwell said it for us, when dismissing Parliament back in 1653, with an elegance that’s sadly lacking today: “Ye sordid prostitutes… you have sat here too long for the good you do. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”
But the charmless Brown refuses the revolver on the silver tray. He will not do us the courtesy of retiring to the library and blowing his brains out.
This is the same Gordon Brown who has presided over the ruination of our economy and the impoverishment of us all. The same Gordon Brown on whose watch parliamentary sleaze has blossomed into a national scandal, undermining the British political system and making us a laughing stock.
This is the same Gordon Brown who voted enthusiastically for the Iraq war.
This is the same Gordon Brown who appointed Friends of Israel to the chairs of our most important security bodies – the Intelligence & Security Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee and Defence Committee.
This is the same Gordon Brown who declared himself a Zionist and told the Knesset that "Britain will always stand firmly by Israel’s side" despite the crimes and unspeakable horrors it continues to inflict on its Palestinian neighbors. He spoke of "an unbreakable partnership based on shared values of liberty, democracy and justice" with Israel, when it is patently obvious to everyone else that few, if any, of those values are shared or practiced by that regime.
When petitioned recently for a complete arms embargo against Israel, Brown replied: “We do not believe that the current situation in the Middle East would be improved by imposing an arms embargo on Israel. Israel has the right to defend itself and faces real security threats.” He clearly doesn’t feel the same concern for Palestinian rights and security, even after the horrific onslaught against the Gazan population, and has pledged help to stop the so-called “smuggling” of arms to the Palestinian Resistance while apparently happy for the savage occupier to acquire all the death-dealing technology it wishes.
Brown is willing to talk to Netanyahu and calls on him to "engage constructively towards a two-state solution building on the Arab Peace Initiative", knowing full well that the Israeli PM – and his Likud party – have no intention of doing so. Read Likud’s vile racist manifesto.
He’ll talk to Palestinian collaborators like Abbas but not to democratically-elected Hamas, who have already said they will commit to a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders and subject to the right of return of refugees Israel expelled, in accordance with international law.
And Brown’s eagerness to accept the invitation to become a patron of the Jewish National Fund shamefully aligns him with Israel’s continuing land-grab policy.
All in all, the poor chap appears to be very confused and a menace not only to us here in the UK but also to our friends in the Middle East.
How anyone thought he was prime ministerial material and should be allowed to inherit Blair’s “crown” unchallenged is one of the mysteries of British politics.
With his authority now in tatters, and commanding no respect except from his inner circle of hangers-on who owe their position to his patronage, he had to face a potentially rebellious parliamentary Labour Party yesterday. But his faithful hacks, supported by clapped-out former leaders like Kinnock, closed ranks to save him from being ousted by his disorganized critics, thus prolonging the unsavory, lame-duck spectacle until the general election that must take place within the next 12 months.
And while the Brown government endlessly contemplates its navel, the public are left wondering who gives a damn about the country’s best interests.
Of course, if and when Gordon Brown does go we’re almost certain to get another self-proclaimed Zionist, David Cameron, whose Conservative party is also steeped in sleaze and knee-deep in Israel stooges.
The only glimmer of hope is the possible emergence of Alan Johnson, the new home secretary, as Labour leader. An unknown quantity to most voters, he might however be made of the ‘right stuff’… If so, a rarity indeed.
– Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Visit: www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk.
