I find it deeply ironic that media commentaries are filled with outrage over the selling of the stories of the military personnel captured by the Iranians and yet in a week when more British soldiers are killed and a new round of suicide bombings claims the lives of more Iraqis there is no outrage being vented at those who took us into this disastrous war.
Quite the reverse in fact, the media is currently gearing the country up to accepting as innevitable as their next Prime Minister not only one of those Members of Parliament who voted for this disaster but someone who also wholeheartedly supported the war by delivering the funds needed to prosecute this military aggression.
It is now widely accepted that the decision to implicate Britain in the invasion of Iraq was the most catastrophic foreign policy mistake since Suez. And yet the media only accepts as serious candidates for the leadership of the Labour Party a series of Ministers and ex Ministers, such as Miliband and Clarke, who voted consistently for the war and still support it.
In the light of the 655,000 Iraqi deaths and over 130 British soldiers killed I find it incredulous that anyone who voted for this dreadful act of brutal folly could even consider putting their name forward to lead our Party and country.
The only hope the rump of the New Labour elite has is that Blair can be blamed solely for the war in Iraq and that on his departure their collective guilt will be lifted.
Blair may well have been the originator of the deal to back up Bush's invasion plans but let's be clear every Member of that Cabinet and every Minister had the same choice as Robin Cook. That was to go along with supporting the war or alternatively to stand up for what was right even if it did mean resigning from office and the loss of career.
Those that put career before principle bear responsibility for the consequences of this war and every tragedy that visits itself on both Iraqi and British families.
How can any of them after their behaviour over this critical issue now think that they should be entrusted with the future of our party and country?
