This was pretty-well buried. Interesting investigation conducted six months or so ago. See what people like Jack Straw and Tony Blair think they can get away with. The House of Commons
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs
Committee report The Role of Parliament
in the UK Constitution: Authorising the Use of Military Force is available here https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmpubadm/1891/1891.pdf
Listen to Straw stuttering at 7 minutes 50 seconds as he talks about Tony Blair and the Iraq invasion. Compare that with Mountbatten's explanation of how his "Napoleonic Decisions" were made, at 2 minutes 28 seconds. The difference is that Montbatten recognised what I call "personal moral responsibility". The "spirit of the hive" was what informed the decision, but the crucial difference between the weasel Jack Straw and the First Sea Lord is that the latter took personal responsibility for the decisions he made, and was willing to be held personally accountable for the consequences of those decisions.
In Plato's terms, Parliament is the many-headed monster, without the lion heart of courage to govern it. In other words, just a bunch of bloody animals.
Thanks to Gordon Dimmack for the pointer:
Listen to Straw stuttering at 7 minutes 50 seconds as he talks about Tony Blair and the Iraq invasion. Compare that with Mountbatten's explanation of how his "Napoleonic Decisions" were made, at 2 minutes 28 seconds. The difference is that Montbatten recognised what I call "personal moral responsibility". The "spirit of the hive" was what informed the decision, but the crucial difference between the weasel Jack Straw and the First Sea Lord is that the latter took personal responsibility for the decisions he made, and was willing to be held personally accountable for the consequences of those decisions.
In Plato's terms, Parliament is the many-headed monster, without the lion heart of courage to govern it. In other words, just a bunch of bloody animals.
Thanks to Gordon Dimmack for the pointer:
No comments:
Post a Comment