A wise minority

So only 13 Members of Parliament (plus two tellers) opposed the war on Libya. Sometimes those who see through lies and jingoism find ourselves in a small minority – I remember marching against the Falklands war.

A hat tip to the Grauniad for giving us the roll of honour of those able to hold the line against a tide of jingo - Tory John Baron (Basildon & Billericay); Labour MPs Graham Allen (Nottingham North), Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley), Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North), Barry Gardiner (Brent North), Roger Godsiff (Birmingham Hall Green), John McDonnell (Hayes & Harlington), Linda Riordan (Halifax), Dennis Skinner (Bolsover), Mike Wood (Batley & Spen); Green Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavilion) and SDLP MPs Mark Durkan (Foyle) and Margaret Ritchie (Down South). Labour's Katy Clark (North Ayrshire and Arran) and Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) acted as tellers for the noes.

Well done in particular to the Socialist Campaign Group and Labour Representation Committee MPs who have stood firm.

For a good summary of the arguments against this latest act of imperialist aggression I recommend the blog of my friend and comrade Owen Jones.

Looking on the bright side, since we have millions of pounds to spend on an unanticipated war then obviously we won’t be needing all these public spending cuts.

Mind you I think I’ll still go on the demonstration next Saturday…