In a somewhat bizarre twist in the world of politics, The Labour party suddenly finds itself in favour of the right of free speech. This is despite the fact that a Labour government who signed up the United Kingdom to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which denies the right of free speech to Tobacco Companies and organisations that are considered associated with them!
The article linked to below describes what could become a serious rift between the leadership of the Labour party and its Shadow Health Secretary John Healy who with an associate decided that their hatred of 20% of the population outweighed the best interests of the Country. They stayed away from a business conference to which representatives of the tobacco industry attended by invitation.
This is not appropriate behaviour for any politician no matter which party they represent, it is a cold-blooded violation of the trust, which those who elected them have placed in them. After all, if they are willing to despoil a conference when in opposition they are willing to do so when in power in which case we would soon find ourselves in serious trouble with other countries if not at war with them.
It is of course part of Mr. Miliband’s function to ensure that there are not loose cannons rolling around his decks, it would not be the first time a loose cannon has sunk a ship. Given that the ship known as the Labour party is already gunwales awash and in imminent danger of foundering, they cannot afford to have loose cannons on the deck.
Then of course, there is the little matter of the breach of the convention that they themselves signed and could leave the Prime Minister with a problem to sort out with the WHO!
A Nation is only as good as those who represent them and in signing up to the FCTC in the first place and then violating it displays a stunning lack of good judgement in both cases.