What captures my fancy in this news article about Israeli diplomat filmed saying he wanted to “take down” Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan are these lobby groups that keep popping up all over our political echo system;
- Conservative Friends of Israel
- Liberal Democrats Friends of Palestine (and Israel in another LibDem group)
- X Friends of Y (etc….)
In my mind it is truly a disgrace to find politicians drawn to these lobby groups particularly when it involves countries in conflict zones. Why, well because in essence what is says is this; irrespective of facts/developments on the ground we stand with X as opposed to Y and we will influence government policy in this direction. My message to these “Politicians” is simple;
Who the hell gave you the right to hijack your position as representative of the British people to make judgements on what amounts to foreign allegiance-in my mind a form of treason? Even if this was done on a personal level, being a peoples representative makes the proposition utterly suspect.
Another point is this; what is the logic & implications of importing foreign conflicts into our political echo system both in terms of our ability to be perceived as an honest broker in resolving these conflicts (some of which we helped create in the first place) and in terms of our security/social cohesion where MPs represent people of diverse backgrounds/ideologies. Policy should be based on debate/merits of argument rather than being lobbyist for special interests groups & foreign influence.
It is truly disgusting to see British politicians use their positions in this way (openly) and I hope we begin naming/shaming them and more importantly sending them a clear message in election time that this practice will no longer be tolerated. Better yet we should push for parliamentary regulation to help eliminate this problem all together.
As for comments on Boris Johnson, well I am sorry to hear that.