When Blair’s Impeachment Comes, Can Obama Be Far Behind?
The Unhived Mind
When Blair’s Impeachment Comes, Can Obama Be Far Behind?
June 18, 2014 • 7:25PM
http://larouchepac.com/node/31085
One day after senior Daily Mail correspondent Simon Heffer published a call for the British Parliament to impeach that hateful war criminal, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, for illegally dragging Britain into the war against Iraq, Sir Peter Tapsell, holding the title of “Father of the House” as the longest serving Member of the House of Commons, a Tory Glass-Steagall supporter who played a leading role in organizing the British Parliament’s critical 2013 vote against military strikes on Syria, stood this morning to ask Prime Minister David Cameron to respond during the Prime Minister’s Questions:
“Is the Prime Minister aware of the growing sentiment that, as the publication of the Chilcot report has been so long delayed, the ancient but still existing power of Back Benchers to commence the procedure of impeachment should now be activated to bring Mr Tony Blair to account for allegedly misleading the House on the necessity of the invasion of Iraq in 2003?”
The centuries-old Conservative Party-associated magazine, The Spectator, took note:
“Wow. This bombshell … explosive stuff…”
Blair’s friends at the Fabian Society’s New Statesman rushed to dub talk of punishing Blair for high crimes and misdemeanors, “quixotic,” but as Conservativehome.com wrote,
“many Labour members detest Mr. Blair. They agree with Sir Peter that their ex-leader misled the House when making the case for going to war in Iraq,”
while suggesting a Conservative move for Blair’s impeachment could be an “election-winning” move. Impeachment is now in motion.
George Galloway, a former Labour Party MP thrown out by Blair in 2003 for opposing the Iraq war, now representing the Respect Party in Parliament, yesterday formally initiated impeachment proceedings. Today’s “Diary” column in the London Guardian points enticingly to the bigger combination undoubtedly afoot behind the Blair impeachment drive:
“Few unbreakable rules in politics and journalism, but one is that when Simon Heffer speaks, wise types listen…. And so yesterday, when he declared that Tony Blair must be impeached by parliament, it was inevitable that someone would do his bidding…. the Heff [wrote that] conviction can be obtained by a simple majority, ‘at which point a sentence can be passed, which could in theory involve Tony Blair being sent to prison’.
This was catnip to Blair’s longtime pursuer George Galloway, and yesterday the Bradford West MP began the formal process with the clerk of the Commons. A select committee must now progress the matter. The ball is rolling; does Blair have friends in the House sufficient to stop it? Already this is the stuff of history. Could anyone else have provoked a joint enterprise between George Galloway and the Heff?”
That was before Tapsell’s bombshell.
Banquo’s Ghost
A happy Galloway told Voice of Russia today that Blair
“was hovering in the rafters in the chamber today. Not least when the very august figure of the Father of the House, Sir Peter Tapsell, himself a former soldier in the 1950′s and 1960′s, called for Mr Blair’s impeachment, something I, myself, began yesterday, though I am happy to hand it over to Sir Peter if he will lead it. Mr Blair’s presence was there, like Banquo’s ghost, but I think the day of reckoning for Tony Blair is rapidly approaching. More rapidly than I had even dared hope.
“Parliament could send him to prison. Admittedly, it hasn’t been done since 1806, but our power to impeach him remains. Our power to imprison him remains and I’m going to force parliament to make a decision on whether or not it wants to do that… every MP is going to be forced to vote for or against my motion to impeach him and their constituents… remember there’s a general election coming up fast. The process has begun, the touchpaper has been lit. Sir Peter Tapsell gave it an almighty shove at Prime Ministers Questions today. I think his time has come.”