How very brave….

Last week, some toffs on a mission blagged their way into the mother of Parliaments. Smartly dressed in their colour co-ordinated, key message, correctly syntaxed tee shirts, casual country slacks by Armani and stout estate boots, they certainly looked the part of a pressure group that meant business – in a very amateurish sort of way.

The blue-blood bunch launched into a veritable tirade of posh verbal abuse at the sparsely populated Government benches. "Gadzooks, bagger orf, you Bolshevik bounder oiks"….
Cue outrage, cue hysteria, cue foaming machinations from the great Leader of the House – Peter (pass me the sun tan oil) Hain.

"We cannot have our safety in the House compromised – MPs must be protected by a modern, professional cadre of hand picked security experts – and not by the ‘men in tights’. After all, these people could have been suicide terrorists with bombs" Ranted Peter.

Well they weren’t terrorists, just a bit of posh flotsam from the gentry. Rank amateurs from the right side of the tracks – armed with nothing more than double-barrelled names and a full set of silver spoons.

Hain and his quivering band of baying henchmen were an absolute cowardly disgrace. Hysterical in the extreme, they showed their true colours – mostly yellow, yellow and..... yellow….

Contrast that with the cool, forthright statement emanating from the Foreign Office yesterday. Basically, it concerned the kidnap of British civilian, Mr Kenneth Bigley in Iraq – and the subsequent threat to murder him in cold blood – and in an unspeakably barbaric way.

Briefly, the statement read that the Foreign Office were very sorry that Mr Bigley was under threat of death in Iraq. They were doing everything they could, through intermediaries, but HM Government will not negotiate with terrorists – and will never accede to blackmail.

Not strictly true there then?
The 20th Century is littered with discreet meetings and agreements between HMG and outlawed organisations in various Countries all over the World. This culminated in the negotiations with terrorist groups of all persuasion in Northern Ireland – and the subsequent ‘Good Friday Agreement’.

I just wonder how four square the Government machine would be if the Toff Brigade that invaded the Commons had have been terrorists. Just how brave would St Tony be if it was Peter Hain and other Cabinet colleagues with knives held to their throats.

Somehow, I think that forthright, ‘no dealing with terrorist’ attitudes would be chucked straight out of the window faster than you could say ‘We do deal with terrorists – but only in special cases that involve Peter Hain’…..