Quotes from the Trident Debate

:: "In a dangerous and uncertain world, unilateral nuclear disarmament has never been and will never be the right answer." - Tory leader David Cameron on Trident.
:: "There is no use putting a beautiful engine on the road and saying 'here is devolution, here is a wonderful form of Government' if there is not the money to pay for the fuel, the fuel to run that engine." - DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley.
:: "I can't help remembering the last time the Tory Leader and you voted together in the same lobby on an issue of national interest was over Iraq and it hasn't proved a very comforting precedent." - Sir Menzies Campbell, Lib Dem leader, to the Prime Minister on Trident.
:: "It is perhaps a paradox that those who oppose this decision are often among the fiercest critics of the United States but would leave us in a situation where in the ultimate crisis our security would be wholly dependent on the credibility and resolve of the White House - or of the Elysee - and their readiness to risk everything for the sake of Britain." - Shadow foreign secretary William Hague on the risks of having no nuclear deterrent.
:: "Do my Hon friends really believe that if we give up Trident the eight other nuclear weapons powers will say 'Good old Britain. They've done the right thing. We must follow suit?' Madam Deputy Speaker, pull the other one." - Former shadow foreign secretary Sir Gerald Kaufman.
:: "I think this is an argument about virility, about vanity, I think this is about aspiring still to that bit of superpower status" - SNP leader Alex Salmond.

Margaret Beckett Forgets Her Convictions

Was I alone in watching the Trident debate and thinking to myself that if Margaret Beckett had been on the backbenches she would have been speaking out against a British independent nuclear deterrent? Power is a great diluter of conviction, is it not?

Should the Conservatives be Propping up Labour?

Norfolk Blogger reckons that Tory MPs should join LibDems in the No lobby tomorrow and oppose Trident. He accuses Conservatives of propping up a failing Labour administration. Of course Liberals know all about that. They had enough practice in the late 1970s. This was my response to Nich Starling, who writes the Norfolk Blogger blog...

So Nich, you reckon that 198 Tories who support the replacement of Trident
should vote the other way? That would be really ethical, wouldn't it? Surely
responsible opposition means opposing the measures you disagree with but
offering qualified support for those that you do?Believe me, I'd love to see
Labour defeated on anything, but not at the expense of voting against my
principles on an important matter of national defence.