UK General Election, July 4
No to the Pro-War Cartel Parties!
Labour
Party Leader Keir Starmer Says Nuclear Weapons Are the
"Number One
Issue for an Incoming Labour Government"
The issue of "security" was put forward as an election battleground in the televised leaders' "debate" between Conservative Party Leader Rishi Sunak and Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer on June 4. But far from any recognition that security actually lies in the fight for the rights of all, Sunak and Starmer, within the confines of the format of the "debate," vied to outdo each other in claiming that their own warmongering was key.
Shortly before the election was announced, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had made an incoherent speech on the issue of "security."[1] Then on June 3, Sir Keir Starmer decided to abuse the 80th anniversary of D-Day by dedicating to it a keynote speech in Manchester that claimed, A stronger, safer, more secure Britain.[2] Like Rishi Sunak, Starmer used his speech to justify continuing Britain's active involvement in the escalation of war in Europe and refusing to condemn Britain's political, military and economic support for Israel's genocide of the Palestinians. All in the name of "security" for the British people.
At the same time, Starmer gave fair warning of an even more dangerous direction that a new Labour government intends when he angrily replied to a question that "this is a changed Labour Party and the most important thing is I voted in favour of the nuclear deterrent, ... and my commitment to the nuclear deterrent is absolute, absolute! That is why I voted for it, that is why I have changed this party and that is why it will be the number one issue for an incoming Labour government."[3]
In pursuit of offensive nuclear submarine weapons, Starmer emphasized that Labour "has announced a new triple-lock commitment to our nuclear deterrent. We'll maintain Britain's Continuous at Sea deterrent 24 hours a day, 365 days a year." He declared: "So with Labour, Britain will be fit to fight. Within the first year of a Labour government, we will carry out a new strategic defence review. And we're absolutely committed to spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence as soon as possible, because we know our security isn't just vital for our safety today, it's absolutely central to our success for the future."
Lakenheath, May 21,
2022
In other words, Labour intends to continue the further militarization of the British economy which has already been described in recent times as "war's workshop of the world" in exporting weapons to world conflicts. Such talk is not about "defence" or "security" of the British people, is not about triple locking people's livelihoods and pensions, but about the ambitions of the arms industries and their "success for the future" which will bring with it again the disastrous ambitions of the previous Blair Labour government. Remember its criminal wars abroad in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq alongside the U.S. warmongers in which thousands of people died, or became refugees fleeing from these conflicts.
Such statements drew condemnation from former leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, now standing as an independent candidate for Islington North, who forcefully declared, "Nuclear weapons are a profound and existential threat to humanity. Instead of investing in weapons of mass destruction, we should be investing in our schools, hospitals and housing to ensure everyone can lead a happy and healthy life. That is what real security means." Andrew Feinstein, an expert on the arms industry standing as an independent candidate against Starmer in Starmer's constituency, Holborn and St. Pancras, pointed out in an article on why he is standing that "the notoriously corrupt British defence sector has for decades routed money to our main political parties and to individual politicians -- mostly once they have left office, for decisions taken while in office. These companies are the most heavily subsidized by the public purse, meaning that we the taxpayer are subsidising the arms being used in Gaza, the undermining of the rule of law and the corrupting of our political system."[4]
The fact that Starmer, like Sunak, reflects the same outlook of the old world values and not the values of peoples striving for peace, empowerment and the New in the modern world is one of the most revealing things about this General Election campaign. The aim of oligopolies and the executive power is the opposite of the deceptive mantra of Sunak and Starmer of "choice" and "change." The aim is not choice and/or change from the cartel party system but the continuation of the reactionary aims and interests of these oligopolies and the ruling elite that are behind executive power of this cartel party system. Starmer's statement that this "is not a party-political issue, this is a national issue" shows how the cartel party system operates so that the people and even Labour Party MPs will have no say in the matter when the executive rules on such vital questions as "national" issues.
In his speech, Starmer also boasted that in February at the Munich Security Conference he "met with world leaders from the U.S., Europe and the Middle East and I met the Secretary General of NATO." He continued, "And I pledged to each of them that with a Labour government, the UK" would be "a leader on the world stage once more."[5] This is a sure indication once again, if one were needed, that Keir Starmer has been welcomed into the club as a champion for the U.S. and NATO interests just as Blair was in the 1997 Labour government.
The conclusion can be drawn that another attempted coup is about to take place in which the ruling elite hope to rob the people of Britain of real change that upholds the interests of the working class and people at home and abroad. However, this time Starmer has already signalled his vision for a Britain that only benefits the rich and diverts huge resources away from social programs and towards war industries. Starmer's vision, like Blair's, is one of the dangerous escalation of war in the world. The peoples of Europe, who have suffered through two world wars, do not want war, or to have their countries turned into bases for Anglo-American warmongers and NATO. The world's people alongside the youth are demanding an end to this warmongering and are pursuing the demand for an immediate ceasefire to Israeli genocide in Palestine and an end to NATO's proxy war in Ukraine with Russia.
Demonstration
in London, June 8, 2024 marking eight months of the Israei
genocide in
Palestine and of weekly solidarity actions across Britain.
Let us go all out to elect candidates who have an anti-war stance, taking steps towards a government which cannot be free to pursue its pro-war nature in Parliament unopposed. At the same time, the fight is on to establish an Anti-War Government, that is a government with modern democratic arrangements. This is the perspective and vision that inspires the working class, the youth and all the democratic forces. We call on these forces to persist in speaking in their own name, build discussion groups and establish other collective forms in which the participants empower themselves.
Workers' Weekly is a publication of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist).
Notes
1. "A Government in Shameful Disarray with No Way Forward," Workers' Weekly, May 18, 2024.
2. "Keir Starmer -- A stronger, safer, more secure Britain speech," Labour Party, June 3, 2024.
3. "Sir Keir Starmer says he's prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend UK," Faye Brown, Sky News, June 3, 2024.
4. "Why I am Standing Against Keir Starmer, Andrew Feinstein, Declassified UK, May 21, 2024.
5. "Munich Security Conference 2024 -- A Manifestation of Morbid Preoccupation with Defeat for the Old World Order," Workers' Weekly, March 30, 2024.
(June 8, 2024)
This article was published
in
Volume 54 Number 6 - June 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS540610.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca