Wee Des and his Two Jobs
Des Browne the former Defence secretary come Scottish secretary went before the Chilcot Inquiry today and finally admitted that Gordon Brown made a big mistake in giving him both portfolios at the same time.
About time too. We all said at the time that it was a disgrace on two fronts. mainly that we were fighting two wars at the time and that therefore the position of Defence Secretary should have full attention, not just partial attention. Secondly, in a time when the SNP seemed to have rising support and Scottish independence was again on the table, it was also important to have a Scottish Secretary whose full focus was on Scotland to fight off the SNP and protect the Union.
It’s no wonder therefore, that troops were sent onto the battlefield under equipped and the question of Scottish independence still has not been put to rest. Brown has made many mistakes, some more obvious than others, but this situation of dualism was not just him been short-sighted, it was the height of incompetence and moreover showed a complete ignorance of our national interest.
Yes, Iraq and Afghanistan weren’t wars that Brown started and the fact that he refused to fund the military properly during his time at the treasury gives rise to the suspicion that Brown did not like the wars. However, that was before he was PM, if he had any personal courage (the sort of courage he speaks about in his book), he would have put a stop to the war rather than carrying on with it.
Clearly there are two things that Gordon Brown has no care for, that of Scotland and the military. We need Scotland as much as we need the military. For if we have not Scotland, we lose a significant proportion of our armed forces and if we have not military, then we cannot protect our national interest when it is threatened by those states who wish to have the freedom we cherish.
The election campaign has already begun, but there’s only 14 weeks until the official campaign gets going and less than 130 days until we have to have an election. For Gordon, the clock is ticking ever closer to midnight. For the country we are on the cusp of a new dawn. A dawn which will hopefully bring a new government, one which we hope will be a Conservative one.
