An unlikely popular front of MPs urged foreign secretary William Hague not to rule out military options over the Crimea crisis
Impotence is rarely a very dignified position, either in public or in private life. But MPs bombastically tried to persuade themselves that the West's flaccid response to Russian banditry in Crimea is a Churchillian stiff upper lip, though it was Churchill the realist who signed away half Europe at Moscow in 1944 with a tick of Joe Stalin's blue pencil.
For a man who knows his trousers are round his ankles the foreign secretary, William Hague, made a half-decent job of pretending Britain and its cash-strapped war-weary allies can do much to prevent Vladimir Putin from reincorporating Chekhov's sunny peninsula into Mother Russia. There was talk of cancelled summits, travel visas and ship visits, which will not trouble the Kremlin much. Defence export licences may be canned, Christmas card lists savagely trimmed. That will hurt.
It was not enough for armchair warriors on both sides. An unlikely popular front consisting of Labour's Chris Bryant and Aldershot Tory Gerald Howarth (in normal circumstances he would want Bryant arrested) urged Hague not to rule out military options. Both armchair warriors are rejoining their regiment, the Habitat Lite Infantry (Catering Platoon). Press releases are being mobilised and soundbites reloaded, just in case.
With arch-realist Sir Peter Tapsell leaving the chamber early (Sir Peter is old enough to have endorsed his friend Catherine the Great's capture of Crimea in 1783) it left the poorly-attended debate in the clutches of backbench hawks. Yet halfway through the Charge of the Lite Brigade something unexpected happened. Vermillion-faced Edward Leigh, a near-extinct volcano from the Thatcher era, erupted in a brave, if unheroic, contribution.
Jonathan Djanogly (Huntingdon) had just urged Hague to hit the Russian oligarchs where it hurts – in their London palazzos and at their kids' school (Etonski, of course). Laura Sandys (South Thanet) told him to whack their ill-gotten bank holdings in Cyprus and the City. Dominic Raab (Esher) asked: "Do we want to be a safe haven for international mafia lords, London to be a haven for their dirty money?"
For some years now, the correct realist's answer has been "yes please". But no one said so. Instead Raab argued that Britain needs its own Magnitsky Law to hound suspected killers of the murdered Moscow banker. A perfectly good idea, so Andrew Lansley later rejected it, though he is willing to contemplate imposing health reforms on Russia as a punishment.
Steady on, protested Leigh, whose wife is some sort of White Russian, her ancestors shot by the Reds, Liverpool fans to a man. I am not pro-Russian or pro-Ukraine, but we should understand Russia's feelings towards Ukraine: "It is not just tyrant Putin invading a foreign country,'' it was much more complicated, the MP protested. "There is no point in the House of Commons if we all agree with each other all the time."
Naturally this went down badly with MPs who can usually make a virtue of disagreeing all the time. They had just spent an hour nit-picking over Putin-esque plans by Chris Grayling, the minister for rough justice, to cut lawyers' fees and electronically tag pro-EU Tory MPs, those targeted by No 10's extremist taskforce. Grayling is also contracting out the probation service to the KGB whose rehabilitation programme has impressed ministers. Few offenders are ever heard of again. Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 hours ago.
Impotence is rarely a very dignified position, either in public or in private life. But MPs bombastically tried to persuade themselves that the West's flaccid response to Russian banditry in Crimea is a Churchillian stiff upper lip, though it was Churchill the realist who signed away half Europe at Moscow in 1944 with a tick of Joe Stalin's blue pencil.
For a man who knows his trousers are round his ankles the foreign secretary, William Hague, made a half-decent job of pretending Britain and its cash-strapped war-weary allies can do much to prevent Vladimir Putin from reincorporating Chekhov's sunny peninsula into Mother Russia. There was talk of cancelled summits, travel visas and ship visits, which will not trouble the Kremlin much. Defence export licences may be canned, Christmas card lists savagely trimmed. That will hurt.
It was not enough for armchair warriors on both sides. An unlikely popular front consisting of Labour's Chris Bryant and Aldershot Tory Gerald Howarth (in normal circumstances he would want Bryant arrested) urged Hague not to rule out military options. Both armchair warriors are rejoining their regiment, the Habitat Lite Infantry (Catering Platoon). Press releases are being mobilised and soundbites reloaded, just in case.
With arch-realist Sir Peter Tapsell leaving the chamber early (Sir Peter is old enough to have endorsed his friend Catherine the Great's capture of Crimea in 1783) it left the poorly-attended debate in the clutches of backbench hawks. Yet halfway through the Charge of the Lite Brigade something unexpected happened. Vermillion-faced Edward Leigh, a near-extinct volcano from the Thatcher era, erupted in a brave, if unheroic, contribution.
Jonathan Djanogly (Huntingdon) had just urged Hague to hit the Russian oligarchs where it hurts – in their London palazzos and at their kids' school (Etonski, of course). Laura Sandys (South Thanet) told him to whack their ill-gotten bank holdings in Cyprus and the City. Dominic Raab (Esher) asked: "Do we want to be a safe haven for international mafia lords, London to be a haven for their dirty money?"
For some years now, the correct realist's answer has been "yes please". But no one said so. Instead Raab argued that Britain needs its own Magnitsky Law to hound suspected killers of the murdered Moscow banker. A perfectly good idea, so Andrew Lansley later rejected it, though he is willing to contemplate imposing health reforms on Russia as a punishment.
Steady on, protested Leigh, whose wife is some sort of White Russian, her ancestors shot by the Reds, Liverpool fans to a man. I am not pro-Russian or pro-Ukraine, but we should understand Russia's feelings towards Ukraine: "It is not just tyrant Putin invading a foreign country,'' it was much more complicated, the MP protested. "There is no point in the House of Commons if we all agree with each other all the time."
Naturally this went down badly with MPs who can usually make a virtue of disagreeing all the time. They had just spent an hour nit-picking over Putin-esque plans by Chris Grayling, the minister for rough justice, to cut lawyers' fees and electronically tag pro-EU Tory MPs, those targeted by No 10's extremist taskforce. Grayling is also contracting out the probation service to the KGB whose rehabilitation programme has impressed ministers. Few offenders are ever heard of again. Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 hours ago.