Silent Majority Speaks

Rescuing Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected Dictatorship

Spin, not face-to-face confrontations with the voters, is the Government's chosen method of communication. Ordinary people are dangerous. Ordinary people might ask a question which throws a politician 'off message'; the Cabinet member might reveal himself or herself to be a human being like us, and not a programmed android. Worse still, he or she might tell the truth. Ann Leslie - Daily Mail, September 16, 2004

 

WWW silentmajorityspeaks.com

So do it , Sedgefield. Do it for Tom Keys (by voting for his father Reg). Do it for David Kelly. Do it, as the man said, for a government that will restore trust in politics in this country.

MI6 chief: I warned Blair that Iraq facts were fixed

"Can Blair really get away with it any longer?"

Blair has made a simultaneous mockery of Labour backbenchers, the party rank and file and the Foreign Office - an achievement with few parallels. He must pay for it.

Andrew Alexander in the Mail - September 24, 2004.

Tony Blair now has more than just the horrors, the personal tragedies and the general chaos in Iraq to explain away. We now know from the leaked Foreign Office documents what we must always have had good reason to suspect. During the succession of lies and half-truths which led up to the Iraq war, the Foreign Office's small army of Middle East experts was saying of Blair's plan the equivalent of 'You cannot be serious'.

The officials in question must have felt the desperate gloom of Cassandra, daughter of Troy's King Priam, endowed with the gift of prophecy and the fate of never being believed.

Yet Foreign Secretary Jack Straw did apparently believe them, at any rate to the point of a trenchant warning to Blair. Middle East hands, old and new, who had served in the area, spoke the language, understood the religious divides and knew the dreary course of the region's revolutions, uttered a chorus of warnings about the likely outcome of invading Iraq.

They envisioned chaos, terrorists flocking to the country and the cause, to say nothing of a post-war Iraq needing coalition troops 'for years'. As for the excuse of the Twin Towers, Foreign Office policy director Peter Ricketts warned that the planned invasion looked more like a George Bush 'grudge' war. Like the weapons inspectors, the FO did not expect weapons of mass destruction to be found.

Straw's letter to Blair contained the prescient passage: "No one has satisfactorily answered how there can be any certainty that the replacement regime will be any better. Iraq has no history of democracy so no one has this habit or experience." And so the warnings went on. At the time of the invasion, of course, various military figures also voiced misgivings and lawyers were sure the war was illegal.

These must be the most damning documents ever to have emerged from Whitehall about an existing administration. What they said, in effect, to Blair was : you are sending our young men out to die in Iraq to make the world a more dangerous place, with little prospect of bettering the people of Iraq, the likelihood of making things worse and all with, to say the least, questionable legality.

Straw will have some explaining to do. Why did he so publicly back a policy about which he had so many qualms? The Prime Minister is trying to brazen things out by announcing that the war is not over after all - surprise, surprise! - and that we are now involved in a second war in Iraq, which will decide the future of 'terrorism'.

It won't. It can't. It is a silly claim behind which lies the hope that somehow, the public will stop thinking about the recent past and rally behind the flag.

Can he get really get away with it any longer? He has survived so far because the Tories have supported the war, with Shadow Foreign Secretary Michael Ancram drivelling on about the threat from Saddam being just like Hitler's. A combined Opposition plus Labour dissidents would have held Blair in check.

The Tories now have the perfect chance to bring him to book.

So the Prime Minister went to war despite FO warnings that have turned out to be remarkably accurate. How does he explain that? Why were the FO's trenchant warnings so carefully concealed? For Heaven's sake, Howard and co, do your job.

The initiative now rests in the hands of next week's Labour Party conference. For Blair to have made a simultaneous mockery of Labour backbenchers, the party rank and file and the Foreign Office is an achievement with few parallels. He must pay for it.

The publishing of those FO documents by the Daily Telegraph was undoubtedly a journalistic coup.

 For the health of our democracy, we, the people of the United Kingdom, must find a way to force Mr Blair to resign

Mr Blair has lied and deceived us over Iraq. He must resign at once. Do you agree? Agree strongly Agree Disagree Disagree strongly Don't know Don't care Please click one of the links above to cast your vote Current results

Such defiance of the democratic process and the will of the majority of we people of the UK, must be exposed by voters as a matter or urgency, and not just in the two by-elections we have had this July and the European elections in June 2004. But how can this be done?

The most effective way of getting our deceitful PM to resign would be to mobilise the army of Labour MPs currently in the House of Commons and get them to demand it, the loss of their seat to be a penalty if they did not. All voters in Labour-held constituencies need to write a letter along these lines to their local Labour MPs:

Dear Despite his absolute and unequivocal assurances over the past year of the serious risk to our security of Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction', Prime Minister Blair has admitted, that the threat was non-existent. For that critical error of judgement and for his gross incompetence in handling this very important issue, I ask you to take immediate steps to ensure that Tony Blair does the honourable thing and resign without delay.. I would therefore be much obliged if you would propose and help mobilise a Parliamentary vote of 'No Confidence' in Mr Blair which, despite Labour's huge majority, would leave the PM with no option but to resign. If I get no reply to this letter, I shall assume you will continue to support Mr Blair as our Prime Minister. In such circumstances I shall not vote for you in the forthcoming General Election. Signed:

Simple, non-violent, protest letters along these lines on a variety of issues could be the basis for re-vitalising our democracy and increasing voters' interest and participation in politics. Download a printable copy of the above letter here.

There is another way for the voice of the silent majority to be heard, a voice that made sure broken promises would not only be revealed, but punished in subsequent elections.

In the year available before the General Election expected in 2005, many topics are available as ammunition, each one asking questions.  A weapon for our purpose will be the results of Opinion Polls in individual  constituencies using ICM, NOP, Gallop, Mori  or YouGov.

Questions suggested for this purpose are listed here.

CAST YOUR VOTE ON A VARIETY OF OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES HERE.

Current and prospective Parliamentary candidates of all Parties running for election could share a platform at public forums in every constituency. They would be presented with  the results of polls on this issue expressed by the majority of voters in that constituency.

The candidates could be asked if their own views and that of their Party manifesto corresponded with the polls, and if not, how they intended to represent the will of the majority of local voters.  Local and National Press, Radio and TV coverage would be arranged and the results published on this web site.

Here is another powerful strategy for using your vote effectively in the forthcoming General Election. Send your sitting and prospective MPs a letter defining your requirements if they want your vote. This example deals with the proposed EU Constitutional Treaty.

Your letters would end: "If you do not answer this letter, I shall take it that you intend to follow the Government line. I shall act accordingly in the forthcoming General Election.

Or why not create a questionnaire that you send to all the candidates in your constituency, getting them to give yes/no answers to questions of your choice, and ending it with the same paragraph(above).

Download a printable example of the questionnaire.

It is high time for the people of this United Kingdom to stop allowing themselves to be manipulated by politicians. We need our representatives in Parliament to genuinely reflect the view of the majority in their own constituency, even if this means going against their personal and/or their party's policy. While they may argue their case, hoping to change the minds of the majority in their constituency, they should ultimately be obliged to reflect the majority view of those who elect them. 

It will be argued by politicians of all parties that most voters don't have the knowledge necessary to express an opinion on important subjects at issue, and that our vote is a form of delegated democracy. We should argue that it is their duty to ensure that we voters do have ready access to such information as is necessary to form an intelligent opinion. That, after all, is one main purpose of Opposition Parties in our Parliamentary Democracy.

Most important of all, such proceedings would rekindle in voters their latent interest and obligation to cast their vote, knowing that the candidate of their choice would be more likely to act in accordance with their wishes. A much higher turnout in elections would be the result.

Contact your local Party Chairman. Gain his support for setting up public forums in your constituency on these, as well as any other relevant topics, well before the next General Election expected in 2005. You should then, depending on the integrity of the candidate of your choice, feel fairly certain that your view on any subject being debated in Parliament will more accurately be reflected by your representative in that assembly.