Friday, April 15, 2016

Tamils’ Meeting Shows Continuing Rift In Labour Party Regarding Foreign Policy

By TU Senan –April 15, 2016

TU Senan

Tamils for Labour organised what was probably its biggest ever meeting on 11/04/2016. The main attraction for the 400+ people in attendance – many of whom were young Tamils – was the chief speaker, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Labour Party leader and leader of the opposition.

Hilary Benn MP, shadow foreign secretary, Chuka Umunna MP, former shadow business secretary under Ed Miliband, gave speeches, as did a number of other Labour MPs. Journalists Callum Macrae, Frances Harrisonand Sonya Sceats, who have written in detail about the plight of the Tamils were also on the platform.

What stood out a mile was the enormous gulf between the approaches to foreign policy within Labour. While Keith Vaz MP tried to claim that the Labour Party differs fundamentally from the Tories, Hilary Benn demonstrated that his position was not that different to Liam Fox, the much-hated and disgraced ex-Tory foreign minister, and his successors.

Benn has previous. Last December, for example, while arguing that Labour should “resist isolationism” and in favour of bombing Syria, he launched a direct attack on Corbyn. His “we must confront evil” speech that he delivers in the parliament is infamous. It led to his promotion as a possible challenger for Corbyn by the right wing of the party, and the establishment media. Anti-war activists were disappointed when he survived the reshuffle that followed but not surprised that he has not changed his views on foreign policy.

Benn lectured us. But failed to produce any substantial statement that could satisfy those who attended. Although he threw in terms such as “autonomy” as a possible political solution to be considered in some distant future, his central theme was an insistence on following the Tory line of continuing trade treaties with Sri Lanka as key policy. This was despite Sonya Sceats, from Freedom From Torture, and many other activists setting out factual details of the ongoing torture, injustices and unwillingness of the current government to offer any substantial political concessions.