Dear Jim,
I am writing to ask you to support my call for an immediate general election. Parliament is facing the greatest constitutional crisis in living memory with anger amongst the electorate towards MPs unprecedented. I believe the argument is overwhelming that only a general election, allowing the voters to cast their verdict and choose new representatives, can begin the process of restoring parliament’s reputation.
In this general election I will be standing against you in the new constituency of Poplar and Limehouse. We will be two Scotsmen fighting it out. I will be standing in the tradition of the Labour pioneer, James Keir Hardie. You are in the tradition of Ramsay MacDonald, the betrayer of the Labour movement. The voters will have a clear choice on the important issues of the day.
On the expenses scandal, you voted against making MPs’ allowances and expenses fully transparent and disgracefully you supported legal attempts by the Speaker to keep allowances secret, whereas I voted for full transparency and dissociated myself from any attempt to conceal the truth.
On the constitution, you oppose any attempt to bring in voting reform, whereas I have always supported a fully elected parliament and the abolition of the House of Lords, on which I must say your New Labour colleague, Baroness Uddin has made this demand all the more irresistible. I want fixed terms for parliament, a reduction in the size of the Commons and, above all, the introduction of a fair voting system.
On international policy, you voted for and strongly supported the disastrous war on Iraq and you continue to support the war in Afghanistan. I not only voted against the war on Iraq, I was one of the strongest voices in this country and beyond saying this war was based on a Bush and Blair hoax and would have catastrophic results. I am for the immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan where already too many British soldiers have died in vain whilst you demand more and more death.
On domestic policy, you supported the closure of post offices and support privatisation of Royal Mail and the building of a third runway at Heathrow. I opposed the closure of post offices and am opposed to both the third runway and the privatisation of Royal Mail.
More than this, you have been a minister in the government that has presided over the deregulation of the robbing banks and the privatisation of public services which has brought the economy to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I, on the other hand, have always opposed deregulation and privatisation and supported public service for need rather than profit. And I will fight against any attempts by you to make ordinary working people pay for this crisis through cuts in public services.
You must know that the majority of voters now want a general election. Gordon Brown is only denying the electorate because he knows he will lose. Once again this will be seen as a cynical self-serving manoeuvre. I hope you will break ranks and agree to support an immediate general election. This parliament, in which your party clings to power by its bitten finger nails, is finished. Let’s give the voters a clear choice here in Tower Hamlets and across Britain.
Yours ever,
George Galloway MP
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