ALL CHANGE PLEASE...

I'll be honest, I was sorry to see Blair leaving Downing Street yesterday (27th June 2007). In spite of some of the gaffes he made during his ten years in office I quite liked the guy. The people who regarded him as Bush's poodle should remember that there is a bit of the British Bulldog inside all of us here in Blighty. It is highly probable that Bush would have nuked Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan off the face of the planet if Blair hadn't been stood behind him holding the leash. There are some amongst us who probably think that is no bad thing and I would be lieing if I said I hadn't considered it an option on a couple of occasions but there is a right way to do things. That is not to say that the right things were done but then I don't believe in appeasement either. It is right that Blair should become the Middle East Peace Envoy. He is for my money probably the greatest Statesman that this country has seen since Winston Churchill and I hope that history eventually treats him kindly.

It is worth noting that the Middle East was a British problem since the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which paved the way for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and didn't the British Government obtain control of Iraq from the League of Nations at the end of the First World War? I seem to recall from my school history lessons that British troops were involved in the ongoing struggle between the Turks and the Arabs (also during the First World War), which gave one T.E. Lawrence fame as Lawrence of Arabia. The Americans have been trying to resolve the issues in the Middle East for as long as I can remember. It is time for a British Statesman to have a go at sorting it out; we did foul it up after all, rather like we fouled up Northern Ireland and we are talking about the same person who managed to set things on the right path out there. Give the Man a break.

On a different tack, 10 Downing Street is now under the control of a Stalinist control freak with delusions of grandeur and OCD. Gordon Brown has no mandate from the British public to sit in the seat of power that he now occupies. It is bad enough that we are funding the Scots to the tune of around 5000 pounds a person and that Scottish MP's are allowed to vote on matters of state that only affect England. Everything that we have to pay for the Scots get for free. The Scots already have their own First Minister sitting in their own parliament. They don't need another one sitting in the English Parliament. It is time for a change in the Law so that if a sitting Prime Minister resigns his or her a position the reigning Monarch has to dissolve Parliament and call for a General Election. There is something very wrong when someone can assume the ultimate position of authority in this country unopposed and unelected.

Go back to Scotland Gordon. We don't need you this side of the border.

EASTERN PROMISE(S)

I've had a few days to think since publishing my last posting and have reached a few conclusions with regards to the blatant kidnapping of British servicemen by Iran.

• Knowingly crossing an international boundary without permission with an armed force constitutes an act of war and that is exactly what the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have done.
• If British forces crossed into Iranian territory one has to assume that the airspace over Iranian water was also violated by the Lynx helicopter from HMS Cornwall (F99). If that is the case why was it not shot down by the Iranian gunboats that were supposedly protecting their own territory.
• The dhow that was involved in the incident has to have been a "plant" by the Iranians. It was moored close enough to the border in shallow water where HMS Cornwall couldn't get to it and the Iranian gunboats could. It was made suspicious enough for the commanding officer of HMS Cornwall to instigate a search of the vessel and as soon as the servicemen boarded the dhow the Iranians made their play. The whole thing was a setup from the very beginning.
• The Government of this country needs to make it very clear to Iran that they have committed an Act of War and that we are prepared to treat it as such.
• We are operating in the Persian Gulf as part of a United Nations Force. The UN needs to get behind this country and make it clear that the repatriation of British personnel will be done with force if necessary.
• It is already quite clear that Iranian Shia's are stirring up the insurgency in Iraq, and as soon as the UN forces are withdrawn from Iraq I fully expect to see the Revolutionary Guard cross the border from Iran. These two countries already have a history of conflict and it isn't over yet.
• History has shown over the years that promises made by countries like Iran are not worth the air that it takes to float them, and anybody who takes them at anything more than a few spoken words is bordering on stupid.

Just to finish up I sincerely hope that Mr Blair is not considering handing over the administration of this country to a new Prime Minister while this matter is unresolved. I notice in today's news that Gordon Brown is poncing around in Afghanistan introducing himself to people in anticipation of his expected takeover of the Premiership. His timing is particularly bad and this trip should have been cancelled until after the leadership election has taken place. Blair hasn't resigned yet and any move to do so under the current circumstances is going to be seen in the Middle East as a weakness to be used and played with to the full. In spite of his numerous failings Blair has a proven track record as a Leader and is capable of standing his ground when it is required of him, whereas Brown only has a record for juggling numbers and conning the tax paying public into thinking he's just done them a favour.

QUESTIONS FOR THE M.O.D. ABOUT THE SERVICEMEN CURRENTLY IN IRANIAN CUSTODY

• How did these servicemen allow themselves to be detained in the first instance?
• Were they totally unaware of what was happening around them?
• How can you miss the presence of five hostile patrol boats in your area?
• Why were these servicemen inadequately armed to defend themselves if they were only carrying sidearms as reported?
• HMS Cornwall must have been aware of the Iranian patrol boats in the area and surely must have been tracking their positions. Why did HMS Cornwall fail to respond to the threat as soon as it became apparent and at least provide some air cover until further assistance was possible?
• Were these servicemen in radio contact with HMS Cornwall and did HMS Cornwall alert them to possibility of Iranian interference?
• Was the dhow that was being searched for smuggled vehicles planted by Iranian security forces to enable this chain of events to take place, and were British forces reacting to a tip-off when the dhow was boarded?
• Iran is currently subject to UN resolution with regard to its nuclear enrichment program. Surely a cross-border raid to capture foreign servicemen to use as bargaining chips must constitute an Act of War and should be treated as such?

Would anybody from the MOD or the Home Office care to answer some of these questions or are we all to stupid to be told the truth?