Isn't British democracy wonderful?
It's not bad enough that we have an unelected head of state, an upper house mish mash of aristocrats, English bishops, failed politicians, old politicians and creeps, a lower house which can command a huge majority on 30% of the vote and which is whipped into shape by enforcers, but worse, it is revealed today, under the 30 year rule, that a presidential style prime minister can walk over the cabinet with no repercussions...well, except that her decisions can cost us all billions.
The cabinet was against the purchase of Trident's first version--C4. But in a secret deal with Jimmy Carter, the then president of the United States, the purchase went ahead anyway, because Mrs Thatcher wanted it. She was told that a debate was necessary because two-thirds of the party and two thirds of the Cabinet were against the purchase of Trident, but she was disinclined to bother much about debate.
The original cost was to be £5 billion. A lot of money now, but very much more in the late 70s.
However the cost was doubled when Ronnie Reagan was elected and decided to go for the Bells and Whistles version of Trident. The British system had to work in concert with the American's, and so the cost became £10 billion.
Failure to buy the system would have left France as the only nuclear power in Europe, and Mrs Thatcher's dislike and mistrust of the French wouldn't allow her to tolerate them having something that England didn't. Entitlement to a seat as a permanent member of the UN Security Council would also have been impossible without nuclear weaponry, and that Mrs Thatcher could not contemplate. Her status as a world leader would have been diminished and she would have been excluded from the most secret of talks with the American president.
So taking advice from Cabinet Secretary, Robert Armstrong in the form of a hand-written top secret note, that going it alone had precedents (Harold Macmillan had done the same thing over Polaris, and Harold Wilson over Chevaline), she decided to ignore the wishes of her Cabinet and do what she wanted.
And so the billions were spent and we have been lumbered with this useless supposedly "independent" deterrent (that we have to have permission from America to use) in Scotland. Effectively, it is extra nuclear capacity for America that the idiot Brits pay for and house in return for a seat at the top table.
On balance though, Mrs Thatcher did buy an ironing board for herself at a cost of £19! (damned expensive ironing board in 1979), and sent back bedding and crockery which had been ordered on her behalf for Downing Street, saying that she would provide her own. So it wasn't all bad. [By contrast Mr Cameron spent £30,000 in his first year, doing up the flat above the office.]
Gordon Wilson has written an article for the “Scots Independent” to be published next week, in which he points out the importance to Scotland of Sea Power.
It was Gordon who led the SNP’s “It’s Scotland’s Oil” campaign back in the 1970s and he reckons that Scotland must not lose out on the massive potential of electricity generation from tidal and wave power off its coasts this time round.
To ensure this the ex-party leader says that the Crown Estate should be devolved, a Scottish sea energy authority established and an interconnector cable laid under the sea between Scotland and Europe.
In his article he points out, “It is 40 years since the discovery of the giant Forties field in the North Sea was announced. It led to a bonanza, with a succession of huge discoveries over the next 20 years. Everyone thought that Scotland was the luckiest nation in the world. There is a huge amount of oil left but the hope, the vision of a new society, getting rid of poverty, has long since turned to dust.”
Mr Wilson goes on to say that the Crown Estate should be replaced in Scotland with some body that could, among other functions, license sites for ex
perimenting with technology. A sea energy authority would work with production companies in commercial development and the generation of electricity.
He’s right of course. We all thought that like other rich oil states, from Texas to Qatar, Brunei to Norway, the days of grinding poverty were over. Wrong. Mrs Thatcher took the oil money and used it to pay for the massive dereliction that she wreaked on our industry. The money went on paying Unemployment Benefit, and when the numbers became embarrassing, Sickness Benefit, the hidden benefit.
She also spend billions of it sucking up to America, and bigging Britain up so that she and Ronnie could spend more time together.
There’s still plenty oil there as Gordon says, but we do have a second bite at the cherry. The potential for wind and wave power round our coasts is enormous. We must move to secure a future for ourselves with it.
Gordon’s article concludes: “Scotland has been given a second chance. Let’s not throw it away this time. To be mugged twice would be unbearable. Yet that’s what will happen if we do not mobilise now.”
Pic: Gordon Wilson
Isn't British democracy wonderful?
