YESTERDAY Prime Minister Blair made it clear to the House of Commons during Question Time, that he had urged his Cabinet colleague, Blunkett, not to resign, but to thumb his nose at the House of Commons, and bourgeois democracy.
Blair told MPs that none of the allegations against Blunkett warranted his dismissal under the ministerial code, and while admitting that Blunkett had broken the code, commented: ‘I could discover no impropriety or wrongdoing.’
In fact, it was Blunkett who told Blair, in their second meeting yesterday morning, that he was resigning for the good of the party, after the bourgeoisie in the person of Wednesday’s and Thursday’s Daily Telegraph had made threatening noises about the fate of the Blair government itself.
On Wednesday it had declared: ‘If he does not grasp the nettle now and replace Mr Blunkett, it is difficult to see why he should remain in office any longer himself.’
On Thursday its editorial compared Blair to George III who had wanted to be able to appoint his friends as ministers, and for them to be accountable to him and not to the House of Commons.
It said: ‘The real story is not the serial offences of Mr Blunkett. It is the judgement of Mr Blair. In deciding to keep his friends in government rather than abiding by the rules that he himself drew up for ministerial conduct he has effectively cancelled those rules.’ It concluded that there is now no reason for an MP to respect parliament if he wishes for advancement under Blair.
In fact, Blunkett when he resigned as Home Secretary after the ‘Nannygate’ farce, did not modify his conduct by one jot since he had been assured by Blair that he would be rapidly returning to the Cabinet.
However, this is not the first time that this kind of thing has occurred during the Blair governments.
Peter Mandelson was also forced out but returned in record time, and was forced to resign again, before being placed into the much more dictatorially minded EU Commission.
The bourgeoisie did not tell Blair at the time of the Mandelson fiasco that he should not remain in office any longer.
The reason of course is that there was no bourgeois alternative, since the electorate had routed the Tory Party and Blair seemed to be successfully continuing with Thatcher’s policies.
However the failed invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the revolt of the working class at home, has changed all that by completely undermining his government. He is deeply unpopular and on the way out.
One thing that the Telegraph failed to mention is that George III’s policies lost the US colonies.
The Telegraph has rediscovered its attachment to the parliamentary veneer out of fear that Blair’s flouting of bourgeois democratic convention, as well as his enthusiasm for ‘shoot-to-kill’ policies and internment without trial, could end with the capitalist class losing Britain and being expropriated by a furious working class.
This is why the bourgeoisie would not stand for Blair publicly choosing the ‘serial offender’ Blunkett and publicly rejecting the House of Commons.
The bourgeoisie wants to see an orderly transition from the rapidly disintegrating Blair government to a Cameron-led Tory government.
This does not mean that they have no further use for Blair. They may still need Blair if a general election was to result in a hung parliament.
In that event they would look to see Blair and the Blairites form part of a national government.
For the working class the issue is clear. The trade unions must be made to bring down the Blair government to prevent a return of the Tories, by going forward to a workers’ government that will carry out socialist policies.
