Nicola Sturgeon’s lapdog yaps: SNP MP Stewart McDonald cries like a little girl as Theresa May wins Commons airstrike vote and he accuses her of manipulating Parliament, SNP Defence Spokesman it appears wasn’t asked to intelligence briefing by Sir Mark Sedwill; the National Security Advisor, left out in the cold, the price of being irrelevant

Dear All

Yet again, yet again, the SNP are on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the argument, Theresa May won a Commons vote on the military action in Syria. In true SNP fashion, the SNP in gripe mode decided to claim that a No 10 intelligence briefing had been used to “manipulate” certain MPs.

The sad fact is intelligence briefings are not a political circus to “manipulate” anyone; these briefs are done by professionals, professionals whose entire job is to protect our country by ensuring the right information is made available to the government.

Theresa May, the Prime Minister insists British lives would be compromised if it became illegal for governments to launch military action without the prior backing of MPs. This isn’t a time for petty politics; the SNP jumped on the bandwagon here because they saw an opportunity, and now are left with egg on their faces. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s call for the introduction of a War Powers Act would “seriously compromise” the safety of the nation and would get people needlessly killed. In today’s fast moving situations, action has to be swift and decisive.

US and France along with the UK have carried out missile strikes on three targets which they have “specifically associated with the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons programme”. They didn’t just pick three random targets out of a hat; they did so by using tradecraft and having assets on the ground.  After the airstrikes, Yury Filatov, the ambassador of the Russian Federation to Ireland, piped up to say hat Russia, was losing “the last bit of trust” it had with the west and described this as a “very dangerous development”.

Trust is a two way street, and one has to wonder why the Russians haven’t been more clever in the way that they do business, the incident in Salisbury was rank stupidity, then to have RT ‘brag’ about the UK not being safe for people who betray Russia was an attempt to rub our faces in it. The upshot was that several Russians were sent packing, here and also in other Western countries, not exactly a successful operation, and aftermath.

Experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons are in Douma to establish whether chemical weapons were used there; and what we should remember is that in order to produce these kinds of weapons takes expertise and expensive facilities; you can’t just cook it up in a pot.

During the recent Commons debate, Mrs May told MPs:

“Making it unlawful for Her Majesty’s Government to undertake any such military intervention without a vote would seriously compromise our national security, our national interests, and the lives of British citizens at home and abroad. And for as long as I’m Prime Minister, that will never be allowed to happen.”

Jeremy Corbyn who isn’t apt at foreign affairs described the Syrian air strikes as “legally questionable” and made clear he would only support military intervention with United Nations’ support. Given the Russians have a veto on the Security Council, and they are Syria’s principal backer, the UN route would produce an East v West stalemate.   

Jeremy Corbyn told MPs:

“I am sorry to say the Prime Minister’s decision not to recall Parliament and engage in further military action in Syria last week showed a flagrant disregard for this convention.”

The deeply butt hurt and irrelevant SNP in the shape of Ian Blackford criticised the “failure” of the Government to recall Parliament, his sidekick Stewart McDonald, the SNP’s defence spokesman, decided to whine like a little girl on how certain Labour MPs had been invited to Downing Street for a private briefing on the Syria air strikes by Sir Mark Sedwill, the National Security Advisor.

Stewart McDonald, the SNP’s defence spokesman, not invited it seems, after all, leaving aside he is a sheep who falls the SNP Party line, what does he know about defence?

Did he play Soldiers as a boy?

Did he play Cowboys and Indians as a squaw?

Watch war movies like Operation Burma?

Stewart McDonald said of being left out of the briefing:

“These briefings appear to have been offered to members of the Labour Opposition not on the basis of privy counsellor status but on the basis of those opposition members who are sympathetic to the Government’s position. That leads to concerns that the Government is using intelligence briefings to manipulate Parliament and to bolster its own case for its behaviour on the opposition benches; not on security terms, but on politics.”

Maybe Sir Mark Sedwill; the National Security Advisor didn’t want someone like Stewart McDonald stinking the place, up asking all sorts of daft questions in the briefing.  Stewart McDonald, SNP’s defence spokesman in name only, a phoney title which commands no respect at Westminster.

Finally, imagine being so stupid to flag up in Parliament that you are not worthy to be invited to a briefing by Sir Mark Sedwill; the National Security Advisor. You have to laugh about this, surely the correct route would be a letter to ask to be included in future briefings but that kind of logic is probably beyond this wee joke.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University