The neconservative temptation beckoning Britain's bitter liberals

[muriel_volestrangler]

An article on the Henry Jackson Society, being set up in the UK to encourage neoconservatives (including the original usage - 'social democrats' who favour government spending and regulation at home, but also want to send the military abroard for 'muscular democracy').

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1646994,00.html

The home page: http://www-hjs.pet.cam.ac.uk/ (hosted at Peterhouse, Cambridge - not entirely surprising, given the political history of that college)

The Henry Jackson Society is a non-profit organisation that seeks to promote the following principles: that liberal democracy should be spread across the world; that as the world’s most powerful democracies, the United States and the European Union – under British leadership – must shape the world more actively by intervention and example; that such leadership requires political will, a commitment to universal human rights and the maintenance of a strong military with global expeditionary reach; and that too few of our leaders in Britain and the rest of Europe today are ready to play a role in the world that matches our strength and responsibilities.

The Henry Jackson Society intends, therefore, to provide a platform for much-needed discussion and research. It will attempt to mobilise support behind a principled policy of democratic realism. For further elaboration please see our Statement of Principles.

Oh God, they're trying to out-Blair Blair, or be the UK PNAC. Among the suspects:

Rt. Hon. Michael Ancram QC MP, Member of Parliament for Davizes; Shadow Secretary of State for Defence

Gerard Baker, Assitant Editor, The Times (the biggest pro-Bush wanker writing for a UK paper)

Colonel Tim Collins

Sir Richard Dearlove, head of MI6 during Iraq dossier scandals

Dr. Denis MacShane MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Rotherham

Lord Powell of Bayswater, Personal Advisor to the Prime Minister for Defence and Security, 1984-1991; Thatcher's right hand man

Dr. Jamie Shea, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for External Relations, NATO (chief PR during Serbia bombing)

Dr. Irwin Stelzer, Director of Economic Policy Studies, Hudson Institute; Rupert Murdoch's right hand man

Gisela Stuart MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston; Member of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee

David Willetts MP, Member of Parliament for Havant; Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Industry


There's a bunch of evil bastards in there, and 2 Labour MPs joining them marks them as worth shunning too. I hope to god they don't gain any influence.