Kauata Vamarasi Marafono M.B.E.

13th December 1940 – 27th March 2013

In the mid-1970s, I passed SAS selection as a young 20-year old from the RAF Regiment.  Only six candidates passed that winter course; five men and one very good young Rupert (officer).  I had superior fitness but not much else going for me at the time. The SAS must have seen me as a blank canvas they could turn into one of their own.

The day I was badged, I was sent to Boat Troop, B Squadron.  There was no Troop Rupert in charge, just a Troop Sergeant who introduced himself simply as “Fred”.  Fred was a giant in every respect; a physically massive individual with a presence to match. When he shook my hand, mine was lost in his.  I’d never seen a Fijian before, and in my ignorance, I thought he was a giant Gurkha.

Last weekend, Fred’s funeral was held at Hereford Cathedral.  I figured it would be standing room only. Still, I was awed by the sheer number of Regiment lads who had travelled far and wide to pay homage to him. It was easily the biggest gathering of ex-22 SAS Regiment soldiers I’d ever seen.  As I scanned the faces of the aging warriors crowding into the cathedral, I saw men I had fought alongside and others who came before me who I only knew through stories I’d heard in the Regiment.    The remarkable turnout said everything about Fred.  A cathedral full of living legends had come together to pay their respects to the greatest legend of them all.

I’ve attended many funerals of fellow Troopers since I left the Regiment nearly 19 years ago. All have been emotional, but Fred’s moved me beyond measure. Part of that was surely down to the Fijian community who turned out in such large numbers to remember their native son.  From the 1960s onward, the British Army has been blessed with having young Fijian soldiers in its ranks and I’ve watched over the years how when the going gets tough, the Fijians get going.  Even today in Afghanistan, it’s often the Fijian soldiers who jump in and sort out the mess.  But it was the Regiment and the bond we share that struck the deepest chord with me. Words cannot describe the surge of pride I felt to be among this rare band of brothers whose lives had been touched by Fred’s.

As the service got underway, my thoughts drifted back to how this tough, bright, big hearted Fijian warrior moulded me as a soldier and as a man. Fred was full of integrity; a teacher who always led from the front.  He was the best possible mentor for a young, green Trooper and his example motivated and inspired me through nearly twenty years of SAS service.  He taught me what it means to be a professional soldier.  Whenever I found myself in a tight spot, I’d ask myself “what would Fred do?”  The answer always got me through.  When I became a Troop Staff Sergeant, I knew it was about putting the lads first.  Because that’s what Fred did.

Many people who knew Fred have written blogs and newspaper commentaries detailing his exploits and heroism.  My intention here is entirely more personal.  I want you to know what this amazing Fijian warrior did for me.  The best time of my professional life was in the SAS, and that is mainly down to Fred.  Because it was his example that helped me find the strength, determination and inner belief that would carry me through nearly twenty years of SAS service and beyond.

So it is with tremendous sadness and deepest gratitude that I say goodbye to Kauata Vamarasi Marafono, Fijian warrior and father not only of his children, but of every man he ever led.

Tax the value to get the economy moving.

It’s easy to feel powerless these days.  Jobs are scarce and insecure, wages are flat, fuel prices are soaring, rents are going up and all the while the rich keep getting richer.  At my age, it’s tempting to leave it to someone else to fix.  But as a parent and a patriot, I can’t and I won’t. An entire generation of Brits is being left behind.  1 in 5 young people are unemployed. Those who can find work often end up in part-time, poorly paid, dead end jobs. Then there’s the significant matter of putting a roof over their heads.  There’s a chronic lack of social housing and most young people don’t have a hope in hell of getting a foot on the property ladder, especially when the majority of jobs are being created in and around London where the average mortgage deposit for a first time buyer is projected to hit £100,000 by 2020.

That’s no typo.  It really is one hundred thousand pounds.  Talk about a hefty punch in the face.

For centuries, the British tax system has been rigged to benefit wealthy land owners.   It’s no surprise then that 70% of the land in the country is owned by 1% of the population.  The  majority (i.e. the working classes and the squeezed middle classes) put up with the arrangement so long as children had a good shot at a better life than their parents. But all that’s changed now.  We have reached a dangerous tipping point in our economy. Our children face a future of declining living standards.  The lucky ones will claw their way into social housing while the rest will be condemned to either live rough or spend their lives beholden to rich landlords who bleed them dry.

We don’t have to stand by while our children are railroaded into serfdom.   We are not powerless. We can make affordable housing a reality, and boost the economy in the process.  By demanding a LAND VALUE TAX.

A LAND VALUE TAX or LVT is an annual tax on the value of a plot of land.  Unlike VAT, income tax, council tax and business rates which hit people of modest means the hardest, an LVT shifts the tax burden to the wealthiest land owning members of society.  As things stand now, land owners do not pay taxes on land they haven’t developed, which means they have everything to gain by sitting on real estate instead of putting it into productive use by building houses or businesses on top of it.  It’s a simple study in supply and demand. The fewer houses/buildings there are the more valuable the existing stock becomes. This is precisely why we have housing bubbles.   A LAND VALUE TAX would change everything by unlocking the value of the nation’s vast tracks of under-utilized real estate.  Hoarding would become very unprofitable, forcing land owners to either sell to developers or build on it themselves.  As the housing stock increases, prices would drop, recapturing the dream of home ownership for the nation’s youth.  And all that building would kick start the economy by creating much needed jobs, not to mention providing an incentive to improve our crumbling infrastructure which would make us more competitive.

Affordable housing.  More jobs.  Economic growth.  Competitiveness. That’s what a LAND VALUE TAX can do for us.  And unlike other forms of taxation, this one is very tough for the rich to dodge.  You can’t hide a piece of land offshore.

The LVT is not a new idea. It was first floated to parliament back in 1909, but the British aristocracy blocked it and they have been throwing up spanners ever since.  But now that our economy is in such dire straits, the LVT is finally gaining support on both sides of the political divide.  Liberals like it because it’s fair and progressive, while enlightened free-market conservatives embrace its potential to unlock economic value and makes us more competitive.   The Lib Dems have even formed a pressure group, ALTER, to push for an LVT.

The most significant development is the Land Value Tax bill currently winding its way through Parliament.  Introduced by Green MP Caroline Lucas, the private member’s bill calls for a feasibility study on LVT—the first crucial step toward making it a reality.  Miraculously, this bill is still alive and kicking despite an early Parliamentary debate in which Exchequer Secretary David Gauke (the conservative Minister with strategic oversight of the UK tax system who responds to questions on the bill), refused to even consider the benefits of an LVT.

We have the power to make him consider it.  The bill is set for another reading next month, so if you believe in an LVT, CONTACT YOUR LOCAL MP, tell them you support the LAND VALUE TAX bill, and to voice your position to Mr Gauke.   As your elected representative, your MP has a duty to take up your request.

This is our best shot in a century to end the gross inequalities in our tax system and force wealthy land owners to finally pay their fair share.  Please do not stand by while our country sleep walks back into feudalism.    Exercise your voice, rescue our economy and create a better future for all of our children.

This is what Kabul has to look forward to whether we stay or not.

It is at least six years late, but finally a senior political figure has found the courage to call for an immediate withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan.  Lord Ashdown pulled few punches in his impassioned plea in The Times, criticising Britain’s early military strategy and accusing the government of becoming distracted by adventures in Iraq when it should have been focused on Afghanistan.

All true, but while Ashdown called out the government for its political failings, he neglected to mention the string of lies senior ministers have perpetuated about Afghanistan, or point the finger at senior military figures who’ve been more than willing to support that deceit. How any politician can say with a straight face that we are in Afghanistan to keep the streets of Britain safe is beyond me, when everyone knows our involvement has fuelled the flames of home grown terrorism.  Then there’s the lie of the moment—that Afghan troops can somehow be vetted to stop ‘rogue’ recruits from turning their weapons on their NATO mentors.  As I argued on BBC Radio 5 Live earlier this week, nothing can be done to stop green on blue attacks because an element of the men we’re trying to train up have viewed us as the enemy since we entered Afghanistan back in 2001.

I’ve been screaming it from the rafters since I started this blog and I’ll scream it again.  AFGHANISTAN IS NOT AN INSURGENCY. IT’S A CIVIL WAR AND WE’VE TAKEN ONE SIDE IN IT.  Since 2006 when British troops entered Helmand Province, they’ve been trying to win over the people on the other side of that conflict—a futile, senseless task presided over by sloping shouldered generals and senior military brass who care more about pleasing politicians than they do the lives of their troops.  These senior officers know who they are, and they should hang their heads in shame.  I really don’t know how they or their chums in government can sleep at night knowing how many brave British troops they have and continue to put in harm’s way for no other reason than to justify past mistakes.

Why is it taking our government so long to act in the best interest of our troops when our Canadian, Dutch and French NATO allies have found the political will to bring their forces home? There is no justification for Britain’s continued presence in Afghanistan. None.

I am so proud of our soldiers and junior officers for sticking it out day after day when the consensus is the next step in Afghanistan is an escalation of the civil war.  And don’t think for a moment it will be a straight up battle between the Taliban and a central government backed by a 350,000 strong Afghan security force.  That’s a lie planted by ministers and parroted by talking heads who want to pretend we’ve actually achieved something worthwhile in Afghanistan. The truth is the country is divided into fiefdoms controlled by warlords who sit side by side in parliament today but will be at each other’s throats tomorrow. It will be a bloody morass of battling ethnic groups, fuelled by ANA deserters armed and trained by NATO.

Far from a “worse case” scenario, this ethnic chaos is already unfolding. For years now, many bombings and shootings blamed on the Taliban have been carried out by proxies of warlords who are jockeying for turf and power ahead of NATO’s drawdown.

To be fair, I did spend six years in Afghanistan operating largely outside of the security bubble so unlike our senior brass and ministers, I had a chance to meet Afghans from all ethnicities and backgrounds and see what was really happening at ground level. Perhaps if all the ministers, MPs, senior military figures and think tank talking heads arguing for us to stay in Afghanistan until 2014 understood what they are really asking of our troops, they’d have a rethink. So I suggest we put the “stay the course” brigade onto a C130 Hercules aircraft,  have them parachute out over Helmand province with a rifle, four magazines and a 24-hour ration pack each and let them try to win over the locals.  I guarantee they won’t think it’s a mission worth dying for.

Mud, Mud, Mud

All my life, sport has been my ticket to something better.  At age 14, I ran away from a dysfunctional home to play football for a youth team in the West Country.  When my footballing career hit the skids at age 17, I joined the military because someone told me I could ‘get paid to play sport.’

Fitness has always defined me. But it wasn’t until I undertook SAS selection as a scrawny 20-year old, that I came to appreciate the connection between physical strength and mental resilience. When you’re tabbing over the Brecon Beacons in the dead of winter and your body’s in bits, fitness alone won’t cut it. You have to believe in yourself to get through it.

I continued to train hard after I retired from the SAS. The only thing that kept me from running in the hills was injury. It wasn’t much of a problem in my forties, but it was a different story when I hit my mid-fifties. I turn 58 next month, and like many people my age, old injuries have a nasty habit of wreaking havoc on my training routine. In recent years I’ve suffered from recurring muscle tears to my lower legs.   No sooner would I get into a good run than bang—the scar tissue in my calf would rip open like a zipper and I’d be grounded for weeks.

The first few times it happened, I was annoyed.  But as my injuries occurred more often, my recupperation time grew longer and I could feel my fitness tanking.  It did my head in having to lie up for weeks on end with my muscles wasting away. I felt old and useless. Washed up in every sense.

I knew I couldn’t go on that way, so I made the hard decision to give up hill running in favour of gym sessions that included the Concept 2 Rower and weight training.  But there was something about exercising indoors that just didn’t satisfy. No matter how tough I made the workouts, my mind still craved a good run over the hills. The impact on my mood was tremendous and I was rapidly turning into a grumpy old man.

I can’t imagine why, but my wife suggested I take part in a cross-country adventure race in Herefordshire called the Mud Runner Classic. I dismissed the idea straight away, arguing (grumpily) that I’d never stay injury free long enough to train properly.  But she refused to let it go, convinced it was exactly what I needed.

Finally, curiosity got the best of me and I had a sneak look on the website.  When I saw the photos of previous mud runs and read the course description—7.5 miles over undulating countryside with streams, mud and water pits as obstacles—I couldn’t resist.  I registered, paid my fee and started training.

I had three weeks to get myself fit for race day.  Instead of hitting the hills cold, I spent the first week training in the gym. Since I was aiming to complete the Mud Runner in an hour and a half, I combined 45 minutes on the Concept 2 or the bike with 45 to 50 minutes of weight training. I also sought out other runners who’d suffered injuries similar to mine to get their advice.  All of them preached the gospel of long, deep stretches before and after a workout, and in between—something I’d dismissed in the past to my detriment.

Two weeks before the race, I met a runner who swore by magnesium oil applied to problem muscles before and after a run. She also suggested I invest in a pair of compression socks to feed more oxygen to my lower legs and limit injuries.  I said I’d look into them, then went for a run that evening without either—only to tweak my calf and limp home.

The next day I bought compression socks and magnesium oil and started using both religiously.  With a week to go to race day, I was like a man possessed, sticking with a low impact gym routine to give my leg every chance to recover, and doing 5 to 7 minute calf stretches whenever and wherever I could—on the steps, getting out of the shower, watching telly.

Two days before the race I attempted a short hill run.  To my astonishment, I completed it without a problem.

Race day dawned with perfect cross country conditions—mild temperature, no wind, sun pushing through fog.   I lathered my legs in magnesium oil, donned my compression socks and running tights and headed off to the event.  There were well over 2000 people taking part and the organizers were planning to set us off in groups of 400 at ten minute intervals.  I decided to run near the back of the first group so I could take it easy and—fingers crossed—build up my pace.

As soon as we started, a few runners from the back of the group started overtaking me—which I admit got me biting.  But I had to be disciplined and maintain a sensible pace until I was certain my leg could hold out through the mud.  After two miles, I felt really comfortable and began to pass a few people (ha! ha!).  Some serious club runners were stretching away ahead, but to my delight, I was putting more runners behind me.

The smile didn’t last long, but the mud did.

The course was as brutal as advertised.  Bogs like deep pan pizza, mud pits, steep hills, water holes that swallowed me up to the shoulders.   I kept thinking that whoever designed it must either be an extreme sportsman of the highest order, or a complete nutter.  Either way, I found it exhilarating—the toughest physical challenge I’d encountered since my time in the SAS.

By the last mile, I was shattered physically but back in my prime mentally. When I heard a crowd cheering runners into the finish line, I was sure the hard part was behind me. Then I turned a corner and found three runners struggling to clear a mud pit I can only liken to quicksand.   I edged around the hole, sinking knee deep before hauling myself out on hands and knees.  My body was spent by that point and I struggled to get back to a modest jog. No sooner did I regain my stride though than the course threw up one final obstacle—a stream.

For a moment I was under the delusion I’d simply have to cross it.  But the course was not that forgiving. I had to run down it, into water that came up to my waist.  Hats off to whoever threw in that spanner.  Brilliant stuff.

With 200 meters to go, I had nothing left to give and three runners passed me (gits). But I crossed the finish line injury free, which was victory enough for me.

That evening, I went online to see the results.  I came in second in my age group (over 55’s), and 272^nd out of a field of just under 2,300 runners.  Not bad, but now that I’ve learned how to manage my injuries more effectively, I know I can do better. This sportsman isn’t washed up yet. I guess that’s the ultimate take away from my mud running experience.  It’s given me back my self-belief.

You should be working for the 99%

Andrew Mitchell of Plebgate infamy has finally resigned, freeing Prime Minister Cameron to rebuild his party’s credibility with the great Pleb masses before they go to the polls in 2015.  Two and a half years is an eternity in politics, but the Tories are kidding themselves if they think time alone will wipe the stain of Plebgate from the public consciousness—at least if I have anything to say about it.

As I argued in an earlier post, the precise wording of Mitchell’s rant was never the real issue.  His tantrum at the gates of Downing Street was significant because it exposed the mind-set of a ruling party that sees itself as vastly superior to the people it governs—a party which has jealously guarded the privileges of the wealthy and well-connected—a party which has done everything in its power to ensure that the income gap between rich and poor in this country continues to widen.

Labour has grasped the golden PR opportunity of Plebgate to hammer home the message that the Tories believe in ‘one rule for those at the top, another for the rest of us at the bottom.’   I agree. But the hard working people of this country need more than catchphrases from the opposition.  We need political warriors who will fight for our interests and close an income gap which has risen faster in Britain than anywhere else in the industrialized world.

Income inequality is not only a problem for those at the bottom.  The chasm between rich and poor hurts all of us by slowing economic growth and nursing a slew of social ills from substance abuse and obesity to prostitution and domestic violence.  If attitudes are anything to go by, many members of the ruling class believe these problems will never affect them directly.   All I can say is you’d better wake up before you find yourself on the receiving end of a popular blowback that has every chance of turning bloody.

I don’t want to see the country I served for 23 years as a soldier and would still die for today tear itself apart.  That’s why I’m writing this post –to reach out to people who are as frustrated as I am by the failure of our major political parties to close the income gap in Britain. We need to work together for change. I’m not proposing a new political party, but a grassroots movement advocating economic policies that benefit the majority of Brits, not the privileged few; a movement that will send a clear message that we will no longer tolerate a Government that sells out to the City of London and other powerful interests; a movement that will fight for a Progressive Liberal Economy for Britain —a PLEB Movement.

There are many worthy economic changes to fight for.  I’ll kick things off by advocating for a cut in VAT—a tax which hits the poor the hardest and impedes economic growth.   I will write to my MP (who happens to be a Conservative), and tell her that if her party does not cut VAT immediately, I will lobby everyone in her constituency to vote her out of office.  A letter may seem like nothing, but multiply it by tens of millions and our government will be quaking in their boots.

As I said, cutting VAT is only the beginning.  I invite everyone who reads this post to help shape the PLEB agenda by leaving a comment below.  If you want to write a letter to your MP, you can find their address here.

Remember, we are the majority, not the elites. There is strength in our numbers that we have not begun to tap.  We’re only powerless when we fail to act. So PLEBs Unite, and let’s take back our country.

Exploiting professional connections for personal gain is nothing new for retired British officers. Look how many of them sit on the boards of private security and defence companies that pitch regularly for MoD contracts. In my view, this symbiotic arrangement between the top brass and private firms must be outlawed. Because not only does it corrupt our defence budget; it compromises our active duty soldiers by contaminating the motivation of serving high ranking officers as well.

I’ve said for years now that too many serving senior officers think and act more like politicians than military leaders. How else do you explain why they stick with discredited strategies that unnecessarily endanger the lives of the soldiers serving under them, such as mentoring Afghan Army and Police?  Maybe these officers know that if they toe the government line whilst on active duty, they’ll be on good terms with the MPs and Ministers they plan to lobby for defence contracts later on.

It is an honour to serve in our armed forces, and a soldier’s duty to the nation does not end upon retirement. As any real soldier will tell you, protecting the national interest is a lifelong commitment.  The military elite are not exempt from this simply because they have Knighthoods and strings of letters after their names. If anything, they should be setting a standard for all retired military personnel to follow.

The officers exposed by The Sunday Times claim they did nothing wrong and that they had the best interests of the services at heart.  I say that by demonstrating a willingness to sell access to military contracts, they’ve shown just how ready they are to abuse the public trust.  One of the firms that bought influence was Israeli. I wonder how many other foreign defence companies are buying this kind of access to Britain’s defence budget.  One of the officers stung by The Sunday Times even went so far as to suggest he could exploit Remembrance Sunday to promote his clients’ interests to the Prime Minister. Remembrance Sunday is a time for honouring the men and women who died keeping this nation free, not for cutting business deals.

I’d like to see all the officers exposed by The Sunday Times stripped of their honours, medals and generous military pensions, and not just because they may have breached some rules.  They have dishonoured the nation by their actions.  Make an example of them.

Aiming for External Regulation

A no holds barred BBC Scotland Investigates documentary revealing how former British servicemen are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan while on UK government contracts paid for by British tax payers is currently playing on BBC iPlayer

I urge anyone who reads this post to please help get the word out about this very important, long overdue documentary. When a security contractor enters the public consciousness, it’s usually due to a tragic scandal that reinforces the image of a gun totting mercenary with no love for his nation and no moral foundation.

The reality is very different.

It may not sell newspapers, but the truth is the overwhelming majority of British private security contractors working in hostile environments are competent professionals who strive to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.  They are decent men and women, many of them ex-military, trying to earn an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work.  Their attitudes and motives are no different from professional soldiers. In fact many of them are doing military jobs outsourced by Britain and its allies.  When it comes to recognition and support however, private contractors couldn’t be further from their armed forces counterparts. 

When private security contractors die doing military tasks overseas, they don’t come home in flag draped coffins. Crowds do not line the streets to pay tribute to their sacrifice.   They are fallen heroes the government doesn’t want you to know about.   Why? Because as long as the deaths are swept under the rug, politicians can hide the true cost of their disastrous foreign policies and private security companies—PSCs—can continue to profit from contracts paid for by the British tax payer.

Thanks to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, billions of pounds of tax payer funds have been rerouted from Britain’s military straight into the pockets of PSC shareholders. Defenders of outsourcing military tasks argue its good value for money because the private security sector is more efficient than the armed forces. But when you examine what these so-called efficiencies entail, it’s readily apparent that the British tax payer is getting a raw deal.

Private security companies aren’t in business to defend our country and protect its values. They exist for one reason only—to make money. So how is it they can do military jobs for less and yet still turn a profit?  The answer is simple.

They cut corners.

Hiring a temporary contractor is far less expensive than maintaining a career soldier. Most private firms don’t train their staff or give them pension plans. They are not obligated to provide them with the required tools of their trade such as serviceable weapons, body armour and properly armoured vehicles.  And they certainly don’t have to maintain back up staff to get their contractors out of trouble when they come unstuck in a war zone.  It’s soldiering on the cheap, and our nation will end up paying for it dearly if it continues to thrive unchecked.

Thanks to the gutting of our military and the recession, there’s no shortage of ex-service personnel vying to fill private security jobs at present.  But this won’t be the case for long.  The average wage of a contractor working in hostile environments has dropped precipitously since the heady days of the early noughties when the US and British governments were scrambling to fill the troop gap in Iraq and Afghanistan.  There’s virtually no job security for private security personnel in hostile environments because most of their contracts are fixed term and can be torn up at a moment’s notice.  The insurance compensation for loss of limb and life are a joke and retirement plans are still few and far between.  In short, it’s an unappealing career path for the young, bright, capable men and women the military traditionally attracts.

I predict that as the economy improves and ex-service personnel retrain for better paying, more stable jobs, the pool of high calibre recruits for private security firms will dry up, leaving only desperate and inexperienced individuals to assume military tasks which often require a high degree of specialist training.  The industry will argue that there are approved training courses to ensure contractors working in hostile environments have the necessary skills.  In my view, these training courses are a fig leaf. Most have close to a one hundred percent pass rate which means that anyone willing to write a cheque will get their tick in the box.

In my book The Circuit, I argued passionately for three key reforms to protect the integrity of our armed forces and dramatically increase the professionalism of private security firms.

1. End the practice of outsourcing military tasks and restrict British private security firms to servicing commercial contracts only.
2. Require private security firms to perform due diligence on all employees to ensure they have the skills and mind set to do their tasks effectively.
3. Establish an independent, external regulatory body to draft, implement and enforce a code of conduct for the private security industry.

So far, my pleas have fallen on deaf ears.  Military tasks are still being outsourced to the private sector, there’s little due diligence and the private security industry continues to police itself—not surprising given how many retired generals and MPs sit on the boards of PSCs.

Too many people empowered with looking after our national security have been co-opted by the industry for any meaningful change to take place.  The public must demand reform before our national security is fatally compromised.  This is hardly alarmist.  Just look at security firm G4S’s failure to train and deliver the contracted number of guards for the Olympics this summer. Now imagine that same debacle happening in a war zone. Personally, I would like to see the CEO of G4S barred from Britain’s private security industry for life. But thanks to the lobbying efforts of PSCs, there’s no external regulator to hold him to account.

There is a fourth reform I would like to see as well.   Presently, there is no law requiring PSCs to report overseas deaths of employees or divulge how many contractors are wounded or suffer mental trauma as a result of their work in hostile environments.  I’m sure the figures would be eye-popping, more so than any headlines about rogue mercenaries.  Anyone who dies serving this country deserves to have their sacrifice recognized and honoured.  Let’s bring these heroes out of the shadows along with the companies they work for.  The tax payers and the nation will be better off for it.

When framed as an altercation between public servants who’ve since settled their differences, it seems sensible to declare “Plebgate” officially closed. The problem is Andrew Mitchell is no ordinary public servant.  As Tory Chief Whip he is an enormously powerful elected official who speaks with the voice of the Prime Minister.

I can’t help but imagine Mitchell channelling Mr Cameron as I read excerpts from the official police log of the incident.

“‘Best you learn your f_______ place . . . you don’t run this f______ government . . . you’re f______ plebs.’”

Even if these quotes are not entirely accurate, (and Mitchell’s slippery denial that he did not use the ‘words attributed’ to him leaves wide open the possibility that he did in fact call the police officers plebs), they betray the mind-set of a ruling party which sees itself as vastly superior to ordinary working people.

Putting plebs in their place has been at the heart of the Conservative agenda since they took power.  Rather than crack down on tax avoidance by corporations and wealthy individuals—a policy which could generate a staggering £95 billion in savings—Government has doggedly pursued spending and welfare cuts which have hit the poor hardest and sorely undermined our economic recovery.  Instead of securing our global competitiveness by easing access to higher education, the Tories have priced university beyond the reach of bright students from modest backgrounds who fear taking on a crushing debt burden.

Economically, these policies don’t add up.  But if you’re trying to re-engineer society to alter the balance of power in favour of a narrow slice of privately educated, privileged elites, then they make perfect sense.

Whether Mr Mitchell resigns is immaterial.  Even before he threw his teddy in the corner, most people stopped believing the Tories were working for the good of us all. As long as they hold power, they will continue to implement policies that make them and their mates richer and the rest of us poorer.

Then again, what do I know?  I’m just a f______  pleb.

Spot the Rogue Soldier

The government was scrambling to save face this morning after getting blindsided by ISAF’s decision to severely restrict joint operations between NATO forces and Afghan Army and Police.  By the time Defence Secretary Philip Hammond appeared before Parliament to explain himself, he had donned his denial armour, claiming that Britain’s military operations in Afghanistan would be “substantially unchanged” by ISAF’s new policy.  He even went so far as to say he has “every confidence” in Britain’s strategy to train Afghan security forces to take over when Britain ends major combat operations in 2014.

How is that possible when this year alone more than 50 NATO soldiers including 9 Brits have been killed by Afghans they were tasked with training and mentoring? And those are the deaths we’ve heard about.  So called “rogue Afghan” security forces (AKA Taliban infiltrators) are also turning their weapons on well-intentioned Afghan Army and Police recruits as well as private security contractors working for the coalition—deaths that are all swept under the rug.

So why is Hammond refusing to acknowledge reality?  I can only conclude that the Government is placing its ego above the lives of our brave troops serving in Afghanistan.  It’s despicable. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Thankfully, there was an MP in the Commons today who had the guts to call Hammond out.  Labour MP Paul Flynn accused the Defence Secretary of being a liar and blasted the Government for using our soldiers as “human shields” to protect ministers’ reputations.  I couldn’t agree more.

Paul Flynn was expelled for his trouble, but that won’t silence the truth. The Government’s Afghan policy has been thoroughly discredited in the eyes of the public. Few people buy the excuse anymore that we’re there to protect Britain against terrorism or that the mission will produce a more stable country.   Afghanistan was in civil war long before we committed troops to the conflict and it will continue long after we’ve withdrawn them.   There is no justification for forcing our soldiers to pick up the tab for a policy that is doomed to failure.  Bring our troops home now. Ministers’ reputations be damned.

If only it were that simple.

While the film is undoubtedly being exploited by religious opportunists to win popular support, it is NOT the spark that ignited the firestorm against western interests in Libya.  If it was, a frenzied mob would have stormed the US consulate, not a well- trained, well-equipped militia.  This attack was lucid and well planned—most likely in advance.  Executing it during a wave of popular fury over a film trailer was merely good PR.  Moreover, this was not the first time western diplomats in Libya have been targeted by extremists.  Back in June, the British Ambassador to the country narrowly escaped with his life when his convoy was rocketed approximately three hundred meters from the gates of the consulate in Benghazi.  A week before that, a bomb was lobbed at the US mission in the city.

Peel back the veil of religious indignation and the true motive of these assaults is all too clear. Islamic extremists in Libya want power and having lost out at the ballot box, their only recourse now is to seize it forcibly from the western-backed government in Tripoli.

If Gadaffi were still in charge, I wouldn’t worry about extremists taking over. A brutal dictator with an iron-grip on every aspect of public life could easily prevent his enemies from capitalizing on the attack in Benghazi.  But Gadaffi is dead   And the NFA, the coalition of elected parties that took power in Libya, is dangerously fragile, divided by tribe and ideology—not a winning formula for restoring security and stability.

In March 2011, I wrote a post blasting the short-sightedness of US-British policy on Libya, warning that if a post-Gadaffi power struggle were to ensue, the hard-boiled jihadists would emerge victorious.  It was hardly an alarmist prediction.  Islamists have a great track record of hijacking revolutions in the Middle East. Recently, the Muslim Brotherhood took power in Egypt (albeit under the watchful eye of the military which has so far managed to keep any extreme fundamentalist leanings in check).   The older and more cautionary example though is Iran.  Contrary to popular belief, the Iranian Revolution was not driven solely by Islamists.  The movement which overthrew the dictatorial Shah was comprised of both middle-class, democracy craving secularists and religious fundamentalist (the same opposition mix which 30 years later would bring down the regimes in Egypt, Tunisia and of course, Libya).  The first Prime Minister of post-revolution Iran was not an Islamist but a pro-democracy scholar who favoured rapprochement with the West.  Sadly his tenure was cut short after students stormed the US Embassy in Iran and took the staff hostage—a spectacular attack which laid the foundations for the conservative, anti-western theocracy which rules over Iran today.

Right now, the radical Islamists in Libya lack a charismatic figurehead to corral the masses. But with YouTube and offensive film trailers, who needs one?  If only Britain and the United States would have stayed out of Libya’s affairs and let the country sort itself out.  Because the revolution we midwifed has every possibility of turning against us.