“It is wrong in principle, and will not deliver justice,” said Philippe, writing in The Guardian. “It will be used to shield government wrongdoing from public and judicial scrutiny under conditions that are fair and just. The bill threatens greater corrosion of the rights of the individual in the UK, in the name of ‘national security’.”
Cory – who raised funds, campaigned and voted for the
party at the last election – wrote on his blog: “I cannot, in good conscience,
remain a member or supporter of the Lib Dems… Deeds speak louder than words.
The Lib Dems are the party of talking about liberty and voting in tyranny.”
Their brave departures follow those of prominent human rights barrister Dinah
Rose QC and rising political star Jo Shaw, who both resigned at the weekend. “I
just cannot see what purpose is served by the party, if it is prepared to
support the bill,” Dinah said.
“I fervently hope that eventually someone leads this party who will act according to liberal principle and scrap this bill,” Jo told the party’s spring conference in Brighton. “Because I am a liberal, and a democrat, and I am against this sort of thing.”
And former Liberal Democrat MP David Howarth, powerfully summing up Jo’s motion, added: “This is not about policy or about deals – it is about who we are. This bill does nothing to help the security services to gain more information or foil more plots. All it does is give them an unfair advantage in cases where they are accused of kidnapping and torture. Again, anyone who cannot see that is fundamentally wrong and not liberal.”
Such courageous action reminds us not only that there is still honour in politics but that the Government has failed to make the case for this odious legislation. As Dinah, Jo, Philippe, Cory and David have recognised, secrecy breeds secrecy and this is one political compromise too far. The views of the party membership are clear.
Hopefully political leaders will now listen to their conscience – repeatedly echoed by the best and brightest of their own family – and those views will prevail. Meanwhile, we’ll again look to Peers to defend the rule of law when the bill is next considered by the Upper House on March 26. As David Howarth told Tom McNally, the Liberal Democrat Leader in the House of Lords, at the weekend: “I know the Lords can stop this bill. You know the Lords can stop this bill. They should stop this bill.”
