I was brought up in a country that was an example to the world. I was told that my country was a model of democracy and decency, a country that opened its doors to refugees from dictatorships. It was a country that was, simply, better than others because it was the country that invented democracy, freedom and civilisation. Everything good was British and everything British was good. And there were British people trying and – sometimes – succeeding in bringing British values to those unfortunate peoples who had not as yet experienced them.
And then, outside the colonies, there were foreigners. The French were bad enough but they did have good food if you liked that sort of thing; the Italians were dreadful but they did have good statues and paintings, and they sang awfully well, you had to give it to them, fair’s fair; and the Spaniards were picturesque, with their bulls and their donkeys and their ridiculously pompous politicians, but they could never be really civilised.
Well, the biter has been bit. I live in Spain. I have said many times over the years that I feel freer here in my person, my actions and my expression than if I were in the UK – and that’s without mentioning the trains.
Today’s El País reports that the British government will not reveal the process by which the British state embarked on the invasion of Iraq. The minister responsible for vetoing disclosure of the decision is a self-confessed Stalinist, typical of the Labour Party, so there’s no hope of democracy from that quarter. It also lays into the UK in general:
The decision was no surprise because it is in line with the tradition of protecting the establishment that characterises British democracy, as has been seen repeatedly in recent years:
-Menezes. The CPS prevented criminal proceedings being brought against the police officers who wrongly killed the Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes in the London Underground. The judge prevented the jury from bringing in a guilty verdict.
-BAE Systems. Blair stopped an investigation into bribes paid to the Saudi royal family in arms contracts.
-Honours for sale. Against the judgement of Scotland Yard, the CPS did not prosecute close collaborators of Blair.
-Torture. London asked Washington to put pressure on British judges to prevent the publication of documents that could have proved that the accusations against Binyam Mohamed, a Guantánamo prisoner who was freed on Monday, were obtained under torture.
-Iraq. There has never been an independent investigation. All investigations have had limitations imposed by the Government*.
-Kelly. The Government was acquitted of sexing up a report on Iraq despite abundant evidence that it increased the pressure to exaggerate the danger that Saddam Hussein posed.
-The butler. The Queen stopped a trial against Diana’s butler, who was accused of stealing some of the Princess’s personal, belongings, because it could have damaged Prince Charles’s image.
*Not only has there been no proper official investigation, which is bad enough, but the Labour Party has never actually managed to find time at any of its congresses to discuss the British invasion of a sovereign country. That leaves me totally unsurprised.
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