Brown & Browne vs Brown, Red, Green & Yellow

Gordon Brown has very publicly backed the replacement of the Trident nuclear deterrent, a policy that is being steered by Defence Secretary Des Browne, one of his allies. Regular readers will know that I have always been strident on Trident and a firm believer in the PM's duty to protect the nation regardless of whether or not the stupid peasants want to be protected. After all, no-one would challenge George Dubbya's right to protect America by using his powers as Commander-in-Chief to attack Iran, would they?

Compass yesterday launched a "Rethink Trident" campaign attacking the Government's defence policy. The signatories to this treacherous act of national appeasement reflect all of the worst elements of British politics and many of the country's most unpleasant colours. They are a mish-mash of Nick (It's a lovely day, the sun is out and so am I) Brown, reds such as Diane Portillo and George (Saddam bin Laden) Pussycat, greens such as Tony Juniper of FoE and, worst of all, yellow-livered LibDems such as Ming The Merciless and (Don't Call Me) Shirley (Don't Call Me) Two-Faces.

These people represent Labour's most destructive internal oppositionalists and our most dangerous external enemies. Neal Lawson and Compass have always tried to trade on alleged links to Brown. I always thought they were exaggerated and that Brown's own politics are well to the right of the party. Now they are openly at war with him on one of the central policies that defines whether you are remotely serious about having an electable Labour Party or not. They don't just want to turn the clock back to before 1994, they want to unpick a policy settlement that was arrived at as long ago as 1988 in response to Margaret Thatcher's 102-seat majority third term victory the previous year. Let me repeat myself. These people want to turn the clock back to the days when Labour opposed sound conservative policies and thereby made itself unelectable.

Second worst in the list of offenders after the LibDems are the b*****d Scot Nats who want to charge a road toll on every nuclear missile that we deploy up there amongst the heathens heathers in order to protect London. Bloody cheek! Just because the retaliation will wipe them out. They should be proud to do their bit to protect the more important parts of Britain, just as the peasants living in the Lower Ninth Slum District of New Orleans were proud to do their bit for George Dubbya and country to protect the glorious heritage of the French Quarter during hurricane Katrina.

The fact that Tony launched his pro-Trident MP letter-writing campaign five days before the Compass campaign started just goes to show how really on the ball we are - able to act decisively with the PR even before the opposition have got started. There's nothing like getting your retaliation in early!

So that you know exactly which pacifist scum we are talking about here, the following is a list of the "hand over a defenceless Britain to the Iranians and the North Koreans" campaign signatories to date. Feel free to argue vehemently with them or gob on them as you walk past - depending on your social class.

Most Rev and Rt Hon Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
Adam Price MP
Air Commodore Alistair Mackie
Air Marshal Sir Timothy Garden
Alex Salmond MP
Anne Cryer MP
Austin Mitchell MP
Baroness David
Baroness Jenny Tonge
Bianca Jagger – Human Rights Campaigner
Rt Rev Dr Thomas Butler, Bishop of Southwark
Cardinal O’Brien
Carol Ann Duffy – Playwright and Poet
Colin Burgon MP
Colin Challen MP – Chair All Party Group on Climate Change
Damon Albarn – Musician
General the Lord David Ramsbotham
David Taylor MP
Professor David Webb
Diane Abbott MP
Dr Phillip Webber
Dr Rebecca Johnson – Director of the Acronym Institute
Dr Stuart Parkinson Elfyn Llywd MP – Leader of Plaid Cymru
Emma Thompson – Actress
Professor Frank Barnaby - Nuclear Consultant
Gavin Strang MP
General Sir Hugh Beach GBE OBE KCB MC
Dr George Joffé - Cambridge University Centre for International Studies
George Galloway MP
Glenys Kinnock MEP
Gordon Prentice MP
Graham Stringer MP
Hari Kunzru – Novelist
Helena Kennedy QC
Dr Ian Gibson MP
Jarvis Cocker – Musician
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Joan Ruddock MP
John Gittings - SOAS Research Associate
Professor John Whitelegg
John Grogan MP
Jon Cruddas MP
John Harris – Writer and Journalist
John Kampfner – Editor – New Statesman
Professor John Sloboda
Jon Trickett MP – Chair of Compass Parliamentary Group
Jonathon Coe – Novelist
Dr Julia Buxton - Senior Research Fellow
Kate Macintosh MBE – RIBA
Katy Clark MP
Professor Keith Barnham
Professor Ken Booth - Professor of International Politics
Ken Livingstone – Mayor of London
Linda Riordan MP
Lord Archer of Sandwell QC
Lord Joel Joffe CBE
Louise Richards – Anti Poverty Campaigner
Marsha Singh MP
Rt Hon Sir Menzies Campbell MP
Michael Moore MP
Mr Anhil Bhanot FCA FRSA
Neal Lawson – Chair of Compass Parliamentary Group
Neil Gerrard MP
Rt Hon Nick Brown MP
Nick Harvey MP
Sir Peter Soulsby MP
Peter Kilfoyle MP – Former Defence Minister
Professor Sir Richard Jolly – Former Assistant Secretary General of the UN
Professor Roy Butterfield CEng DSc
Lord Richard Rogers - Architect
Safraz Manzoor – Broadcaster and Writer
Professor Stephen Hawking - Theoretical Physicist
Professor Tim Jackson - Sustainable Development Commission
Professor Tom Kibble CBE FRS
Thom Yorke – Musician
Rt Rev Timothy Radcliffe OP - Former Master of the Dominican order
Tony Juniper – Environmental Campaigner
Tony Robinson – Actor and Broadcaster
Vivienne Westwood – Fashion Designer
Will Self – Writer
Rt Hon Baroness Williams of Crosby
Zadie Smith - Novelist
Mark Fisher MP
Dr Desmond Turner MP
John McDonnell MP
Frank Cook MP
United Nations Association of Great Britain
One World Trust
Friends of the Earth
Scientists for Global Responsibility
War on Want
National Union of Students
British American Security Information Council (BASIC)
SERA
MEDACT
People and Planet
Greenpeace
Oxford Research Group
CND
UNISON
CWU