The Hutton inquiry produced few surprises. Naturally
Tony Blair and Alastair Campbell were exonerated. This inquiry was no
different to any of its predecessors, since no such inquiry ever found
a government to be guilty. It was a whitewash.
Yet
it goes further, condemning the BBC and vilifying the man at the centre
of the inquiry, weapons expert Dr. David Kelly driven beyond the edge
of reason by the desire of the government to silence all criticism. Not
content with the man's death they now pursue his reputation beyond the
grave. Kelly's tragic death has not dissuaded them from their course in
the slightest.
This is a government
hell-bent on suppressing all opposition. The tiny right-wing clique
around Tony Blair is not content with elbowing aside the Parliamentary
Labour Party and turning the cabinet into a rubber stamp. Now they want
to stifle the press, journalists and the BBC in particular and close
off yet another avenue for criticism.
Marxism
has no illusions in the independence of the press any more than the
judiciary. The BBC in particular has long played the most baleful role
in relation to the workers' movement. Witness their appalling coverage
during the miners' strike, recalled so vividly in their recent
documentary which sought not only to rewrite history but also as a
warning to workers today. 'Militancy is a thing of the past, do not
dare to try it again.' Nevertheless, individual journalists can play a
certain role in exposing the lies and deception perpetrated by
governments to justify the unjustifiable. In general those who run the
media do so in the interests of the capitalist system. But are we now
to have a press run by government department? Are journalists to submit
their by-lines to government censors before publication?
The
conclusions of Hutton's report were known in advance, both because they
were obvious, and also because this inquiry into leaks was itself
leaked. Blair is said to be "furious", yet one would have to ask which
potential headline of January 28 Blair would prefer "Humiliating
'victory' on top-up fees" or "Blair cleared by Hutton". As a lawyer
Blair will be familiar with the phrase 'cui bono' – who benefits?
Save
for the nasty attacks on the one man not able to give evidence, and the
new assault on the press, Hutton's conclusions are also irrelevant.
Naturally Blair and co got off scott free. Nothing more was to be
expected. Yet every day that this fills the papers is a daily reminder
of the war in Iraq, and for that there will be a reckoning at the polls
and inside the labour movement.
The
ever increasing concentration of power in the hands of a small clique
around Blair, further exposed by this inquiry, also points to a far
more important conclusion than anything Hutton says in his report. The
continued erosion of democracy, limited as it is under capitalism, with
the continual downgrading of parliament, and attacks on the press, both
of whom provided at least some measure of a safeguard in the past, for
all their limitations, is not a secondary question. The attacks on
workers' rights, combined with the undermining of democracy, and new
measures like those proposed in the new emergency powers legislation
must serve as a warning to the labour movement.
The ruling class is preparing for struggles to come. We must do likewise.
Which
brings us to the narrow remit of Hutton's inquiry. Some journalists
have written that the whole thing is just a distraction. Indeed the
pronounced innocence of Blair and co in the leaking of Dr. Kelly's name
is no doubt meant as a magician's trick with mirrors, to distract
attention from the real issue – there never were any weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq and now everyone, except Blair, admits it.
David
Kay, Bush's own weapons inspector and formerly chief weapons monitor
for the CIA resigned his position in January concluding that there are
no weapons of mass destruction to be found in Iraq. "I don't think they
existed" he stated bluntly.
This
issue will not go away no matter how hard Blair's spin doctors attempt
to sweep it under the carpet. Blair is now under attack from all
quarters. A whitewashed inquiry will not save him any more than his
'triumph' in parliament over tuition fees.
The
Tories hypocritically try to wrap themselves in a cloak of sincerity
over the death of Kelly and the wider issue of the non-existence of
weapons of mass destruction. No doubt we are expected to conveniently
forget they enthusiastically supported for the war in Iraq.
More
importantly Blair finds himself under attack in parliament, from within
the Labour Party. Robin Cook who resigned from the cabinet over the war
in Iraq abstained in the vote on student fees. The other cabinet
minister to resign, Clare Short, was one of the leading rebels against
the government. In the end they scraped home with a majority of just
five votes.
Blair also faces
renewed opposition from the trade union movement. Following their
successes in defeating the Labour leadership at the party conference
last autumn, the new leaders of Amicus, GMB, T&G, and Unison have
announced their intention to call a mass meeting of Labour Party
members, MPs and trade unionists to demand the implementation of their
demands.
On the industrial front
too, for all the warnings none too subtly delivered in TV documentaries
on the miners' strike, militancy is far from dead. On the contrary it
is on the march with civil servants staging their biggest national
strike for 17 years following hot on the heels of the firefighters and
the postal workers.
Neither the
whips in parliament, nor the whitewash of a judge can save Blair now.
New Labour is dead. This is not a matter of personal incompetence or
the failures of spin doctors, but is determined by factors beyond their
control. All the conditions which led to the triumph of Blair inside
the Labour Party are turning into their opposite. The economy now
balances perilously atop a mountain of debt. Twenty years of
accumulated stress and anger in the workplace is beginning to burst
through the surface and has already had a major impact inside the trade
unions. All these factors combined with the mass opposition to the war
in Iraq, and the perception that Blair and co are liars, no matter what
Hutton reports, are already beginning to have an impact inside the
Labour Party too. Blair's apparent iron grip has now been broken.
Just
as the ruling class are preparing themselves for a new period of
struggle, the working class must put its house in order too, by
transforming their own organisations, the trade unions and the Labour
Party.
