David Morris: A Blast from the Past

One of the articles in David Morris’ booklet ‘Reporting Back Autumn 2012’ tells us about his views on Syria. Well, no it doesn’t. The title is ‘Petition for CHANGE’ and it tells us that pupils from Heysham High School organised this petition ‘for the removal of President Assad’. It doesn’t mention whether David agrees with the pupils.

We gain more insight from The Visitor from the 11th July 2012. Yes it is more than a year old and David is only now reporting back but his view is directly relevant to August 2013. Here he states “I’m extremely proud to represent these young people and am delighted to be able to present their petition in Parliament. I hope that governments around the world will continue to work to remove this evil Syrian regime.”

The trouble is that even his own government stops short of asking for regime change. Yesterday’s vote was about a proportionate response to the use of chemical warfare and the resolution related solely to efforts to alleviate humanitarian suffering. It did not sanction any action in Syria with wider objectives.

Maybe David already knows the results of the UN inspection that hasn’t taken place yet. It seems that he is already convinced that military action is needed to overthrow Assad, but shouldn’t he tell us that he is aware of the facts before sending our soldiers to war?

The public have no appetite for war and neither do the 30 Tory MPs who voted against the Government. We can’t be sure about the 33 absent Tories but The Visitor should soon tell us whether David has maintained his point of view from 12 months ago. We may even find out his views if he decides to publish a booklet. The title could be ‘David Morris Reporting Back Autumn 2013’.

Change the world

P.S. It is 11.30pm on Sunday 1st September and I have just read an article on David's website. He tells us that he has been on national radio in Cyprus and said “I implore the (Syrian) regime to sit down and talk.” It does not bode well for peace when the person who asks for talks has already called one side evil. Peacemakers have to keep their prejudice to themselves.