Related to CND Q below

[Loosehead]

We know that most of the Labour front bench where once in CND, The PM included. Now When they where all in CND it must have been their dream to oe day get into governement and enact there dearest wish, ie unilateral disarmament. So what happenned? They got into power with a big enough majority to change anything and didn't. Do you think that sometime between then and now they realised that they may have been wrong? Was it a case of, "it seemed sensible at the time but now I'm older it doesn't seem such a good idea"? I'm not trying to start an argument of the pros and cons on Unilateral disarmament OK.

[coyn]

If you are not trying to start a discussion O.K. forget it.

[LazyGun]

I always had the impression that their membership of CND lapsed during the Kinnock and later the John Smith leaderships, as the party moved away from its Left Wing stance and attempted to take the centre ground. It also seems that CND and in particular the concept of unilateral disarmament dropped off the public agenda in the late 80's and 90's.

The Global agenda also played a part.. with the break up of the former Soviet Union and the rise of fundamentalist islamic activity in the middle east, the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction became less likely i guess

[Loosehead]

Nice one Coyn point missed very well, did you even read the question, no I doubt it.

LazyGun good points but what I'm getting at is what happenned in the minds of these guys? I know the party moved away from the left but it's very hard to change the ingrained personal opinion. Did they just mature and think better of it? Just seems weird to me.

[LazyGun]

I think I understand what you are getting at.... Some personally held convictions can change with age and experience though.... during my teens and college years I was a firebrand left wing, whereas now I am more a kind of wishy washy left of centre :)

The diehards never gave up their beliefs... Michael Foot, Tony Benn etc... for the others,either it was a growing belief that the issue was now redundant, or their membership was political posturing to start with I guess :)

[gary baldy]

I dont think it is fair to judge MP's on their previous beliefs. I know i certainly dont have the same political beliefs i had 20 years ago. The world changes and so do you. When in opposition it is easy to be idealistic but once you get your hands on power (and the control of power) you have to be more realistic. Also a huge change of policy takes a long time to implement and it is also a big decision to make lightly. You have got admire people like Tony Benn who stuck with his beliefs for so long but as he got older, and further away from power, he had less to lose.

[jake-the-peg]

I think they realised that it was a major voter objection and they would not win power with that policy.

For some of them (like Foot) it was a sufficiently important point that they wouldn't change the policy for others (like Blair) it was clearly negotiable.

Of course now is a rather important time in the debate with Trident rapidly running out of legs and a �25 billion for a replacement looking like an expensive chocolate teapot that would deter nobody, it may be that simple economics finally achieve what all those CND marches failed to.

[Dom Tuk]

If McDonalds managers threw �50 notes at an anti-capitalist rally do you think some may not stoop and pick it up. Well even PMs can stoop and this one certainly can.