Three Issues Bottled—in Just One Week

Last week, BBC sources suggested that British troops might be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year. This week, Bush visited, and the sources have gone quiet. Brown's spokeswoman had to deny reports of a rift between the leaders. She may be right that there was no rift, if Bush gave his instructions, and Brown simply obeyed without arguing.

On Friday, Ireland rejected the Lisbon treaty in a referendum. Brown, meanwhile, had bottled this issue by refusing to hold a referendum, as Labour had promised. He said that the Lisbon treaty was not the EU Constitution, so his promise didn't apply, but this didn't make a lot of sense. The Lisbon treaty has the same objectives, and says largely the same thing. Brown bottled this issue for the second time when he boycotted the signing ceremony. He sneaked in and signed away Britain's sovereignty several hours after the rest of the leaders had gone home.

Last week, Brown bottled this issue for the third time, by continuing with Britain's ratification of the Lisbon treaty. Apparently Brown's European masters have told him that a united front is required against the Irish. Rather than respect the decision of the Irish people, and the decision the British people would have made if they had been asked, Brown again obeyed without arguing.

Finally, David Davis stepped down from Parliament last week, to make the case for civil liberties in a byelection campaign. He believes that, contrary to the received political wisdom, people will support civil liberties if the case is made for them. He intends to make that case, and invite people to vote him back into Parliament if they agree with him.

Brown, however, has bottled this issue too. He won't put up a candidate to fight Davis, preferring to dismiss his act as a "stunt that has become a farce". The public seem to have a lot of respect for a politician who is prepared to take a risk for his beliefs, but Brown would rather jeer from the sidelines. Presumably it's easy to laugh at someone with beliefs and principles if you don't have any yourself.