Green MP called stepping down 'the responsible thing to', as pressure mounts on Jeremy Corbyn
As pressure mounts on Jeremy Corbyn to pull out of the Stop the War Coalition’s fundraiser on Friday, the Green Party’s only MP Caroline Lucas has announced that she resigned from the group a few weeks ago. In a statement to Guido Fawkes, Lucas’ office said:
“Caroline stepped back from the Stop the War Coalition a few weeks ago. Her busy parliamentary and constituency schedule means that she doesn’t have time to fully engage with the role of a Patron and, in light of some recent StWC positions that she didn’t support, she felt standing down was the responsible thing to do. Like the Stop the War Coalition, Caroline is opposed to British bombing in Syria because it will neither keep Britain safe nor help bring about a lasting peace in Syria.”
Caroline Lucas had been the vice-president of the group, which has faced heavy criticism during weeks of tension over the Syria vote. Following Hilary Benn’s speech to Commons, the group was accused of praising ISIS after posting on its website:
“Benn does not even seem to realize that the jihadist movement that ultimately spawned Daesh is far closer to the spirit of internationalism and solidarity that drove the International Brigades than Cameron’s bombing campaign.”
Following the attacks in Paris it said France had ‘reaped the whirlwind’ of Western support for extremist violence in the Middle East.
Stop the War has also defended Russian aggression in Ukraine and Georgia, and more recently barred Syrians from speaking at its meetings on Syria.
Caroline Lucas has been a long standing and tireless critic of Western military intervention in the Middle East. Her resignation from Stop the War by no means equates to a resignation from her position on intervention; last week she said ‘the UK’s strongest contribution at this point would be through enhanced diplomacy’, and voted against airstrikes in Syria.
But her resignation has intensified the spotlight on Jeremy Corbyn; should he follow Lucas’ example and distance himself from such a controversial group?
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward
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32 Responses to “Caroline Lucas has resigned from Stop the War Coalition”
RobotNick
If STWuk and Corbyn were pacifists they would fiercely condemn Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and the brutal bombing of Syrian civilians by Assad & Putin. The complete failure of these outspoken and articulate ‘anti-war’ advocates to do so indicates that they are neither anti-war nor pacifists.
Rather they give all too many signs of being supporters of Putin’s regime of hyper-corrupt crony-capitalism, neo-fascism and imperialist aggression.
Visual
Good for Caroline. A woman of principle
Visual
The United Nations has called for action against Daesh.
Cole
Good thing too. They’re a poisonous lot.
Cole
And it’s not illegal, whatever STW say.