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
32 Responses to “Caroline Lucas has resigned from Stop the War Coalition”
Ben David Webber
Read the article.
Ed Snowed Us
What do you expect? The very same rats loudly supported Bashar Assad and “his right” to GAS BABIES TO DEATH in 2013 by demanding he suffer no consequences whatsoever.
In fact to up the ante, Assad had a school FIRE_BOMBED days before the vote in Parliament, the BBC at a local hospital by chance.
https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/11028004_781804258606137_302086997636072847_n.jpg?oh=15b350a4bfd0bda6f80eb4408bd1db5a&oe=571C4716
Ed Snowed Us
What do you expect? The very same rats loudly supported Bashar Assad and “his right” to GAS BABIES TO DEATH in 2013 by demanding he suffer no consequences whatsoever.
In fact to up the ante, Assad had a school FIRE_BOMBED days before the vote in Parliament, the BBC at a local hospital by chance.
Asteri
Still obsessively fighting an organisation that hasn’t held any mass rallies and hasn’t had any impact on public life since 2004 then?
Tubby_Isaacs
Not to mention its lack of interest in what Charlie Hebdo was really like- ie biggest target the Front National and Roman Catholicism.
You’d have thought it worth mentioning the dead were anti-racists, wouldn’t you? Apparently not.