An SNP MP tried to align our party with Keir Starmer. Why?
The National Council meeting on June 21 in the Perth Concert Hall was of the latter type.
In the background, subsequently confirmed days later, was the prospect of the US weighing in on the Israeli side in their war with Iran. An act, as the general secretary of the UN pointed out, that ran a coach and horses through the international rules-based order.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer backs US strikes on Iran ahead of Nato summit
In Perth, on the auditorium screen was a topical motion on the issue in the name of Stephen Gethins MP. Had it passed unamended it would have upended SNP policy in several areas. Not only on the party's position on international nuclear disarmament treaty architecture, but broader issues of national security and indeed adjacent economic policy.
Unamended, it would have positioned the SNP Group at Westminster behind Keir Starmer and David Lammy's position on the Israel-Iran crisis.
It would have also represented a softening of the tone, possibly even the substance, of the critical statements made by other SNP parliamentarians at Westminster and in Holyrood.
The unamended motion read:
MIDDLE EAST SITUATION
National Council abhors the ongoing violence in the Middle East and that destabilisation in the region is a threat to us all; calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and full access for humanitarian relief; further agrees that Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons but that the best means of stopping that and finding a sustainable solution is through diplomatic means.
Stephen was not in attendance, so his motion was subsequently moved by another delegate.
I proposed that three words – 'be allowed to' – be excised. In the end, my suggestion was acceded to and political embarrassment averted.
Other amendments pertaining to the, frankly, barely condemnatory tone on what is going on in Gaza, would have been appropriate, but timescales and procedures precluded that.
At first, I wanted to accept the cock-up theory.
However, after a few days of reflection and being faced with some irrefutable facts, the record needs to be put straight. This must be reflected upon by SNP spokespersons who speak on the members' behalf, particularly on matters of war and peace.
Fact one: the motion only mentioned Iran and not Israel.
Fact two: it was presented in the name of a former professor of international relations.
Fact three: if passed unamended, the SNP position on the subsequent bombing would have been in lock step with Starmer and Lammy.
It's interesting how in the repertoire of those who used to promote a 'rules-based order that's not the United Nations' they and the mainstream media are very quick to gaslight anyone who says that historical context is important.
However, when the historical airbrush is to be applied to the signature diplomatic achievement of President Barack Obama I must speak out.
US president Donald Trump (Image: Getty) The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal that ensured Iran gave up any notion of developing nuclear weapons, was ditched by Donald Trump. My 'textual amendment' reaffirmed SNP adherence to the spirit of the Obama plan.
During his first term as president, Trump of course trashed the JCPOA. Now bizarrely, he appears to want to bomb Iran into a JCPOA-without-the-safeguards.
The Scottish National Party seeks to achieve the restitution of a sovereign Scottish state. It will be a small state and, as such, on the journey to independence the recognition of the United Nations will be indispensable.
READ MORE: Richard Walker: Good journalism has never had a more vital role
However, I am no naïve idealist when it comes to matters of international relations. The world is indeed a dangerous and uncertain place, particularly when you share a border with the Russian Federation or Israel.
Only politicians with links to the arms trade would want to use fear as a key electoral driver. Arguing that man-made global dangers and instability are uniform throughout the world is an understandable though rather unethical marketing tool for arms companies.
The truth is, in the bigger scheme of things, some places are a bit safer than others, and Scotland is one of those places.
A fortunate reality that the independence movement should unapologetically make more of it.
Bill Ramsay is the SNP Trade Union Group convener and sits on the party's National Executive Committee.
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