Controversial Labour MP

IT WAS a pity to see the MP Bob Mellish held up as an example to us all by both Mary Kenny and Eamonn Andrews, August 20. Bob Mellish may indeed be a RC and the rights and wrongs of his behaviour over the last 30 years are his own affair.
However. because he was a member of the Labour Party, and indeed one of the minority who are MP's — his public life must be open to public scrutiny. Bermondsey Labour Party have experienced Bob Mellish — Bermondsey Labour Party have rejected him. This case of accountability is the real example to be held up.
Mary Kenny in her article goes on to criticize the present Labour Party for its lack of religion. Unlike Mary Kenny I do not judge people, least of all popul4r politicians by what they call themselves, but by what they do over a period of time. General Franco was a RC who showed by his actions that he was also a fascist.
Mary Kenny then launches into a full attack against the Labour Party. "... Labour Party is devoid of that church-going tradition, on the contrary, it so often seems the party. of the abortionists, the gay liberation movement, the permissives who want ever-easier divorce and everything that attacks the family. the churches, discretion and decency."
Then stopping only to start another paragraph she lays into the "young Trotskyites". There is no space here to answer in full this attack. However, I would like to make some points.
There are pro-abortionists in all the major political parties. For example the Liberal leader David Steel.
The argument about abortion, as I understand it, revolves around the question of whether the unborn are human or not. There are no serious arguments against the right of new babies to life. And yet many children die an unnecessary death each year. For instance The Short Report, stated that 5,000 babies a year could be saved and 5,000 more would not be handicapped if the Government put money Into extra services.
Anyone who believes that the economic cuts of this Tory Government does not have a human cost must be a rare person. Women have abortions for many reasons, some have them because they cannot see any future but poverty. When the welfare state is under attack — people suffer. While agreeing with Mary Kenny that there is a real Christian tradition in the Labour Party, it must be said that similar traditions exist in the other major parties. The Labour Party also has a Marxist tradition. I doubt if the Conservative Party or the Liberal Party have one also.
• Mr IV! Zamorski Oxford