Michael Meacher

From Wikispooks
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Person.png Michael Meacher   Powerbase Sourcewatch WebsiteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(academic, politician)
Michael Meacher.jpg
BornMichael Hugh Meacher
1939-11-04
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England
Died21 October 2015 (Age 75)
Cause of death
"A short illness"
Alma materNew College (Oxford), London School of Economics
SpouseMolly Reid
Member of9/11 Consensus Panel
PartyLabour

Employment.png Shadow Secretary of State for Transport Wikipedia-icon.png

In office
20 October 1994 - 19 October 1995
Preceded byFrank Dobson

Employment.png Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

In office
21 October 1993 - 20 October 1994
Succeeded byAnn Taylor

Employment.png Shadow Minister for the Citizen's Charter

In office
21 October 1993 - 20 October 1994
Succeeded byAnn Taylor

Employment.png Shadow Minister for Overseas Development Wikipedia-icon.png

In office
18 July 1992 - 21 October 1993

Employment.png Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security Wikipedia-icon.png

In office
2 November 1989 - 18 July 1992

Employment.png Shadow Secretary of State for Employment

In office
13 July 1987 - 2 November 1989
Preceded byJohn Prescott
Succeeded byTony Blair

Employment.png Under-Secretary of State for Trade

In office
5 April 1976 - 4 May 1979

Employment.png Under-Secretary of State for Industry

In office
7 March 1974 - 12 June 1975

Michael Meacher, Labour MP since 1970 and former Minister of the Environment, died on 21 October 2015.[1] Jeremy Corbyn's biographer wrote:

"Since Corbyn became Labour leader, there has been a demise around which some speculation swirls. His good friend Michael Meacher, MP for Oldham West and Royton, who had appeared in robust health, died unexpectedly after a short illness the details of which have never been disclosed. Meacher once wrote a cogent analysis of the questions surrounding the 9/11 attacks[2] and reportedly had been lately taking renewed interest in the matter."[3]

The online journal Veterans Today said that when Meacher broke ranks with the liars and traitors back in 2003, and came out for 9/11 truth in the pages of The Guardian, the Deep State panicked – and Meacher was targeted for vilification and threats.[4]

Left-winger

Michael Meacher: 'Benn's vicar on earth'

Michael Meacher was on the party’s left throughout his long career, though this did not prevent him serving as a junior minister in the late 1970s. After 1979, when Tony Benn was running a campaign to pull the Labour Party to the left, and had his sights on the party leadership, Meacher was so important to the cause that he was awarded the nickname ‘Benn’s vicar on earth’. In 1983, he ran unsuccessfully for the deputy leadership as the left’s standard bearer, while Benn was temporarily out of Parliament.

Though he was beaten in that contest by Roy Hattersley, Meacher’s prominence secured him a place on Labour’s shadow cabinet, which in those days was elected by Labour MPs. He was re-elected every year from 1983 to 1996, an indication that he was more popular among fellow MPs than with successive party leaders.

Neil Kinnock was obliged to give him a senior job, but in 1988 removed him from the politically sensitive post as shadow employment secretary, to bring in the younger and more junior Tony Blair. In 1997, Meacher’s status as the longest serving member of the shadow cabinet should, under party rules, have guaranteed him a job in the first Labour cabinet, but Tony Blair ignored the rules and made him a middle ranking environment minister instead.

Despite the humiliation, Meacher refused to resign even when his position as a minister obliged him to go through the motions of supporting the Iraq War. He was sacked in June 2003. His re-election in May 2015 made him, at the age of 75, one of the four longest serving MPs in the Commons.

In July, as a Corbyn victory loomed, Meacher wrote: “The arrogance and intolerance of the Blairites is breathtaking. Faced with the prospect of a runaway victory for Jeremy Corbyn who has come from repudiated outsider to front-runner in scarcely more than a month, their sole response is to prepare a coup against Corbyn if he is elected.”[5]

Outspoken

Towards the end of his 45-year parliamentary career, Michael Meacher was outspoken about the Bilderberg group, and after their meeting in Watford in 2013, he proposed a private members bill demanding a report on the meeting from each of the UK participants.[6]

In response to Meacher's 2012 article "What is Cameron hiding over Megrahi?"[7], former diplomat and Lockerbie campaigner Patrick Haseldine wrote suggesting "David Cameron has a secret about Lockerbie"[8]

Twenty four years earlier, answering a question put by the same Patrick Haseldine, Meacher spoke strongly in support of imposing economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa on BBC Question Time on 25 February 1988 and, when chairman Sir Robin Day called for a show of hands, 60% of the studio audience voted in favour.[9]

Death

The BBC repeated the Oldham Chronicle's information that Meacher "died after a short illness".[10] Details seem scarce.

Suspicions

Tony Gosling notes that Michael Meacher was a firm opponent of the "War On Terror" and that his Twitter account was summarily deleted.[6][11]


 

Documents by Michael Meacher

TitleDocument typePublication dateSubject(s)Description
Document:Ed Miliband’s decision to oppose military action against Syria is an action of statesmanship of which Britons will be proudArticle28 August 2013Iran
Ed Miliband
Iraq
Libya
Russia
Syria
Bashar al Assad
Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack
Afghanistan
Rupert Murdoch
Jeremy Corbyn
Brian Leveson
It is all very well to rush to war in a surge of moral outrage, it is quite another to spell out clearly what are the war objectives and how exactly they are to be achieved.
Document:This war on terrorism is bogusarticle6 September 2003Project for the New American Century
War on Terror/Purposes
Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.



References