Here’s an example of a rare breed: a politician willing to resign from executive office over a matter of principle. He retains his seat in Parliament, but will remain a backbencher until there’s a revolution in his party. Will any of Team Obama resign on principal?
- “Blow to Gordon Brown as Eric Joyce, aide to Defence Secretary, resigns“
- Bio of Eric Joyce
- His resignation letter
- How many US cabinet secretaries have resigned on principal?
- Afterword and for more information
(1) The news
“Blow to Gordon Brown as Eric Joyce, aide to Defence Secretary, resigns“, The Times, 4 September 2009 — Excerpt:
{Prime Minister} Gordon Brown’s attempt to bolster faltering public support for the war in Afghanistan was derailed last night by the resignation of a ministerial aide. Eric Joyce quit as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Defence Secretary, Bob Ainsworth, with an extraordinary attack on the Government’s handling of the conflict.
(2) Brief bio of Eric Joyce
Eric Stuart Joyce (born 1960 in Perth, Scotland) is a British Labour politician and Member of Parliament for Falkirk. Joyce served as a private in the Black Watch (1978-81) before attending University and subsequently rejoining the army as a commissioned officer (1987-1999). Retired as Major. He was elected to parliament in the 2000. Since 2003 he has served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to a number of UK Government Ministers. (Source: Wikipedia)
(3) His Resignation letter
(Source: The Times, 3 September 2009)
Gordon,
As you may know, I told Bob Ainsworth some weeks ago that I intended to step down as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Defence Secretary before the start of the new parliamentary term. This seems to me the least disruptive time to do that.
I have been privileged to work as PPS to four senior Labour ministers in four government departments and now feel that I can make my best contribution to the Labour effort in parliament by concentrating on helping, as a regular back-bencher, to show that Labour remains sound on matters of Defence.
Labour was returned to power in 1997 on the back of your great success in turning the economy from a weakness into a strength for Labour. Our continuing success in helping people from all parts of society become more prosperous, while helping the least well-off most, is built upon that. More quietly, during the 90’s, Labour’s then shadow defence team showed how Labour had become, after the disaster of the early 1980s, ’sound’ on Defence. It seems to me that your personal success on the economy won the deal in 1997, while colleagues at Defence sealed it.
We are now, I think, once again at a critical time for Labour and Defence. The Conservatives, of course opportunistically, think they can convince the public that we have lost our empathy with the Defence community. We must not allow this to happen. I know that you have great commitment to our armed forces and this was clear when you visited Afghanistan this week, yet there seem to me to be some problems which need fixing with the greatest urgency.
As you know, two Black Watch soldiers gave their lives during your visit. I do not think the public will accept for much longer that our losses can be justified by simply referring to the risk of greater terrorism on our streets. Nor do I think we can continue with the present level of uncertainty about the future of our deployment in Afghanistan.
I think we must be much more direct about the reality that we do punch a long way above our weight, that many of our allies do far too little, and that leaving the field to the United States would mean the end of Nato as a meaningful proposition.
The British people have a proud history of facing such realities. They understand the importance of the allied effort in Afghanistan/Pakistan and I think they would appreciate more direct approach by politicians. We also need to make it clear that our commitment in Afghanistan is high but time limited. It should be possible now to say that we will move off our present war-footing and reduce our forces there substantially during our next term in government.
We also need a greater geopolitical return from the United States for our efforts. For many, Britain fights; Germany pays, France calculates; Italy avoids. If the United States values each of these approaches equally, they will end up shouldering the burden by themselves. The first place to start is an acceptance this week by them, and by the Afghanistan electoral authorities, that there must be a second round in the elections there. I do not think the British people will support the physical risk to our servicemen and women unless they can be given confidence that Afghanistan’s government has been properly elected and has a clear intent to deal with the corruption there which has continued unabated in recent years.
Most important of all, we must make it clear to every serviceman and woman, their families and the British public that we give their well-being the highest political priority. Behind-the-hand attacks by any Labour figure on senior service personnel are now, to the public, indistinguishable from attacks on the services themselves. Conversely, in my view we should allow our service personnel greater latitude to voice their views on matters which make distinctions between defence and politics pointless.
I believe the next election is ours to win, thanks greatly to your personal great economic success. But we cannot win unless we grip Defence. Above all, Labour must remember that service folk and their families are our people. We say that we honour them for their risk, bravery and sacrifice and we must at literally all costs continue to show by our actions that we mean it.
I intend to do what modest amount I can to help from the back-benches.
Yours sincerely
Eric Joyce MP
(4) How many US Cabinet Secretaries have resigned on principle?
Through 1964: one. William Jennings Bryan resigned over Wilson’s efforts to get America in WWI.
(from David Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest)
(5a) Afterword
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(5b) For more information about this topic
To see all posts about our political regime, and how to reform it:
Here are some posts on the FM site about American politics:
- The USA *after* this financial crisis – part I, about politics, 13 October 2008
- What happens to the Republican Party after the election?, 2 November 2008
- Migration from the south into America: new people, new foods, new political systems, 4 November 2008
- America’s elites reluctantly impose a client-patron system, 5 November 2008
- Immigration as a reverse election: our leaders get a new people, 6 November 2008
- R.I.P., G.O.P. – a well-deserved end, 7 November 2008
- America gets ready for new leadership (or is it back to the future?), 14 November 2008
- Conservative reflections about America – starting to use their time in the wilderness to think, 15 November 2008
- Lilliput or America – who has a better way to choose its leaders?, 19 November 2008
- Conservatives should look back before attempting to move forward, 5 December 2008
- The Democrats believe we are stupid. Are they correct?, 19 December 2008
- President Bush gets in a few last blows on America before he leaves, 13 January 2009
- Are the new “tea party” protests a grass roots rebellion or agitprop?, 1 March 2009
- About campaigns for high office in America – we always expect a better result from the same process, 17 June 2009
- Please read this. For the sake of yourself, your children, and their children, 25 June 2009
- More about the tottering structure of the American political regime, 17 August 2009
