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Who decides this moral dilemma?
WHEN Robin Cook's conscience would
not allow him to vote for the invasion of
Iraq, he was forced to resign from the
Cabinet and end his political career on the backbenches.
There was no question of Tony Blair giving his
frontbench colleagues a free vote on the war.
They either accepted the principle of "collective
responsibility" - or they quit.
Now Cabinet ministers will get a free vote on
key aspects of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Bill - making it easier for lesbian couples
to have fertility treatment, so-called saviour
siblings' and, most contentiously, hybrid animalhuman
embryos.
Yet which of these issues creates the greater
moral dilemma? A war which has caused perhaps
one million civilian deaths, or using the
outer, empty shell of animal eggs to try to save
countless lives?
Make no mistake, that is what the most
"moral" aspect of this Bill boils down to - whatever
the outrageous campaign of disinformation
by church leaders in recent days.
The leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland
condemned "experiments of Frankenstein proportions",
as if there was some dastardly department
of health plot to create new life forms.
Our own Bishop of Durham joined in, telling
his flock: "Gender-bending was so last century -
we now do species-bending."
Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, scientists
will use these hybrid embryos - in place of scarce
human eggs - to try to find cures for crippling
diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Motor
Neurone, cancer and heart disease.
More than 99 per cent of the animal's genetic
make-up is removed from the egg before human
DNA is inserted. And the hybrid exists in a laboratory
for just 14 days, to harvest stem cells for
research, before being destroyed.
Going back to my earlier question - whether
Iraq or embryo research poses greater moral
questions - there can be only one answer, surely?
It must be going to war.
Now, I am not suggesting that Catholic Labour
MPs who cannot support these measures should
be literally dragged kicking and screaming into
the Yes' lobby. Of course they shouldn't.
But any MP is already free to vote with their
conscience, if they wish. It simply means, for a
government minister, stepping down and sitting
on the backbenches - just as Robin Cook did.
Instead, Mr Brown has caved in after a concerted
campaign of fire-and-brimstone Easter
sermons, which appeared to replace the traditional
teaching about the Resurrection.
But why should the Church have a monopoly
in deciding what is a moral issue?
TONY Blair was said to have delivered the
speech of his life on the eve of the Iraq War
vote - commanding, Churchillian, "passion in
his voice and fire in his belly" said one newspaper.
But a rather different image was painted this
week by Stockton North MP Frank Cook, as he
remembered the Prime Minister's desperate
last-gasp lobbying for his vote.
Mr Cook said Mr Blair was "clearly in some
distress" during a 25-minute meeting, as he realised
the biggest Labour revolt in history
would mean he would go to war only because of
Tory support.
He told MPs: "Blair said I really need your
support'. He was distressed, he was chalk white
and was visibly shaking."
Later, after the vote was won, Mr Cook remembered:
"Blair was standing against the
bookcase, still white, still quivering."
I wonder if the Blair memoirs will agree?
9:37am Thursday 27th March 2008
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