Open letter to Des Browne

Oct 10 2008

DEAR defenceless Mr Browne,

It will be seen and believed by many that you were partly to blame for your own demise in your role as defence secretary. It all began when you agreed to do three different jobs in parliament, and said that you would rise an hour earlier and remain an hour later in the evening to complete these tasks.

And then your parting words when you were removed and given the bullet by Gordon were as follows: that your dismissal will be seen as an insult to the armed forces, aye that will be right, as the saying goes, tell that to the Marines, Des. The real insult to the troops was when they discovered that your behaviour was more fitting of a defence lawyer than a Defence Secretary.

But when you went seeking a high court order to ban the coroners from making critical comments about the MOD, about the faulty equipment that was being issued to the troops in the front line and regarding your position as Scottish Secretary, it was not the Taliban in far off lands that brought about your downfall, but the failure by yourself and David Cairns to control and halt the progress in Scotland being made by the SNP here in that Labour stronghold namely Glasgow East.

But the good news is that you will now have plenty of time now to sort out your constituents’ problems.

– Hugh Houston, Kilmarnock.