The Past is Past
Why does past political convictions mean that a politician should resign their post? Surely what someone has believed in the past means little in the present day? Political beliefs change over time. Mine certainly have in the three years since I started blogging.
Yes, a political journey from the IRA to the Conservative and Unionist Party is quite some trek. But obviously one that Maria Gatland has made. In the 1970s, she was involved in IRA gun-running, but in 1972 left the movement, and in 2008 she was a cabinet minister in a Tory council.
It has been more than thirty years since she left the IRA. Surely that is a long enough time for it to not really matter any more?
In my view, almost certainly. After all, thirty years ago I wasn’t even born.
Her biggest crime was to screw up the education system in Croydon.
She should have resigned over the rising violence in our schools.
Her IRA membership was just another symptom of her inability to understand the consequences of her actions.
Comments