The rules about single issue united fronts are pretty straightforward.
This is how Paul Le Blanc described the approach of the SWP (US) when it was contributing to the defeat of American imperialism in Vietnam. “…a non exclusionary united front to organize peaceful, legal mass demonstrations around the “out now” position. While the single-issue focus was linked to other various issues (Black liberation, women’s liberation, labor struggles, opposition to poverty, civil liberties, etc.), in speeches, flyers, and specific contingents in the mass demonstrations, the demonstrations were open to all who agreed on the antiwar perspective, regardless of where they stood on other issues, and regardless of what political party they did or did not support.”
No one can seriously argue that this has not been the same method adopted by the Stop the War Coalition in Britain. And yet you just can’t help feeling that there is something not quite right about inviting a prominent Tory MP to speak at an anti-war event. It turns out that Michael Ancram has better anti-war credentials than most Labour MPs, not a difficult achievement but laudable all the same. He even publicly expressed more hostility to Trident than most Labour MPs but then so did my cats. The trouble is that the Tories have not yet established any sort of track record as being a natural haven of anti-war activists, anti-imperialists or even well-intentioned do-gooders. They are still the party of Thatcher and Churchill and dozens of colonial wars. They will remain so too.
In a month where Cameron’s Tories are painting themselves greener than George Monbiot and reaching out to Black churches on the basis of family values and “morality” you can’t help thinking that Central Office was using Ancram’s evening with the Stop The War Coalition as part of the rebranding exercise. Something along the lines of “we still like most wars but Michael thinks we aren’t going to win this one.” Apart from a stinking cold the main thing that put me off going to the People’s Assembly was the prospect of being talked at from the platform by thirty or forty of the great and the good. Had I been there and still awake when Ancram came on stage I’d have walked out. If there are Conservatives willing to oppose the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq let them prove it by organising and taking part in local and national activities before they are given the opportunity to grandstand at events like the People’s Assembly.
Liam redux 
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