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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Tam Dalyell: Labour MP who died this week said MPs should 'have the balls' to block Brexit | Tam Dalyell: Labour MP who died this week said MPs should 'have the balls' to block Brexit |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Tam Dalyell said MPs should “have the balls” to vote honestly on Brexit in a candid interview less than eight months before he died. | Tam Dalyell said MPs should “have the balls” to vote honestly on Brexit in a candid interview less than eight months before he died. |
| The stalwart Labour backbencher, who spent 43 years as an MP and died yesterday, said politicians were being cowards if they did not vote with their guts. | The stalwart Labour backbencher, who spent 43 years as an MP and died yesterday, said politicians were being cowards if they did not vote with their guts. |
| His comments, aired on 29 June, six days after the referendum on the UK leaving the EU, are particularly poignant this week after Jeremy Corbyn announced a three-line whip urging his MPs to vote in favour of Article 50. | |
| In a previously unseen edit, released yesterday by BBC journalist David Grossman, who interviewed him for Newsnight, Mr Dalyell tests the water before going on record. | In a previously unseen edit, released yesterday by BBC journalist David Grossman, who interviewed him for Newsnight, Mr Dalyell tests the water before going on record. |
| “Am I entitled to say that MPs should have the ‘balls’ or should we discuss the ‘guts’?” asks the 84-year-old. | |
| Mr Grossman says: “Balls is good, balls is fine,” and a colleague chimes in: “Absolutely.” | |
| Mr Dalyell continues: “MPs should have the balls to use their best judgement because Parliament is sovereign and if their best judgement, [which] as I understand it is the best judgement of 450-more, is that Britain should remain in the European community. | |
| “They should have the balls to say so and vote accordingly. This is a matter of cowardice if they don’t.” | “They should have the balls to say so and vote accordingly. This is a matter of cowardice if they don’t.” |
| Mr Corbyn, who has insisted the Labour Party would not block the triggering of Article 50, is facing a shadow Cabinet rebellion after ordering MPs to vote accordingly. | |
| Any minister or shadow minister who breaks the three-line whip – so called because the instruction is underlined three times on paper – is typically forced to resign from the front bench. | |
| Shadow early years minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned over the dispute already. | Shadow early years minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned over the dispute already. |
| Mr Dalyell was a keen pro-European, anti-imperialist and anti-war MP. | Mr Dalyell was a keen pro-European, anti-imperialist and anti-war MP. |
| He famously and repeatedly asked subsequent prime ministers the so-called “West Lothian question”, which argued against giving Scottish MPs votes on English-only matters. | |
| Mr Corbyn paid tribute to a “titan of parliamentary scrutiny” while Nicola Sturgeon said he was a “real giant of Scottish politics”. | Mr Corbyn paid tribute to a “titan of parliamentary scrutiny” while Nicola Sturgeon said he was a “real giant of Scottish politics”. |