I I'm guessing that there's not many
Tories in this audience I might be wrong
but that's my guess and I sometimes
think that Alex salmon is a stuck record
talking about the Tories so I want you
to remember
something I want you to
remember the dark
Decades of the thater idea and I want
you to remember how that
came
in
1979 35 years
ago a cold winter
night when James cagan's government was
getting stronger the economy was getting
stronger the currency was getting
stronger the violance of payments was
getting stronger and labor had a plan I
was a labor organizer at the very time
the if that government could only have
survived until later that
year or early the next year a labor
government could have been reelected
under James cigan who was one of the
more popular Prime Ministers we ever had
I happen to think he was a fine man I
knew him well what
happened the SNP tabled a vote of no
confidence in the labor government in
1979 the Tories seeing as a canary in
the
mine
realized that with the snp's support
they could actually get caligan out in
the winter of
1979 and so they tabled a motion of no
confidence and at
10:00 staggering out of the House of
Commons bars because was for the 11 SN
pmps every night was Bun's night believe
me every night was Bun's
night staggering out of the House of
Commons bars swaying in the non-existent
breeze they followed Margaret Thatcher
into the division Lobby to defeat the
labor government provoke a general
election which Thatcher won and then
destroyed Scotland destroyed industrial
England laid waste to the country
Millions unemployed from which we've
never recovered so the next time you
hear Alex salmon and the SNP talking
about the torist remember who brought
Margaret ther to power here I just had
one just one one we foot on to that
because they like to talk about oil you
know and reports and things like that
from the 70s but you know when they did
that in
1979 they did so in the full knowledge
that the T Manifesto which was obviously
going to be introduced as a result of
her actions included the abolition of
the British national Oil Corporation the
state so now when they talk about Norway
the Norwegian oil model is based on stat
oil a state Oil Company the British oil
model under labor was based in the
British national Oil Corporation in 1979
the S&P voted with the Tories to bring
down the labor government in the certain
knowledge that the British national Oil
Corporation would be privatized and at
that point the whole structure of the
Nory industry changed so beware the
crocodile tears they share the
responsibility for ensuring that Britain
went on a totally different path in the
North Sea from
Norway brilliant and one last point then
before we break and Willie mckelvie can
bear me out on this more
than other than my mother anyone alive
today and I'm seeing this as somebody
was kicked out the labor
party yeah the they kicked me out the
labor party and abolished my
constituency just in
case everything that's good that we've
ever
had we got through
Labor everything
everything not everything that labor did
was good some of the things labor did
was bad but everything that was good we
got through labor labor in the workplace
through the Trade union
labor in the town hall or labor in
government I was born in a slum 12a
athel Street in an
attic the roof sloping so
sharply that I couldn't that couldn't
fit a CAU in the attic I slept as a baby
in a
drawer in one room an outside toilet
shared I know you think it's funny but
it's true sh an outside toilet shared
with five other families the seat was
always
warm that slum was cleared by labor we
moved into a brand new Council house
given to us by labor I had a school at
the bottom of the road built by labor a
park at the top of the road built by
labor my father and Willie mckelvie
worked in a factory NCR from Dayton Ohio
sent to dunde ordered to dunde by labor
I had a Health Center at the end of the
road created by the labor invention
unique in the world at that time of a
National Health Service I got free sco
milk I got free orange juice free cod
liver oil free malol to build me up I'm
going to need to stop taking
that all of it from labor if I'd been as
clever as Brian I would have gone to a
free University and been given a grant
to enjoy it with from labor so did any
of that come from the SNP the SNP
opposed all of these things in fact long
before there ever was
oil they wanted us to be
independent when Hitler well it's a fact
when Hitler was at the channel ports the
leaders of the SNP were
ined because they said it was England's
War they didn't give a damn about the
unity of the working people now the
point I'm making is this all these good
things we got through labor but they
were only possible because we were a big
nation of tens of millions they wouldn't
have been possible as a small country of
5 million you need a critical mass of
people in order to confront
capital in order to order companies
where they must locate in order to build
a National Health Service and all the
other good things that we've got don't
throw it all away in September that's
what I'm here to say to you we'll be
back in 10 minutes thanks very
much