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this is a matter of some importance to

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me I alluded to the fact that I had

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joined the Labour Party in 1967 that's

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50 years ago that matters a great deal

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to me it mattered a great deal to me to

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become a ward secretary a ward chairman

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the political education officer the vice

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chairman the Chairman the full-time

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secretary organiser of the Labour Party

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mattered a great deal to me at the age

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of 26 to be the youngest ever chairman

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of the entire Labour Party in Scotland

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when the Labour Party in Scotland was

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something I can tell you it mattered a

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lot to me to be a Labour Member of

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Parliament I was proud of that

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appellation more proud than you can

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imagine

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to be a Labour Member of Parliament was

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the most important thing that I had or

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ever had and so when the crisis with

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Iraq broke what was I to do I knew the

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truth and I knew that Tony Blair and his

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cutter II were lying

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I knew the facts and knew the falsehoods

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so I faced dear listener a very great

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dilemma indeed did I suppress the truth

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did I keep silent about the facts did I

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downplay or blunt my criticism of the

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liars and the purveyors of falsehood in

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the hope that I could continue as a

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Labour MP well anyone who knows me

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knows that there's only one way I could

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resolve that dilemma and so I embarked

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upon a course of action that I cannot

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regret because to have done otherwise

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would have been an offense against my

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conscience and as someone who believes

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in the Judgment Day the last election

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day I knew that I would have to account

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for what I did and what I didn't do

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before the Lord as everyone must if you

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believe the things I believe so I said

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it like it was I told the truth the

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whole truth and nothing but the truth I

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confronted Tony Blair though I was a

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mere backbencher I had no choice there

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was no one else to do it for me mr.

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Blair had gone too far he could twist

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and cheat and all the rest and one had a

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judgment to make as to whether one could

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remain in the labor party in the face of

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all this twisting and cheating but he

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went too far when he plunged the whole

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world into a cataclysmic war on a fake

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prospectus and I could do no other than

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oppose him there was no one else who

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could do it better than me

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if mr. Benn had still been in Parliament

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he would have been that leader but he

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wasn't and therefore only I who knew all

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the facts more facts than anyone else

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only I who had the ability thanks to God

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and the kissing of the Blarney Stone to

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speak it persuasively eloquently

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powerfully only I had that power so what

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could I do

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I couldn't run away from the battlefield

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I had to stay on it exposed isolated as

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I was and I was proved right

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everything I said turned out to be right

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everything Tony Blair said turned out to

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be wrong turned out to be false

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where it wasn't a deliberate falsehood

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and I have been in exile all these years

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since 2003 until 2017 I have been in

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exile in the desert of politics sure

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I've twice twice beaten Tony Blair's

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Labour Party in parliamentary elections

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and I can show you my scars but it's a

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very tough tough wicket not least

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because I don't want to be doing it I

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don't want to fight the Labour Party any

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longer my friend is the leader of the

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Labour Party my friend for almost 40

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years is the leader of the Labour Party

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and for the last two years he's having

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to be fighting for his life fighting to

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stay on his horse whilst all around him

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the backstabbers were trying to destroy

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him and now he's through all of that now

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he's in command now he's changing the

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Labour conference the Labour executive

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now Jeremy Corbyn is in control and I

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don't intend to fight the Labour Party

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anymore

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you