Blair bans dissent.

The Labour Party under Tony Blair's leadership has taken yet another step towards authoritarianism by banning a group of demonstrators from protesting against the Iraq war outside the party's annual conference in Manchester.

Its organiser, Rose Gentle, whose 19-year-old son Gordon was killed in 2004, claimed that councillors wanted to avoid causing Tony Blair embarrassment.

She said yesterday: "They just don't want us there. There are only about 10 military families taking part and we were just going to camp outside the conference building for three days.

"We've done it in Downing Street and Trafalgar Square, so I don't see why we can't do it in Manchester. The police have no problem - it's just the council."

Nor have the protests been limited to the protesters themselves.

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, said: "As long as there is any debate in this country, people will discuss the Iraq war.

"How can a foreign war fought in the name of freedom justify such crushing of freedom and debate at home? Let the grieving parents have their protest."

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: "The right to protest is at the very heart of democracy. No government should have the audacity to curtail dissent.

"Outlawing protest in Parliament Square, criminalising trespass on a barrage of "designated" sites, limits on the right of assembly - this is not the Britain we want."

And on the same day that we hear of this, there is now talk that the Labour Party are seeking to expel Claire Short who yesterday announced her decision to resign from the Party in "shame" over it's recent actions.

Short stated in her resignation speech:

There are many good things that New Labour has done since 1997, mostly things Labour committed itself to before the New Labour coup, but I... am profoundly ashamed of the Government. Blair's craven support for the extremism of US neoconservative foreign policy has exacerbated the danger of terrorism and the instability and suffering of the Middle East. He has dishonoured the UK...

However, the passage her critics are clinging to is:

The change we need is a hung parliament which will bring in electoral reform... Labour would have one-third of the seats in the Commons, the Tories something similar, and we would be likely to see some Greens and others.

The Chief Whip has warned me that I cannot recommend a hung parliament because it would mean Labour MPs losing their seats. I am standing down so that I can speak my truth."

So, Short has said that she wants to stand down in order to call for a hung Parliament. Many Labour MP's appear not to be content with that.

The Chief Whip, Jacqui Smith, announced yesterday that she is lodging a complaint with Labour's national executive, arguing that Ms Short has broken a rule which bars any party member from encouraging electors to vote against a Labour candidate.

The Labour Party under Blair appears to allow no dissenting voices of any kind. When I was growing up, dissenting voices and alternative arguments were the bread and butter of political discourse. There now appears to be a concerted effort for only voices that collude with one another to be heard. Indeed, when one looks at both Labour and the Tories as they vie for the mythical middle ground, it is very hard to find any actual difference between either of them when it comes to policy.

Can anyone be surprised that voters are abstaining from elections when political discourse is being conducted in such an anodyne manner?

Arguments and disagreements should be at the heart of politics. Therein lies the passion that forces people to engage.

In Blair's Britain, dissenting voices must be kept out of sight.

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