On 7 April, Ron Brown MP was expelled from Parliament for 5 days. A consistent defender of the Glasgow 2, he had raised the matter in the Commons on 11 February. The Solicitor General for Scotland replying to his question lied and stated that the Glasgow 2 had not been charged under the PTA. Ron Brown decided to pursue the matter.
On 7 April, again in the Commons, he demanded to know why the Solicitor General had lied. He was not even allowed to complete his question. This den of liars – the ‘mother of democracies’ – broke into uproar to drown the truth. The speaker demanded that Ron Brown should sit down. He naturally refused and for his pains was expelled from the House. He received no support from the Labour Party benches for his stand on democratic rights for socialist newspaper sellers and as he was ushered out of the House he shouted ‘so much for democracy’. Indeed so much for the democracy of the imperialist House of Commons, when at the merest spark of truth its ranks are closed to snuff it out.
FRFI 10 May/June 1981
