CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

BUSINESS QUESTION - ANDREW MURRAY - 20 March 2003

BUSINESS QUESTION - ANDREW MURRAY - 20 March 2003

Dr Julian Lewis: May we have a statement from the Home Secretary on the curious case of Mr. Andrew Murray, a former worker for the Soviet Novosti News Agency, currently a member of the Communist Party of Britain - it still exists, believe it or not - and an avowed supporter of nuclear North Korea, who has promised, in a report to the Communist Party of Britain, that next weekend's great anti-war demonstration will have two slogans: not just "STOP THE WAR" but also "BLAIR MUST GO"? Curiously, Mr. Murray is able to make that promise because he, of all men, is the 'Chair' of the Stop the War Coalition, which organises the huge demonstrations to which so many people, perhaps unwittingly, subscribe.

[Ben Bradshaw (Acting Leader of the House): Well, those of us who have taken part in demonstrations or been involved in protest organisations - and, yes, even I have - will have sometimes had strange bedfellows. However, I am sure that the Home Secretary, and those who are involved in the anti-war movement - most of them for good reasons - will be very interested in what the hon. Gentleman has told the House.]

[For the full text of Andrew Murray's Political Report to the March 2003 Communist Party of Britain Executive Committee meeting, click here.]