A Letter to a Land Down Under

Following the decision of the Labor Party in Australia to pass a motion endorsing what they call ‘the reunification of Ireland’ (actually it means the break up of the United Kingdom in legal and constitutional terms), I decided this day to pen a letter to the appropriate department at the Australian High Commission in London. It says….

’23/08/2023

FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC BRANCH

To Whom It May Concern:

As a former graduate in international relations from the University of Leeds, one of the cornerstones of international diplomacy is that governments or governing parties do not question the constitutional integrity of other states so long as those states are legitimate in international law. To do so creates an extremely bad precedent, which has the potential to not only poison relations between countries but also to destabilise the internal politics of the country concerned.

Thus, I was saddened and disappointed to see the Labor Party in Australia support a resolution at its conference calling ‘for the reunification of Ireland’. This effectively means that the constitutional integrity and principle of consent of a part of one of Australia’s key historical, political, cultural and military allies amounts to nothing as far as the political party currently constituting Australia’s sovereign government is concerned. I wonder how Australians would feel if the UK Conservatives of the Labour Party here passed a resolution supporting the constitutional dismemberment of Australia? Or perhaps a resolution calling for the entire continent to be gifted back to its indigenous Aboriginal peoples? I suspect there would be more than a little annoyance at such a blatant interference in your internal politics. The same applies here. The constitutional composition of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is NO BUSINESS of anyone in Australia, any more than the legal integrity of your federation is the business of any person in these islands.

For a governing party is a principal UK ally to take such a position is bad enough. To do so at the behest of a party (Sinn Fein) that still revels in, and glorifies, the actions of terrorists who murdered, maimed and kidnapped people in the British Isles for 3 decades defies rational moral explanation. Perhaps if Australian citizens and towns had been subject to – inter alia – maiming, kidnapping, cold blooded murder, pub bombings, random executions and mass incineration for thirty years, the Labor Party there wouldn’t be so quick to take up the position of handmaiden for their constitutionally destructive crusade. Lest we forget that two citizens of Australia – Stephen Melrose and Nick Spanos – were also murdered by the Provisional IRA, a terrorist organisation still intact and still inextricably linked to Sinn Fein according to both UK and Irish policing and intelligence sources.

I would appreciate a response to this letter, hopefully an assuring one whereby the Australian government is mindful and respective of the UK’s composition, notwithstanding ill-mannered resolutions at part conferences. The future of Northern Ireland is a matter purely for those who live there and for the government of the UK which has sovereign authority there. Nobody else!!!

Yours truly

ANDREW MCCANN’

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