A Politician with a Conscience - STRANGE BUT TRUE!

[flamesong]

MP resigns post over Middle East
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4777677.stm

Jim Sheridan is MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North
A Labour MP has resigned his position as a parliamentary private secretary to the defence team in protest at government policy on the Middle East.

The 52-year-old, who has been an MP in the area since 2001, told Sky News that he believed the Palestinian situation had been put on the back burner.

He added: "I don't expect my resignation will have any significant impact on the prime minister's objectives in the Middle East, which I genuinely believe to be honourable on his part, but I don't believe they reflect the core values of the Labour Party or indeed the country."

His decision to quit came as more than 130 MPs - around half of them Labour - issued a demand for a recall of parliament to discuss the Lebanon crisis.

However, Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells said summoning MPs back to Westminster would do little to affect the situation in the region.

Jim Sheridan is MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North.

[Pincher]

Junior ministers rarely resign because their consciences are bothering them. Doubtless, the next few days and weeks will throw more light on this rather odd decision.

It will be interesting to see whether Sheridan's 'self sacrifice' is rewarded with a seat in a future Brown cabinet (assuming of course the one eyed jock(ass) evades the clutches of Jonathan Powell).