Conservative Party Condottieri

With that sober and statesmanlike sense of responsibilty which we have come to expect from the régime of the National Johnson, the Minister for Wogs, Flags and Photography trilled that she would "absolutely" support amateur soldiers toddling off to do their bit in Ukraine. The proclamation prompted one or two misgivings from that wet and wimpish wing of the Conservative Party which doesn't mind depriving groomed teenagers of their citizenship but thinks encouraging unpaid mercenaries is going a bit too far. A statute passed in 1870 forbids enlistment in a foreign army for the purpose of fighting a government with which Britain is not at war; that law was not used against those who fought against Franco's coup d'état in Spain, which may seem odd given that Franco's treason was exactly the kind of medicine our more forthright commentators like to prescribe in the event of a leftist government being elected in Britain. Three-quarters of a century ago, however, to Neville Chamberlain's everlasting shame, the discrepancy between prosecuting people for fighting Franco and then ordering them to fight Hitler was evident even to a Conservative administration. Nevertheless, how many among the more gung-ho citizens of our free, fearless and principled nation will be taking advantage of the Foreign Secretary's support remains as yet unclear.