Abortion not a poll issue - Blair

Tony Blair does not believe abortion should be an election issue, arguing it is a matter for individual conscience.

The prime minister's spokesman set out Mr Blair's view after the top Catholic in England and Wales backed Michael Howard's stance on abortions.

The Tory leader supports a reduction in the legal limit from 24 weeks to 20 and has said current rules are "tantamount to abortion on demand".

The prime minister has made it clear he has no plans to the change the law.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Well it seems that Mr.Blair does not want to have religious issues being brought up for the election. Recently, some sectors of society have questioned if the government should focus on more religious issues (stated on BBC 2 radio).

I think this is just political opportunism from some......and a really poor go at it at that.

(Remember when the attack was coming from the other direction, all that 'Rev Blair' stuff not so long ago?

Is he a loopy RC-ish fundy or a God-less pro-abortion heathen, hmmm?

It is, IMO, incredibly ridiculous.

Blair is quite right on this IMO. It is a matter of personal private belief.

)

Howard & Co. are trying to learn from people like Rove in the US administration.
They think if they can collect all the little Alf Garnets and the religious zealots up and down the UK they might stand a hope of getting thrashed slightly less than they would/will otherwise be in the coming general election.

Sadly for them (and the strange alliance of RC's and right-wing evangelicals who'll go for this......but only those who already go for that kind of right-wing 'vision' anyway) the wider British public don't really like the mix of politics and religion.

Religion is a matter of private belief and we are in the UK, IMO quite rightly, are pretty certain to keep it that way.

We shall all see in a matter of a few more weeks if the pundits are right about may 5th.

[edit on 16-3-2005 by sminkeypinkey]