Don't Look Now,Gordon Brown Induces Labour's Next Crisis

After having done a U-turn on the 10p debacle it seems Gordon Brown may be moving into another storm of his own making.having watched the lengthy and informed debate
on the human embryo and fertilisation bill in the house of commons two things became
very apparent.firstly parliamentarians are at their best when they are not forced to slavishly tow the party line as is usually the case on matters of conscience. secondly most speakers agreed that the bill needed much more time.after all,there are four seperate items that have to be voted on.Hybrid embryos(mixing human and animal genetic material),saviour siblings(allowing couples to choose embryos that may best develop to help a sick elder sibling)The right to omit the genetic father's name from the birth certificate (in cases where there is a sperm donor)and finally dropping the legal abortion cut off date from the current 24 weeks to 21 weeks.controversially Gordon Brown has allowed a free vote on 3 out 4 of these measures.the exception being the reduction of 24 week late abortion threshhold.You can see from graphic photos on this website that at 24 weeks the child is not a 'clump of cells' but a near fully formed baby.It should be noted that the oppositon benches have allowed a free vote on all sections of the bill.Given that there have been babies who have survived at 21 weeks from a moral perspective this is nothing short of infanticide.It also continues the ridiculous scenario where doctors in one part of a hospital may be trying to save a baby of the same age as one being aborted in another part of the same hospital.Morally this is reprehensible but politically it shows one of Gordon Brown's fundamental flaws.namely his natural knack to isolate pockets of the electorate with the very ease with which his predecessor used to win them over.