Greater Manchester CND and Greater Manchester Stop the War were disappointed to hear that George Bush Senior has pulled out of a trip to Manchester because of a lack of interest. Ironically, the Stop the War Coalition were definitely interested and were planning to give Bush a warm welcome as he arrived for his keynote motivational speech at the Manchester International Convention Centre on June 8th.

He was due to be a guest of Regional International Business Conventions Ltd and was billed to star alongside that other noted luminary of the motivational scene, light entertainer Tom O’Connor. Previous keynote speakers have included Colin Powell and F W De Clerk.

Inspired by the acres of negative coverage and enormous policing bills caused by US Secretary of State Condi Rice’s recent visit to the North West, groups had hoped to take advantage of the visit to highlight Bush’s dreadful record, which includes:

Defending Richard Nixon throughout the Watergate scandal as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee; being the Vice President during the Iran-Contra affair (of which he denied all knowledge); as President, leading the invasion of Panama in 1989, deposing one-time CIA agent Manuel Noriega; orchestrating the first Gulf War, where he encouraged Iraqi Shias to rebel against Saddam Hussein only to withdraw troops and leave the dissenters to face execution; vomiting on the President of Japan; and pioneering the North American Free Trade Agreement, forcing American jobs out of the country and leaving Mexican farmers destitute.

A spokesperson for Regional International Business Conventions Ltd stated that the conference had been cancelled due to ‘a lack of interest’. Had Stop the War known we would have gladly filled the hall for them. However, all is not lost as Bush Senior is still billed to speak in Harrogate on June 9th where he can expect to receive as warm a reception as he would have done in Manchester.

Doug Weir from GM&D CND said: “We are all terribly disappointed by this news. As a self-proclaimed City of Peace, Manchester seemed the ideal spot for Mr Bush to visit and we were looking forward to showing him a good time. It’s a shame that the people of Manchester weren’t interested enough in his views to show him the courtesy of attending his speech.”