Hiroshima Day 2005: Oh dear Don what would Daddy say?

In the early 1960s, The National Committee of the New Zealand Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (NZ-CND) included none other than a Reverend Alan Brash, father of Don.

On left, Rev. Alan Brash marches in Christchurch on Hiroshima Day 1962.

And what would Brash Senior make of the National party policy "to enhance relationships with our traditional allies" and Don's infamous quip that the ban on nuke ships would be 'gone by lunchtime' if he ever became Prime Minister?

As a leading member of CND in the early sixties, I doubt Mr Brash is all that impressed with Don's mate from school, Lockwood Smith, on hearing that he asked whether it would be "worthwhile for a United States think tank to assist with a public campaign" on the nuclear ships issue. In any case, Mr Brash doesn't think Lockwood sounds like a very honest boy, given that he denied using the words 'think tank' on one radio station, while admitting on another radio station he may have done so (Press, 4/8/05, A4).

On left, Rev. Alan Brash marches in Christchurch on Hiroshima Day 1962, accompanied by leading New Zealand Peace Activist Lincoln Efford. There could not be a better example of how a person can be judged by the company they keep.

Don Brash is now leader of the conservative National party.

Categories: Nuclear, Antiwar, Politics, Peace, Brash