Brian is Right!!

Many people should take note from Brian:

"I consider loyalty in politics a fundamental rule of the game."

To me, principles without loyalty is stupid politics.

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Mulroney denies backing party switch

By BILL RODGERS, SUN OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWA -- Former prime minister Brian Mulroney denies he told Belinda Stronach he supported her in her decision to bolt the Conservative party earlier this week.

Stronach implied in at least one interview shortly after her appointment to the Martin cabinet that she spoke to Mulroney before breaking the news publicly.

Stronach told CBC's Newsworld, "Brian said to me, 'I'm your friend. This is a personal matter, it's not about politics and I support you.' "

Through former senior aide Marjory LeBreton, Mulroney said Stronach called him at his Montreal home after the announcement and at no time did he say he supported her move to the Liberals.

"He simply said to her that she had made her own decision and she would have to live with it," LeBreton, a Conservative senator, said. She added: "He also said something to the effect that he considered her a friend and wished her well."

An incensed LeBreton, who spoke to the former Conservative prime minister Tuesday night, said, "He did not say he would support her in this decision."

The Newmarket-Aurora MP said in a second interview that she called Mulroney to let him know what her "rationale" was for jumping ship to the Martin Liberals. She repeated that the retired PM expressed his support as a friend.

The former PM was instrumental in getting Stronach to run for the leadership of the new Conservative party last year.

He found out about this week's defection the same way Conservative Leader Stephen Harper did - in a phone call from deputy leader Peter MacKay, Stronach's ex-boyfriend.

Meanwhile, another Mulroney spokesman, Luc Lavoie, said the former PM, who is convalescing from a serious illness at his home in Montreal, was telephoned three times by Stronach after she announced her decision, and that the first two times he declined to take her call.

During the third call, he suggested her move was disloyal.

Lavoie quoted Mulroney as telling her, "I consider loyalty in politics a fundamental rule of the game."