Saturday, May 26, 2007
An Unwelcome Tribute (or: How Stupid is Margaret Hodge?)
Most politicians would be delighted to see a comment piece in the morning paper telling them that they had the right policy ideas.
This morning, Margaret Hodge must have choked on her cornflakes, because the person telling her "I agree with her" and she was saying "what we were saying five years ago" was none other than the leader of the BNP.
Let this be a lesson - pandering to extremists, however well-intentioned, will always play into their hands. Mrs Hodge's suggestion that "British people" should be given priority over "migrants" for Council housing was always straying on the wrong side of acceptability.
Just compare that with the measured argument of so-called "Red Ken" (who is starting to sounds more like a liberal with each passing year).
Hodge, of course, has form on this. In the wake of the BNP's gains in East London in 2006 (which saw them become the second largest party in her own constituency) she was roundly criticised for talking them up before the election. During the campaign, she had said that 80% of white families were "tempted" by the BNP, a quote they exploited ruthlessly - indeed, the BNP's Richard Barnbrook made a point of thanking her for her "beautiful gift".
She could be forgiven for feeling slightly foolish for being outwitted twice by a party famous for bad publicity and public naïvety.
As the saying goes, fool me once...
This morning, Margaret Hodge must have choked on her cornflakes, because the person telling her "I agree with her" and she was saying "what we were saying five years ago" was none other than the leader of the BNP.
Let this be a lesson - pandering to extremists, however well-intentioned, will always play into their hands. Mrs Hodge's suggestion that "British people" should be given priority over "migrants" for Council housing was always straying on the wrong side of acceptability.
Just compare that with the measured argument of so-called "Red Ken" (who is starting to sounds more like a liberal with each passing year).
Hodge, of course, has form on this. In the wake of the BNP's gains in East London in 2006 (which saw them become the second largest party in her own constituency) she was roundly criticised for talking them up before the election. During the campaign, she had said that 80% of white families were "tempted" by the BNP, a quote they exploited ruthlessly - indeed, the BNP's Richard Barnbrook made a point of thanking her for her "beautiful gift".
She could be forgiven for feeling slightly foolish for being outwitted twice by a party famous for bad publicity and public naïvety.
As the saying goes, fool me once...
# posted by Joe Taylor @ 10:49 am 
Comments:
Ken Livingstone sounding like a liberal! Have you lost your mind?
I think you may be taking his sentiments about this out of context (the context being his views on just about everything else).
I think you may be taking his sentiments about this out of context (the context being his views on just about everything else).
See, I may missed out a few important words there - "compared to the rest of the Labour Party."
And I'm speaking purely socially - I'm certainly aware that he's no economic liberal!
That having been said, Ken has quite often come across as a decent human being when he's opened his mouth recently. Maybe I just haven't seen enough of him - or perhaps not living under the yoke of his GLA policies inclines me a bit more to say nice things about him. ;-)
And I'm speaking purely socially - I'm certainly aware that he's no economic liberal!
That having been said, Ken has quite often come across as a decent human being when he's opened his mouth recently. Maybe I just haven't seen enough of him - or perhaps not living under the yoke of his GLA policies inclines me a bit more to say nice things about him. ;-)
actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.
# posted by 
: 6:49 am
: 6:49 am
actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.
# posted by : 5:21 pm
: 5:21 pm
actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.
# posted by : 8:27 pm
: 8:27 pm Post a Comment
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