Cameron’s Lithuanian ally: Children need protection from ‘evil’ of homosexuality
Last month on Liberal Conspiracy I exposed how the Conservatives have allied themselves in the European Parliament with Valdemar Tomasevski, a Lithuanian MEP who has described homosexuality as a ‘perversion‘, and who voted in his national parliament earlier this year for a draconian new law banning public discussion of homosexuality.
Today, on Left Foot Forward, Will Straw publishes striking new evidence of Tomasevski’s homophobia:
David Cameron’s Lithuanian partner has revealed his homophobic views in an email to Left Foot Forward. Valdemar Tomasevski MEP – leader of the ‘Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania’ and a member of David Cameron’s alliance of far right Europeans – describes homosexuality as an “evil” from which children should be protected and says “we cannot allow these people to claim … that homosexuality is normal.”
Tomasevski’s anti-gay beliefs were set out in an email to Straw after Left Foot Forward requested an English translation of a Lithuanian interview appearing on the MEP’s website. The email, which also describes Tomasevski’s opposition to almost all abortions, says:
“I accept existence of homosexuals – we are tolerant state. But homosexuality is also a very good example of the wrong understanding of tolerance. We have to respect every human being, including those who experience sexual attraction to the same-sex.
But we cannot allow these people to claim and explain even to children at kindergarten that homosexuality is normal and encourage people to become homosexuals. Those who talk about tolerance should understand that and respect the constitutional right to protecting children from evil.”
Daniel Hannan: building a base for proto-Poujadism
The period of post-Thatcher consensus is not an era characterised by ideological politicians; both the hard left and the hard right have long lacked a substantial figurehead of the intellectual depth and popular appeal once personified by the likes of Tony Benn and Enoch Powell.
This is an important reason why politics today is less political than politics 20 or 30 years ago. Without any real clash of ideas, managerialism is triumphant and apathy replaces polarisation. Same shit, different sock puppet.
Surveying the contemporary British socialist scene, I don’t see anybody with the capacity to step up to the plate. Indeed, no one to my mind comes even close.
But an increasingly obvious choice for the serious right has is now emerging in the shape of MEP Daniel Hannan, who last night stepped down from the Tory frontbench in the European Parliament.
Killing Iraqis with Dowsing Rods
I’m not generally one for being cryptic, but to avoid giving Sunny ulcers, if you want to find out exactly how British companies have been making millions of dollars selling dowsing rods as ‘explosives detectors’ to countries including Iraq, Thailand and the Philippines then you’ll need to pop over to the Ministry and read…
British Company sells $60,000 Dowsing Rods to Iraq as ‘Explosives Detectors’
UPDATE
You can now see one of these detectors in action in this video which shows a street in Thailand being verified as explosive-free by Thai security forces using one of these devices.
Bradshaw’s support for electoral reform welcome
Campaigners pressing for a vote on electoral reform have welcomed news from Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw that “it would be a missed opportunity not to have a referendum on Election Day.”
In an interview with the New Statesman the Bradshaw broke with the government’s stated policy of pushing talk of a referendum into the next parliament. Bradshaw said “if we’re serious about the voters as grown-ups, then let them decide, and I think they’d be perfectly capable of making a decision.”
The Vote for a Change campaign and the Electoral Reform Society, that have been leading calls for vote at the next election, have said “there’s all to play for.”
The campaign is towing a 10 foot effigy of Sir Peter Viggers Duck Island to the Commons terraces for Bonfire Night as a symbol of how little has changed in the struggle to bring real accountability to Westminster.
Dr Ken Ritchie from the Electoral Reform Society said:
Ben Bradshaw’s comments are welcome news for all those who’ve realised our politics had reached its sell by date. We are pleased to see a cabinet minister prepared to question both the timing and system on offer in Brown’s conference pledge.
Ben Bradshaw has recognised the Alternative Vote is a step back from Labour’s early pledges to transform our politics. We need this debate in government. It sends a strong message to all reformers that there’s all to play for.
Willie Sullivan from the Vote for a Change campaign said:
It seems nothing has really changed at Westminster, but by showing his willingness to act on reform on Election Day Brown can turn the page. Brown can swap words for decisive action. He can show he’s prepared to let the voters decide the future of their parliament when MPs gather for the Queen’s Speech on November 18th.
The Vote for a Change campaign will be towing a 10 foot DuckIsland to the Commons terraces today to underline how little has changed since MPs left for recess. The effigy will be burnt after dark.
From a press release
Will D. Miliband lead European foreign policy?
Politics.co.uk reports today:
David Miliband has accepted the European foreign policy minister role he was tipped for, a Labour source has told politics.co.uk.
The foreign secretary could announce his new position within the next fortnight, triggering a by-election in his South Shields constituency seat which might be contested by Peter Mandelson.
The business secretary could even take over leadership of the party after what is widely anticipated to be a dire election result for Gordon Brown and Labour.
Lord Mandelson is expected to look after the leadership for a single term, before handing power over to Mr Miliband, the source claimed.
Political Betting claims that 3/1 odds are being offered for Miliband as ‘high representative’.
Power 2010 attacks party leaders on reform
Pam Giddy, director of Power2010, has written an open letter to the three main party leaders saying that the reforms proposed by Sir Christopher Kelly are not enough.
In an email sent today she said:
The politicians have had their chance to change: but they’ve failed. I’ve just written a letter to the three Party leaders telling them that it’s now time for the people to be given a genuine say in how our democracy is run.
If you’re fed up with seeing MPs arguing over their second homes and the right to give jobs to their nearest and dearest, while our public services face severe cuts, people are losing their jobs and homes and struggling to repay their mortgages – then you should sign it too:
http://www.power2010.org.uk/notenough
We’ll deliver all of the signatures to the Party leaders – and friend I want your name to be there as well.
Guy Aitchison has also blogged about it.
Read and co-sign the letter from here.
This fracture is of David Cameron’s making
So whatever happened to the Conservative Party’s willingness to debate and tolerate differences of opinion? At first sign of trouble it vanishes. The fall-out from the signing of the Lisbon Treaty has Tim Montgomerie planning to “take a vow of silence on Europe” and Iain Dale brands dissenters as “self-indulgent”.
Rather coincidentally, WSJ blogger Iain Martin says Cameron’s message to MPs can be summarised as: “Shut up. The Conservative Party is as little as 16 weeks away from power. Don’t cock it up.” — of the few to have the courage of his convictions, Daniel Hannan MEP has resigned.
But the real question is: why did this split take so long to come up at all? Did the Tories really think Cameron would have withdrawn entirely from the Lisbon Treaty or from the EU? The new EU policy is a joke for precisely that reason: there has never been a coherent plan hatched by Cameron to deal with Europe. All they did was try to ride the populist tabloid outrage at Euro-myths.
Sunder Katwala on Next Left points out that in many ways the Euro-sceptics never understood Cameron’s instincts. Now they’re finding out why the schism was inevitable.
But it took so long because the media gave Cameron a free ride. No one properly questioned went through the scenarios and seriously asked what Cameron would do if the Lisbon Treaty was ratified or wasn’t. And now when the question is forced, Cameron is in trouble. Now, even his allies admit the trumped-up Sovereignty Bill will be “meaningless”.
The right-wing French government is calling Cameron’s moves “pathetic”. That about sums it up.
Has @NadineDorriesMP blocked you on Twitter?
I have a confession to make: Nadine Dorries MP has blocked me on Twitter.
I don’t know when exactly it happened, but it could have been when I mentioned the fact that she was now employing her second daughter at the office.
It turns out I’m not the only one. Ellie Gellard tweeted this earlier today:
am feeling slight relief now that @nadinedorriesmp has blocked me, she’s even blocked Torie. Was wondering what I was doing wrong…
about 1 hour ago from web
But it turns out even Ellie and I are not exclusive to the club either.
The Mid-Bedfordshire Tory MP has also blocked the Libdem councillor Sara Bedford for unknown reasons.
And there’s more!
Various other tweeters including @MichaelCox and @jockso and @snookcocker @bloggerheads and @BristolRed have all reported being blocked by Nadine Dorries MP.
This is getting out of hand!
Of course, we can simply go to her Twitter page and read the hilarious things she posts, but it’s not the same is it?
I thought Tories weren’t into banning and censorship? I haven’t blocked anyone and I even have BNP sympathisers following me.
Or perhaps Tories are sensitive souls. Who knows?
Have you been blocked by Nadine Dorries MP? Let us know. Perhaps we could start a petition…
A Whiff of the Branding Iron
Perhaps the most perceptive commentary I’ve ever read on the subject of public school education came not from an educationalist or politician but from what I suppose could be called a ‘socialite’. She said, in an otherwise typically fatuous interview, that the problem she had with public schoolboys was that their education gave them such a ‘gloss’ on their character that it could take ten years to realise just how stupendously thick they really were.
I’ve had my suspicions about the Tory’s Shadow Justice Minister, Dominic Grieve, for some time. Since, in fact, the publication in the Telegraph of a commentary on the always fractious subject of crime statistics in which he claimed that:
The BCS is a poor measure of violent crime. It does not count homicides, rapes and multiple assaults and excludes some of the most vulnerable victims of violence, including the homeless, elderly people in care homes, students in digs and until this year children.
Much of what he had to say is, of course, untrue.
continue reading… »
The continuing madness of Melanie Phillips
At the weekend Ed Husain wrote an eminently reasonable, measured and very restrained attack on the more out-there views of Melanie Phillips. Husain clearly feels that Phillips is a potential ally in the battle against radical Islam, although quite why judging by her record it’s difficult to tell.
His main concern now seems to be that rather than being an ally, she’s becoming a prominent obstacle to any kind of progress. Especially in the way she seems determined to see conspiracies where there are none, in this instance with Inayat Bunglawala and his determined opposition to the remnants of al-Muhajiroun.
Again, this isn’t anything new with Phillips: a few years back she was convinced that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction had been buried beneath the Euphrates and that Saddam’s crack team of WMD experts had upped sticks and moved to Syria.
Nonetheless, it was also going to be interesting to see how Phillips responded.
continue reading… »
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