IS THIS THE WAY NEW LABOUR MP'S BEHAVE?

THIS IS FROM THE BLOG OF LABOUR MP TOM HARRIS

Cameron’s warm-up man repeats the Clarkson insult
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
WHAT a lovely bloke David Cameron is, eh?

Not for him the “Punch and Judy” politics of the old order. Dave would never lower himself to conducting politics in, say, Jeremy Clarkson’s style, would he?

No, he wouldn’t. But he doesn’t seem to have any difficulty at all in being introduced by a cretin using exactly the same language.

Below is a video lifted from the Conservative Party’s own website of Cameron’s Meet the Proles People tour at Brighton and Hove. He’s introduced by Mike Mendoza (formerly of TalkSport) who, about a minute in, sparks mirth all round by repeating Clarkson’s offensive comments about the prime minister: “A Scottish, one-eyed….” then pauses for (hilarious!) effect, before adding: “But he is an idiot.”

Trouble is, I can’t find any trace of an apology from Cameron or his party for repeating what everyone, regardless of party affiliation, agreed was offensive in the extreme. Maybe if Clarkson had actually been introducing his leader instead of speaking at a news conference in Australia, his comments would have been more acceptable. To the Tories at least.

The Nasty Party? Surely not…

But I wonder how long they’ll allow this particular video to remain on line unedited?


UPDATE at 10.20 pm: I said in this post that “everyone” agreed that Clarkson’s original comments were offensive. Having read some of the comments on this thread, I now accept that there are many Conservative Party supporters who believe those comments were perfectly acceptable. So can I offer my apologies to the Conservative Party for attributing to it standards of behaviour and decency which do not apply to it.

i was slightly taken aback by tom's comments so i dropped him a note:

MIKE MENDOZA
Wednesday 18 February 2009 at 5:24 pm
Hi Tom
Thanks for the mention I need all the publicity I can get. I must say that I am MORE offended by the advertisement for ‘FOIE GRAS’ on your blog than anything else! Are YOU aware how this disgusting food is produced and the suffering that goes with its production?
Let me point out to you that i am not David Camerons warm up man, I am local to Brighton & Hove, non-political and was approached to introduce the leader of the Conservative party. I would have done the same thing for any one eyed Scottish idiot that asked me.

Best wishes from as you called me ‘A Cretin’ aka MIKE MENDOZA

AND I GOT AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE

Tom Harris
Wednesday 18 February 2009 at 6:39 pm
Mike - Thanks for leaving a comment. Even though you weren’t offended, on reflection I shouldn’t have described you in that way and I apologise.

I don’t think either you or Clarkson should have used the terms you did in describing the prime minister, but I can hardly complain about abusive language in political debate when I describe anyone - least of all someone I’ve never even spoken to - as a “cretin”. Sorry.