Saturday, September 06, 2008
And so to the Tories
Just in case the Welsh Tories are feeling left out this morning, today's news hardly covers them in glory either.
The Western Mail reports on the mutterings of a Conservative Leeds City Council by-election candidate, Glenn Broadbent who got a bit carried away on his Facebook page. He describes himself as “Proud to be English and sick of paying tax to support lazy people, imported spongers and subsidising the Scots and the Welsh”. The paper tells us that he lists as one of his favourite TV shows a pornographic channel, adding in brackets “only joking”.
Clearly embarrassed Conservative officials have done their best to limit the damage:
A Welsh Conservative Party spokesman said: “These comments are offensive and unacceptable. The way Wales and the other nations of the United Kingdom are funded has remained relatively unchanged for more than 30 years, so it is inaccurate to claim people in one part of the country are subsidising those in another.
“Wales is an important and integral part of the UK to which the Conservative Party is fully committed. The Union's strength lies in the links that tie it together and as a party we will do nothing to undermine that.”
Last night Conservative Central Office in London released a statement on Mr Broadbent’s behalf, in which he said: “I am sorry for any offence that has been caused – there was certainly no intention to do so.
“As ever on sites like Facebook, it is easy to write comments without fully thinking and that is what I have done in this case.
“I am committed to sticking up for the rights of everyone in my community and that is why I am standing in the by-election in Farnley and Wortley.”
A UK Conservative spokesman said: “Glenn Broadbent has admitted that his comments were misguided and open to misinterpretation and he has apologised for that.”
Meanwhile, another Welsh Conservative drama remains unresolved with Labour politicians calling on David Cameron to make up his mind on whether to let Tory AM, Alun Cairns, who referred to the Italian national football team as “greasy wops” stand for Parliament.
Mr. Cairns was suspended as his party’s candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan in June. He also resigned as Shadow Education Minister and as chairman of the National Assembly’s finance committee. The investigation into his remarks is being conducted by the chair of the Conservative Party, Caroline Spelman, who is herself under investigation for the alleged misuse of public funds.
This is a particularly difficult for David Cameron who has publicly expressed his admiration for Gavin and Stacey and shown a desire to return to Barry. However, as I pointed out in this post he cannot do so until the Alun Cairn's situation is resolved.
The Western Mail reports on the mutterings of a Conservative Leeds City Council by-election candidate, Glenn Broadbent who got a bit carried away on his Facebook page. He describes himself as “Proud to be English and sick of paying tax to support lazy people, imported spongers and subsidising the Scots and the Welsh”. The paper tells us that he lists as one of his favourite TV shows a pornographic channel, adding in brackets “only joking”.
Clearly embarrassed Conservative officials have done their best to limit the damage:
A Welsh Conservative Party spokesman said: “These comments are offensive and unacceptable. The way Wales and the other nations of the United Kingdom are funded has remained relatively unchanged for more than 30 years, so it is inaccurate to claim people in one part of the country are subsidising those in another.
“Wales is an important and integral part of the UK to which the Conservative Party is fully committed. The Union's strength lies in the links that tie it together and as a party we will do nothing to undermine that.”
Last night Conservative Central Office in London released a statement on Mr Broadbent’s behalf, in which he said: “I am sorry for any offence that has been caused – there was certainly no intention to do so.
“As ever on sites like Facebook, it is easy to write comments without fully thinking and that is what I have done in this case.
“I am committed to sticking up for the rights of everyone in my community and that is why I am standing in the by-election in Farnley and Wortley.”
A UK Conservative spokesman said: “Glenn Broadbent has admitted that his comments were misguided and open to misinterpretation and he has apologised for that.”
Meanwhile, another Welsh Conservative drama remains unresolved with Labour politicians calling on David Cameron to make up his mind on whether to let Tory AM, Alun Cairns, who referred to the Italian national football team as “greasy wops” stand for Parliament.
Mr. Cairns was suspended as his party’s candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan in June. He also resigned as Shadow Education Minister and as chairman of the National Assembly’s finance committee. The investigation into his remarks is being conducted by the chair of the Conservative Party, Caroline Spelman, who is herself under investigation for the alleged misuse of public funds.
This is a particularly difficult for David Cameron who has publicly expressed his admiration for Gavin and Stacey and shown a desire to return to Barry. However, as I pointed out in this post he cannot do so until the Alun Cairn's situation is resolved.
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I don't watch much TV. I thought that Gavin and Stacey were nicknames for the Plaid Cymru MPs Elfyn Llwyd and Adam Price. Am I correct?
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