British MEP Strikes Again

[Enkidu Warrior]

First he tells US TV that he wouldn't wish the NHS on anyone, now Daniel Hannan has praised Enoch Powell.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8223664.stm

Row after Tory MEP praises Enoch

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has labelled the Conservatives "two-faced" after one of their MEPs cited Enoch Powell as his political influence.

In a US interview, Tory MEP Daniel Hannan said 1960's anti-immigration campaigner Mr Powell understood "the importance of national democracy".

The Tories said Mr Hannan had not praised Mr Powell's immigration views.

But Lord Mandelson said they had a public face, and another which "attacks the NHS and praises Enoch Powell".

Asked in an interview with a US internet television channel who was his political influence, Mr Hannan said Enoch Powell "understood why you need to live in an independent country and what that meant, as well as being a free marketeer and a small-government Conservative."

Mr Hannan recently provoked controversy by describing the NHS as a "mistake".

'Rivers of Blood'

Labour seized on Mr Hannan's comments and urged Conservative leader David Cameron to take action.

Lord Mandelson said: "Yet again, we are seeing the two faces of the Conservative party: the one they want to present to the public and the one which attacks the NHS and praises Enoch Powell."

Mr Powell became infamous after a speech he made in 1968 while serving as a Conservative MP.

His "Rivers of Blood" speech gave apocalyptic predictions of what would happen to pockets of Britain if mass immigration continued.

He compared racial tensions in the United States to the Roman poet Virgil's description of "the River Tiber foaming with much blood" and said anti-discrimination laws were like "throwing a match on to gunpowder".

Responding to Mr Hannan's latest remarks, Labour MP Parmjit Dhanda said: "Last week Daniel Hannan attacked the NHS. Now he's talking up Enoch Powell as a key influence for Cameron's Conservatives.

"When another Tory candidate praised Enoch Powell in 2007, David Cameron criticised him and he was forced to resign.

"The question now for Cameron is whether he will take similar action against Daniel Hannan.

"Or is it acceptable for the modern Conservative Party to attack the NHS and praise Enoch Powell?"

Conservative sources said Mr Hannan would not be disciplined because his praise for Mr Powell had not referred to the late politician's stance on immigration.

Mr Hannan was described as "pro-immigration".

Last week, in another US interview, Mr Hannan called the NHS a "60-year mistake" that he "wouldn't wish on anyone".

He claimed it was an overly-bureaucratic hangover of wartime planning which rations care which should be broken up and replaced by a mix of private and state-run provision.

Mr Hannan's remarks were made amid the fierce debate in the US over President Barack Obama's proposed healthcare reforms.

At the time Mr Cameron dismissed Mr Hannan's views on the NHS as "eccentric".

Surely now they're going to get rid of him? I know some of our American posters might find his views fairly mild for a right-winger, but this guy had no place in mainstream UK politics even before he outed himself as a racist.

Please can we fire him into the Sun

The Enoch Powell praise is at about 1:45 in the first video.

Warning: If you're even moderately left of centre you won't make it through all of these videos without sticking your fist through your monitor.


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[Mise]

I hope to hell they keep this man around. He does more for Labour and the Lib Dems than any statement of policy.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

This news just in FTAO Groovy Dave Cameron: You can't polish a turd.

 

[RedRalph]

All jokes aside, whatever his sickening politics, you would think this man would have some sense of self-preservation and not make these remarks

 

[Munch]

Warning: If you're even moderately left of centre you won't make it through all of these videos without sticking your fist through your monitor.

I think I'll take your advice there, I don't have a particularly favourable view of Hannan to say the least.

He's a syphilitic bellend.

 

[really]

Maybe he thinks his days in politics are coming to an end and he is angling for job as a pundit.

Does he still have four years to run in his term?

 

[ori]

almost 5 years even - not much they can do except maybe expel him from the new anti-EU caucus the tories joined in the EP (but with the company they keep there - I'd guess he is representing the mainstream of the caucus )

 

[jessiecat]

All jokes aside, whatever his sickening politics, you would think this man would have some sense of self-preservation and not make these remarks

The really sad thing is that there still is a sizable minority of British people, usually older and getting on a bit, who agree with everything he says. Why do you think UKIP is almost neck and neck with the Labour and the Lib Dems in some polls?
BTW. I'm older and getting on a bit but I regard people like him as little better than cockroaches.

 

[Brighteye]

Enoch Powell was a very intelligent and educated man whose 'rivers of blood' speech was grossly misunderstood. He did some very good things in parliament and it's sad that his very name has become synonymous with racism.

 

[ComradeDavo]

I hope to hell they keep this man around. He does more for Labour and the Lib Dems than any statement of policy.

This man has personally raised the amount of NHS people who will now vote Lib Dem and is now gonna drive ethnic minorities away from the Tories as well! Win for progressive Britain! Everyone knows Labour aren't gonna get a majority at the next election, but more stuff like this and we might just get a Lib-Lab coalition

 

[RedRalph]

This man has personally raised the amount of NHS people who will now vote Lib Dem and is now gonna drive ethnic minorities away from the Tories as well! Win for progressive Britain! Everyone knows Labour aren't gonna get a majority at the next election, but more stuff like this and we might just get a Lib-Lab coalition

Is that an idea that's being seriously floated?

 

[jessiecat]

Enoch Powell was a very intelligent and educated man whose 'rivers of blood' speech was grossly misunderstood. He did some very good things in parliament and it's sad that his very name has become synonymous with racism.

I acknowledge his value as Parliamentarian. Did you know that his greatest admirer was Tony Benn, for that reason. They had huge respect for each other's expertise.
But the sad thing is that he let his speech be interpreted that way. It was a deliberate attempt to raise fear and alarm for political gain. Even the Tory Party recognized that it was irresponsible scare mongering. That's why kicked him out.

 

[nonconformist]

Wasn't he in the Monday Club too?

 

[ComradeDavo]

Is that an idea that's being seriously floated?

What a Lib-Lab coalition? It's been on the books for years and years, the 97 election would have seen it if Labour hadn't had done so well!

It would be more likely than a Lib-Tory coalition. The Tories are too 'conservative' (obviously!) despite what Cameron makes out, and the Libs are a progressive party.

 

[amadeus]

Let's strike a deal, Britain... we'll take Hannan if you take Obama and all of his flunkies.

 

[jessiecat]

Wasn't he in the Monday Club too?

Powell was. It's a club within the Tory party. But Benn? Not bloody likely.

 

[nonconformist]

Not Benn, obviously

 

[Rossiya]

One of those videos calls him a "British political hero"! Stupid foreigners.

 

[Enkidu Warrior]

Enoch Powell was a very intelligent and educated man

True.

whose 'rivers of blood' speech was grossly misunderstood.

By some, perhaps, but regardless of what some people thought he was saying, what he was actually saying was vile contemptible nonsense.

He did some very good things in parliament

True.

and it's sad that his very name has become synonymous with racism.

It's sad that he made it synonymous by spouting such bile. I'll certainly concede that Powell had many virtues that are understandably overlooked by most, but you can't seriously defend the man given the many vile things that he most certainly did do. I'd also add that you can't seriously suggest that this odious toff MEP didn't know exactly what would be understood by a British audience when he sung the praises of Enoch Powell.

 

[jessiecat]

One of the oddest inconsistencies of this man's life, despite his "rivers of blood" speech and obvious racism toward immigrants, that as Tory Minister of Health a few years before he was responsible for encouraging the huge influx of West Indian nurses and other medical staff to fill all the vacancies in the NHS. How many people, esp. Tories, remember that now.