As it is now starting to cool down somewhat a chance to update this blog does not compare with a 13,000ft ascent and is more like a gentle hill climb.
The New Musical Express acquaints us last night's events at Glastonbury and it would appear that we came in for a bit of flak. Leading the way was the professional guttersnipe Lilly Allen:
The star also launched a tirade against the British National Party and suffered a wardrobe malfunction during her set.
Although she made no mention of Jackson’s death yesterday (June 25), Allen wore a white glove on her right hand copying one of the pop icon’s trademarks.
Later before playing 'Fuck You', Allen instructed the crowd to raise their middle fingers in protest against the controversial political party, who gained two seats after the recent European Parliament elections."F***ing boo them," she told the audience. "This song is called 'F*** you', and I'd like you to join me by putting your middle fingers up at those bastards." When the audience responded by cheering wildly and raising their middle fingers, Allen collapsed in a fit of laughter.
The foul-mouthed wretch was followed by The Specials:
The multi-racial band took the time to express their anger at the recent election of two British National Party European MPs in England.Before a feverishly-received 'A Message To You Rudy', frontman Terry Hall addressed the crowd, saying: "It's taken us 28 years to get here but things are still the same. Then it was the National Front, now it's the BNP. This next song's called 'F*** The BNP'."
Commentary of a different kind courtesy of the House of Spivs where I shall relate the action in chronological order.
16th June - various exchanges
Mr. Austin Mitchell (Great Grimsby) (Lab): I strongly agree with the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Suth-West (Mr. Davidson) about 16 Jun 2009 : Column 250the recent European election results. It is as plain as a pikestaff that the two parties that did well were the two Eurosceptic parties, and that the two that did badly were the Euro-sycophant parties. That includes the Liberals, who are kind of Euro-daft. The vote went very much against Europe in those elections, and if we ignore that very obvious decision, we are not listening to the people.My heart was lifted up during the game of musical chairs that constitutes the appointment of the Minister for Europe these days. I thought that the party, having gone through all the available Euro-sycophants, might have turned to me, as a man with sensible, moderate views on Europe. So I sat there all weekend, but the phone did not ring. I have to confess that I was very disappointed.
The result of the election is a clear signpost to the Government. We cannot say that whatever the people think about Europe is wrong or that whatever is damaging to Europe is wrong. We simply cannot say that to the people, because of the kind of frustrations that led, for instance, to the increase in the British National party vote.
David Taylor (North-West Leicestershire) (Lab/Co-op):
Unfortunately, a BNP county councillor was elected in North-West Leicestershire, in the heart of the constituency, and the vote continues to build. I share, endorse and applaud my hon. Friend's views on Europe in general terms, but may I correct him in one respect? Although UKIP is certainly Eurosceptic and benefited from being so, the BNP is much more than Eurosceptic; it is xenophobic, which is much worse and much more significant.
Mr. Mitchell:
I am not defending the BNP; I am trying to explain the nature of the vote. What will happen when people come to us and ask why the Government cannot do more to help industry and all we can reply is, “Aid to industry cannot be allowed in Europe,” or if the Government's reaction to proposals for retrospective business rate payments in the docks, which will cause closures and unemployment, is that they cannot stop them because aid to industry will be struck down in Europe? What about when people say they want something done about immigration or labour conditions or that they want British jobs for British workers at the oil refineries on south Humberside and all we can reply is, “Sorry, we cannot help you; Europe stops us from doing anything”? That speaks of the kind of futility and discontent that leads to an increase in the BNP
vote.
Mr. William Cash (Stone) (Con)
If we had a policy that genuinely argued for the kind of Europe that we ought to have, I know that we would win the next general election by a landslide. We would see the end of the BNP argument on the Europe front. I have already argued against racism—I was arguing against it back in 1993—but the plain fact is that people have not been listening.
Mike GapesMike Gapes (Ilford, South) (Lab/Co-op):
No. I cannot give way any more. The reality of the situation in the European Union elections was complicated, and different in different countries. It is, after all, a 27-country organisation. It is sad that people are trying to write a narrative based on selective quotation of data from different parts of the world.
I will conclude with a point on the UK results. I am pleased to say that in London, we resoundingly rejected the Nazi British National party. It did not get anybody elected. In my constituency and other constituencies in east London, there was a significant reduction in the share of the vote for the far-right party. In Barking and Dagenham, where the BNP has 12 or 13 councillors, its share of the vote was significantly down. That indicates that where people were prepared to go out and put the arguments, that made an impact. That does not in any way minimise the fact that, to our shame, we in this country have elected, in areas where the turnout went down significantly—Lancashire and Yorkshire—people who stand for small, unrepresentative groups. In a proportional representation list system, when there is a low turnout, such groups are always liable to get people elected. That is why, if we are to have constitutional change—this comes back to the point made by the right hon. Member for Wells about such change—and if we bring in different electoral systems, we have to keep the link between the Member of Parliament and the constituency. We must have a system that does not provide for a top-up list for extremist parties that cherry-pick issues and are not capable of being elected in any single constituency.
Gisela Stuart Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston
I am not so convinced. We did not have local elections in my constituency, and the result was essentially 21 per cent. for Labour and 27 per cent. for the Tories. That is why I say that none of the parties should be too joyful. Our analysis was that it was not possible readily to identify where either the UKIP or BNP vote came from. It was more the case that there was a protest vote against the European Union in the previous election; but this time there was a larger vote saying: “A curse on all your houses,” with the houses being the established political parties.
17th June
Mike O'BrienLabour MP for North Warwickshire
The original core principle 4, that the NHS will respond to different needs of different populations—in truth, communities—has fallen off the agenda in such specific terms.
It is important that we recognise that different communities and those with different genetic antecedents have different health needs. It is of particular concern that this original core principle of recognising the response required by the NHS for different needs in different communities has disappeared from the Government's stated position and agenda. I am not making a party political or contentious point, but it just happens to be at a time when all of us across the House need to join shoulder to shoulder in resisting anything that could give credence to some of the most appalling, outrageous and obnoxious electoral approaches of people who stand for a party such as the BNP, where they are looking for excuses to underpin their racist, class-based, anti-communities approach. I hope that the Government will consider rowing back from this area because the original core principle 4 needs to be looked at, particularly in the light of that political context, let alone the health context.
The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Jim Murphy)
I do not share the view that the Barnett formula or the method of funding across this disparate Kingdom in any way fuels extremism or is a cause of the vile British National party support. I do not agree with that. In Scotland, on occasion, there is complacency about what happens in respect of the British National party. Of course we all know that its members are racists and anti-Semites, but their vote in Scotland has gone from near zero a decade ago to 27,000 at the European elections. The proportion of the BNP vote in Scotland was higher than the ethnic minority proportion of the population in Scotland as shown in the most recent census. Despite the complacency that sometimes creeps into Scottish politics, I believe that the BNP is also a Scottish problem.
18th June
Mr. Denis MacShane (Rotherham) (Lab)Is it not afact that we have elected two Jew-hating racists torepresent us in the European Parliament—we have doneso in the form of British National party electors—eventhough in Yorkshire the BNP got fewer votes in 2004?What is the reason? In the 2004 European Parliamentelections, there was an all-postal ballot and almosttwice as many people voted. I understand that there aresome fiddles in postal voting, but we must look muchmore seriously at encouraging all-postal ballots, becausethat is the best way to prevent the fascists from beingelected to represent our nation.
23rd June
Mr. Michael Clapham (Barnsley, West and Penistone) (Lab)
Long-term unemployed people must be included in the effort to get people back to work. We seem to have missed that large number of people. Unless we tackle the problem meaningfully in older industrial communities, they will become a breeding ground for the extremism of the British National party. Already two BNP MEPs have been elected to the European Parliament. The support that they have received from older industrial areas has helped to elect them. That is a very sad fact. In tackling the economic situation, we must be aware of that, be moderate and create an understanding that leads people away from the BNP.
Phew, having summited, I am off to play with my new PC which now has a 64bit OS installed along with some high spec anti-virus software. Unfortunately, amongst the dozens and dozens of cables and in this house there is not a spare Ethernet lead. Looks like I'll be ebaying tonight.
