Consistency?
Now we all know that Oliver Kamm seems to live for Liberal Democrat bashing. Whatever his motives for this are (my belief is that he suffered a very bad paper cut from a Focus leaflet one day and vowed revenge) it seems there's no issue he'll use to bash the party, even if it might reflect badly on his own Labour party as well.
Last wekk, he produced one of his splenetic rants based on the fact that two Liberal Democrat MPs (Alistair Carmichael and Richard Allan) spoke at a Cuba Solidarity Campaign fringe meeting. Richard defended his reasons for doing so in the comments there, so I'm not going to comment on that argument.
Instead, I'd like to ask what would Oliver's reaction be if the Cuba Solidarity Campaign had a meeting at the Labour Party Conference? What if a Labour MP and a Union General Secretary spoke at that event? Surely Oliver would condemn them, even if the MP happened to be a member of the Government? Surely, he'd have to condemn them and, using the logic he used last week, condemn the Party, indeed the government that they belonged to? Being the man of prionciple that he is, surely he'd write something, even just a brief update to the original post, or a mention in the comments, that this was the case.
Or, does the event described at the bottom of this page not count for some reason?
Last wekk, he produced one of his splenetic rants based on the fact that two Liberal Democrat MPs (Alistair Carmichael and Richard Allan) spoke at a Cuba Solidarity Campaign fringe meeting. Richard defended his reasons for doing so in the comments there, so I'm not going to comment on that argument.
Instead, I'd like to ask what would Oliver's reaction be if the Cuba Solidarity Campaign had a meeting at the Labour Party Conference? What if a Labour MP and a Union General Secretary spoke at that event? Surely Oliver would condemn them, even if the MP happened to be a member of the Government? Surely, he'd have to condemn them and, using the logic he used last week, condemn the Party, indeed the government that they belonged to? Being the man of prionciple that he is, surely he'd write something, even just a brief update to the original post, or a mention in the comments, that this was the case.
Or, does the event described at the bottom of this page not count for some reason?
Labour Party Conference Public MeetingAnd remember, in Oliver's own words:
Hands Off Cuba Public Meeting
Hermitage Hotel, Clifton Suite, Bornemouth
Tuesday 30th September
5.30pm
Tuesday 30th September 5.30pm
(or straight after end of conference)
Hermitage Hotel, Clifton Suite
Directly opposite International Centre, Exeter Road, Bournemouth
Guest Speakers:
· Angela Smith MP (Northern Ireland Minister)
· Billy Hayes (General Secretary, Communication Workers Union)
· Oscar de los Reyes (Cuban embassy)
· Ken Gill (Cuba Solidarity Campaign)
Something is seriously amiss when this type of event - which is not a humanitarian or pragmatic call for an easing of the trade embargo, but an expression of 'solidarity' with a totalitarian state - is found unexceptionable and unremarkable by a party that falsely claims the mantle of liberal politics. The place of consistent liberals is with the political dissidents, not at a drinks party in a four-star hotel celebrating the regime that locked them up.But then, Labour never claimed to be a liberal party, so why should anyone expect any more?
Nick got away with this at 9:29 PM
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