By James Maker
Bright and early on Sunday morning this week, I arrived at Romford Labour Party HQ for one of our weekly campaigning sessions in the local constituency. Browsing one of my comrade’s copies of the Observer I was surprised, but pleased, that the dog whistle tactics of the local Conservative Party had been unearthed in the national press. Finally, Mr Rosindell’s local tactics of simplistic rhetoric and slogans had been brought to light.
For those who missed it, Anushka Asthana and Toby Helm’s article exposed our local MP, Andrew Rosindell, for the support he apparently lent to a local Conservative leaflet with false and socially divisive information on immigration.
Two weeks ago I was appalled to receive the material through my own front door. My first reaction was "I’ve never seen BNP material in my ward before - they must be targeting new areas". However, on closer inspection, it came to my attention that this was in fact the local Tories.
Alongside the accusation that the "floodgates" had been opened during the past 13 years, the leaflet suggested that the Conservatives would impose new transitional controls on the right of nationals of the new EU member states to work in the UK; illegal under EU law. Not only was the information used in the leaflet exceeding misleading, but in a consistency with a large proportion of ethnic minorities this kind of material only benefits those on the far right who wish to exploit immigration to meet their own electoral ends. I thought that Phill Woolas summed it up to a tee:
"It is deeply irresponsible for David Cameron's shadow home office minister to be appearing on material using this sort of dog-whistle politics. Of course, we need effective immigration policies – which is why we introduced the points-based system – but making misleading claims like this is dangerous and wrong."
Most concerning about the weekend’s events, however, is Rosindell’s assertion that he ‘did not write or approve this councillor’s flyer’. Not only is he clearly shown on the front of the leaflet "supporting" the campaign, but another image indicates him "discussing immigration and asylum" with Mr Cameron. Are we really to believe that such a leaflet could emanate from his office without his attention being drawn to it, despite his evident "passion" for the subject?
As Left Foot Forward reported this morning, there is evidence that the MP was out with his Local Action Team delivering the material. Moreover, is it a coincidence that on the very week that this leaflet was making its way into homes across the consistency, that during PMQs on February 10th 2010, Rosindell rose to ask the Prime Minister "will the government consider introducing a cap on immigration?"
Although Cameron may have lent his support to our beleaguered MP, serious questions remain regarding his involvement in the production, distribution and promotion of this socially discordant literature. Cameron needs to reconsider whether the questionable integrity of Rosindell is at odds with his position in the shadow home office team.
Nationally for the Conservative Party, this leaflet displays the deep seated right wing views held by a distinct number of its MPs. The pressure to bow to such views in the light of Labour’s resurgence in the polls was evident over the weekend, with The Independent labelling the leaders speech as "Tories turn to the right". What happened to the "Compassionate Conservatism" that was progressive and cared about social justice?
The simply answer, maybe, is that it was never there is the first place. Cameron has continuously invoked what he perceived as Thatcher’s "economic revolution" as winning the economic argument for the New Right in 1980s and leading to prosperity for all. Let us not forget that on entering government Thatcher presented her cabinet with their bible, Fredrick Von Hayek’s The Constitution of Liberty, in which he claimed that social justice was incompatible with a free-market society and was thus "nonsense".
As this facade of "Compassionate Conservatism" wilts and the views of my own MP and fellow right wingers - such as John Redwood, who seems to be making a great deal of television appearances at the moment -became more and more prominent, the divisions within Conservative ranks will further come to the surface.
Stopping the Conservative regression to a previous decade requires the Labour Party to continue to expose the soul of their opposition.
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It's OK to be disillusioned and extremely angry isn't it? My point is that both parties are using tactics that are `below the belt', that whatever you might care to throw at the Conservatives has probably also been true of Labour. I am completely disgusted by both Labour and Tory MPs, and am pretty revolted by Gordon Brown. Brown's failure on the economy, over 12 years, will rebound most on the lower paid and the vulnerable, whatever party gets in, and that makes me extremely angry.
I repeat that I live in an area where Labour have deliberately favoured those areas which vote them into power. This has a direct impact on the elderly and the young who live in our area, regardless of their political persuasion.
Yes- we seem to be doing very well without airbrushed posters and glossy leaflets?!
I always think substance wins over rhetoric...
Am signing off now, goodnight!
Jo.
First past the post
not brought off but shows the failure of FPTP, really only a small number of votes are actually been fought over which means large number of people are being left out of the process.
now maybe we should look at the whole rather than a very narrow group of people, then the policies will suit
for all the glossy PR they are sending out, the gaffes over the past three weeks by the Tories undermines this so it can be done without resources if you are clever about it.
I don't think it's right that political "propaganda" should be funded by big business interests?
After all, we are talking about issues like the future of public services in this country.
It almost seems as if parts of the electorate are being "bought off" in marginal seats- as you suggested?
There does seem to be an awful lot of spare cash swilling around,
and yet- not winning the arguments convincingly according to polls.
Just goes to show, advertising and sales marketing doesn't always work if the message is unconvincing.
We receive this kind of post every other week!
Jo.
You say you've always had faith the public wouldn't be "bought".
Does that include those benefit claimants, public sector workers and other neer-do-wells, who have been "bought" by Labour through redistributing excessive taxation and massive debt for the last few years?
Ask yourself where Labour gets most of its votes from and if they benefit more than Tory voters from Labour government policy and spending then we can talk about voters being "bought".
Colin
Jo, the Tories have always tradtionally outspent us in the main due to large city donations and companies.
Ashcroft is in charge of marginal strategy so he i making sure has money is spent wisely. My mother in law lives in a marginal (Dudley south) and th leaflet she had today was very good, for colour glossy, so we have to combat this by these blogs and the hard slog of door to door
I live in a fairly safe Labour seat and received nothing
It certainly begs the question how all these posters, letters and leaflets over years could have been paid for?(And how much it actually has costed.)Has Mr Ashcroft been paying for this all?
As Ralph says, with all that publicity and spoonfeeding voters in constituencies, one would have though the Tories could have swung it hands down! But with only 2% difference now with Labour, very unconvincing.
I've always had faith the electorate are not that easily "bought"-
and need robust persuasion based on evidence.
So Richard, Ian, Peter, Ralph and Diana and Mike H- what goes around come around, and maybe there is justice after all.
Good luck!
Jo.
A bit of money, raised privately, spent up front on glossy leaflets, or an underhand manipulation of council tax to give preferential treatment to those areas voting Labour, at a point where Labour may lose control. Which do you find most offensive?
Tory trolls clearly aren't good at lying, though they must have plenty of experience
In my marginal (Labour majority 914, if I remember correctly), the Conservative spend is in the region of £80,000 - £100,000 a year for the last three or four years.
They hired an ex-BBC local radio reporter round about 2006 for somewhere in the region £30 - 40,000 a year.
On cosolation, at least the Tories are immensly ignorant too, had they any real talent in their ranks they could have plunged the dagger into Labour's heart some time ago. You have to give credit to Cameron, to be losing now is an amazing achievement.
I keep checking myself to see if I have wandered into an episode of Blackadder.
I am all for a £50,000 PA maximum contribution from any source. Are you?
whilst we remain in an open europe we can not stop migration remembering the big numbers of workers are LEGAL East Europeans
Lets remember which party signed the treaty to allow this as employers wanted cheap source of labour
at from Tory HQ at strategic times, eg today after the "spring" conference.
The catchphrase seems to be "we can't go on like this" applied to just about everything. A bit like a mantra.
The latest today is: "It's time to fight back against crime."
And: "We can't go on like this.If we want to create a more family-friendly society we need a heavy-duty and determined fight- back against crime."
What they didn't mention was, a) funding and b)how this would be acheived.
Sound familiar?
All I can say is the police in Derbyshire are absoloutely excellent, running services on a very tight budget.Public support
and perception appear excellent.
So all these fear tactics do not impress me.
I'd like to say: we can't go on like this- there's too many leaflets in the recycling bin!
Jo.
Chris Huhne wrote today to the Elections Commission to complain about how long their investigation in to the funding by Bearwood (Ashcroft's "company", but really just a mechanism to channel Belize money into the Tory coffers) into these marginals' leaflets. Huhne was even suggesting that the election in such areas may be illegal because of Ashcroft's involvement.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/01/lord-ashcroft-electoral-commission-inquiry
"Should the Conservative party secure a majority following the general election using donations made by Bearwood Corporate Services Limited, and your investigation were to conclude after the general election that these donations were illegal, this would raise serious concerns about the legality and validity of the entire election result"
I guess that regardless of the election result, there will be quite a few court cases to dispute the result.
Isn't it amazing that the Tories have not yet got their greasy hands on power and they are already showing the lowest of the low sleaze by corrupting our electoral process?
Given that open borders are here to stay, there will not be a 75% reduction in the amount of immigration from other countries into the UK. The only way this could happen is withdrawal from the EU and that isn't going to happen.
We have given away much of our sovereignty to an unelected undemocratic Euroland-elete who are hell bent on consolidating their grip over the levers of power. The EU will not become democratic until such time as it's Government are subject to a plebiscite of its people. They should go for Federalisation ASAP and those that do not want that should be free to leave and make other arrangements.
You are a gem. You and RR often make my day. But tell me what code you used to get images posted on LL. Mine, through img src= always get rejected.
1). Did not notice that they were coming here?
2). As competition to low paid workers to hold down pay rates?
3). To build a truly multicultural society?
4). Good old fashioned Christian generosity.
Whichever one or combination that you chose, it beats the BNP voting drum. And none of the above were ever in anyone's Manifesto.
' stop ILLEGAL immigration' - you object to that?
' stop bogus students' - didn't Labour copy this last month?
'British Jobs for British Workers' - Gordon's catchphrase
' Foreign criminals should be removed from Britain' - again, does Labour disagree with this? You should tell the electorate.
So many of the comments you object to as 'bnp' literature are the same as your own party policy. Are you sure you are happy in Labour
He fails to mention here (and, I think, you fail to point out) that 'this councillor' is paid to work in Rosindell's office as his 'Political Officer'. Does Rosindell really not know what his staff, who are paid by public money, are doing? If one were being cynical, one might even ask whether this work was done in Dervish's own time, or while he was on the clock.