Johnson and Abbott
I am not a great fan of Diane Abbott but that is because of her politics. She deserves all the protection and support against racist, misogynistic and violent threats that is humanly possible
Amazingly, the Tory government was unable and obviously unwilling to provide anything like that level of support yesterday. Dumb unprincipled minister after dumb unprincipled minister was sent out to lie, and claim that this disgusting attack on her was not racist or misogynistic. Until finally the PM admitted that it was.
It just reminded me of Boris Johnson who would send out his cabinet to defend the indefensible, only to stab them in the back and admit that he had been lying all along. I doubt very much any of the MPs humiliated by Mr Johnson will be voting for his return, but Rishi Sunak had better watch out too.
It is not leadership to deny the obvious, to hope the media will move on, to not defend fellow parliamentarians whatever party they belong to, it is not leadership to order underlings to lie on TV and on the radio, to put them in ridiculous positions of not being able to admit the truth or condemn the unacceptable.
Then to turn round and say it was actually racism but let’s move on, nothing to see here, we are keeping the £10 million; is just amateur, unthought out, lazy, unprincipled, stupid, dangerous and a sign of total panic.
Who spent all day and came up with that solution? Fire them, now.
The second the comments by Mr. Hester appeared they should have been condemned, he should have been dropped like a hot potato, the party should have “launched an investigation” into the donation (just to buy time) and Hester thrown out of the party,-if he is a member, and shown the way to Reform’s HQ. Diane Abbott should have been phoned, apologised to and offered police protection by the PM personally, and she still should be.
Any party should know how to do this, any politician should be able to do it automatically, on air, in an instant, if only because they are decent human beings and real leaders.
Not only because it is the right, decent thing to do, but also because it is the intelligent, rational, if cynical way, to reduce the damage and kill the story.
Rishi Sunak told us all he was better than Johnson, principled and decent and trustworthy. But if he is why does he act like Johnson, where is the evidence he is a better man?
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.
By Jonty Bloom Media
Sunak continues to preside over a shambles where actually keeping a generous donor (and, by the way, beneficiary of government contracts) on side seems to trump everything else. Badenoch, who was the first to openly call Hester's comments racist, has also said there should be "space for forgiveness" and a spokesperson for the PM said "He has now rightly apologised for the offence caused and where remorse is shown it should be accepted". And today, Government minister Kevin Hollinrake has said the Tories would accept a further £10m donation from Hester. I bet they would! What an absolute shower the Tories are.