Labour fury as Boris calls Ed Miliband a coward, but for other examples of cowardice, you don’t have to look very far

In today’s Daily Telegraph, our Mayor explains that Ed Miliband wants to avoid the sort of split that dogged Labour over the EU in the 70′s and 80′s by avoiding a referendum.  Boris describes the Labour attitude thus:  “ If you’re frightened of the verdict of the people — vote Labour.” Later Boris goes further and accuses Ed of “utter cowardice”.

For other examples of utter cowardice from the Leader of the Opposition, you don’t have to look very far. When Ken Livingstone ignored the Labour Party candidate, Helal Abbas, to appear alongside Lutfur Rahman, sacked as an extremist by Labour,  any strong party leader would have given Ken the sack.  Ed Miliband did not, and all the indications are that he let Red Ken run all over him during the last mayoral contest.

When Ken insulted the Jewish community to suck up to the Muslim vote, in public Ed didn’t say a word.  Nobody knows what went on in private, but it can’t have been very effective, because for the entire campaign, Ken ran amok.

Ken’s behaviour was so appalling, there was a sorrowful article in the Jewish Chronicle about it, even an editorial in the Times .  From Ed, not a peep.  On the contrary, he and Ken went out campaigning together.  At worst , Ed looked like a traitor to the Jewish community, at best a weak kneed fool.

Then there is the case of Labour MP Margaret Moran.  If she had been Tory, Ed would have been screaming for an enquiry, his mouth full of phrases about Tory greed and the nasty party, but now he played his usual tactic, forget right and wrong, just avoid trouble.   If for legal reasons, it is impossible to reclaim the £57,000 embezzled by Moran, why did Ed, in the name of fairness and common decency, not make her pay back the money? But again, always the line of least resistance,  avoid conflict, don’t make waves.

Nobody can act like the patron saint of scroungers, voting for benefits to be higher than wages,   and at the same time claim to be the “new  Maggie Thatcher!”   Rather than stand up and fight for he what he purports to believe in, Ed takes the easy road of trying to be all things to all people.  This weak approach junked his claim that he is a conviction politician forever.  .

Tackled by a 14 year old, Ed’s instinct was not to debate his policies, but to turn on his heel and run. This is Ed all over.  Ed Miliband has himself described how he and his brother used to spend a lot of time at school avoiding being beaten up.  So he was a coward at school too.  No change there then.

KEN IS INDULGING IN WONGA ECONOMICS SAYS BORIS

Boris Johnson has a name for the bribes, I mean promises, Ken Livingstone has relentlessly been  hurling at London voters over the past few months.   Boris calls it “wonga economics”.

Wonga is a British internet loans company.  If you need a fast loan, you can get one, if you qualify, with the money arriving in your account as quickly as fifteen minutes.   Your financial pain is immediately alleviated  – for the moment. The kicker is that the annual interest rate can be 4,000%!

EVIDENCE OF SERIOUS VOTING FRAUD IN TOWER HAMLETS

Tower Hamlets has lurched from one scandal to another since Lutfur Rahman became its Mayor.  Only last week, the story was that Rahman was paying £1,000 a day to an ex-Ken aide,  when the borough is one of the poorest in London. Now we read in today’s London Standard that there is evidence of serious voting fraud in the borough. Ken’s decision to campaign with Rahman, agains the wishes of Ed Miliband, isn’t looking too clever.

Ken campaigning with Lutfur Rahman

The Standard reported today:  “Tower Hamlets has been plagued with allegations of electoral abuse. Scotland Yard launched four separate investigations into claims of voter fraud inside the borough after Lutfur Rahman was elected as mayor of the borough in 2010. No one was convicted.  The borough has recorded unusual changes in voting patterns. During the 2008 mayoral election, the Labour share of the vote went up 23 per cent while the turnout increased by 35 per cent. In every other London borough except Newham, the “swing” in the Livingstone vote did not top seven per cent in either direction.

KEN’S EASTENDERS – SUFFERING KIDS ARE LAST IN LINE

The London Standard reported yesterday that there was a fresh scandal in Tower Hamlets.  Mayor Lutfur Rahman has hired an ex-Ken employee as an adviser for a mind watering £1,000 a day. Shame on him.  There is child poverty in Tower Hamlets and it is one of London’s poorest boroughs.

Today, more news about Tower Hamlets.  Cllr.Peter Golds, the openly gay, Jewish councillor, regularly endures homophobic and anti-semitic heckling in the chamber, which goes unchecked by Mr. Rahman and his Labour concillors.

The London Standard reports: “As Golds said in a formal complaint to the borough police commander, were white skinheads observed yelling abuse at Muslim east Londoners, it would not be tolerated. The worst of the abuse occurred shortly after Rahman’s election in October 2010 but Golds says it continues to this day.”

GREAT NEW MOVIE IN PRE-PRODUCTION: RED KEN’S HENCHMEN

The double sided DVD, Hitler’s Henchman, was such a success,  a new movie is in pre-production.  Red Ken’s Henchman!  After Kate Winslett’s  success in The Reader, Hollywood beauties, including Nicole Kidman. Rees Witherspoon and Madonna, are fighting for the part of Suzanne Lejeune, the intrepid, French, historically misunderstood collaborator.  Suzanne slept with half the Nazi Party, and told them how great a lot of the French Resistance were!  What a sweetie!  She wasn’t carrying out the work of Hitler!  She was reaching out to the Nazis. 

Opening scene:  Women, liberal Muslims, and the Jewish and gay communities are filmed crying like the North Koreans at death of Kim Jong-il, at the mere suggestion that Ken Livingstone might return to City Hall.

Scenes 2- 10:  (flashback to 2008).  Gay activist and freedom fighter Peter Tatchell remonstrates with the then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone for inviting homophobic, Holocaust denying misogynist Sheikh Al Qaradawi to City Hall as a guest as part of the reaching out process.  The Sheikh, who believes rape is OK!, female genital mutilation is a fashion statement, and giving any woman a smack in the mouth is necessary to put her in her place, is endorsed by charitable Ken as “progressive”.  The fun Sheikh likes slogans, such as  ”Destroy the usurper Jews!”  As part of the reaching out process, wouldn’t you think that Ken would drop a hint to the press and voters that he thinks the Sheikh is, well a little extreme?  Not a word.  Crikey!  Through his silence, innocent Ken is giving the inadvertent impression he agrees with the Sheikh’s beliefs!  So mean that people don’t give him the benefit of the doubt!

Eddie Izzard you supported Red Ken – does that mean your entire act is a lie?

Eddie Izzard, I know some of your standup.  You are a supreme individualist. More than anything, you believe that people should be free to be themselves.  You are not gay, but proudly wear a dress.  How then can you support a man, Ken Livingstone, who supports extremists, people who hate others simply for their religion or the way they are?  Extremists who wish gay people dead and hate the Jews? What sick contradiction in terms is this?

Matthew Sephton, the Tory Chairman of LGBT wanted Ken banned from the Gay Pride march, because he believes that Ken’s support of Gay Pride is the most cynical and hypocritical of PR exercises.  Ken worked for homophobic, Holocaust denying Iranian owned Press TV  refusing to give up the job until reportedly, Ed Miliband intervened.  His endorsement of Sheik al Qaradawi. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hamas, who wish gay people dead and despise the Jews, has lost him the support of the Jewish and gay communities.  They feel betrayed.  Ken was recently reprimanded by the Jewish Chronicle.  Jews and gay people believe Ken would tear London apart.  His behaviour can never be forgiven and in my view, he is unfit to stand as a Mayoral candidate.

IS KEN THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE?

Ken is such a mass of contradictions these days, that when tweeter @DanielFurrUK described Ken to me as the Manchurian candidate, I could only applaud his perceptiveness.  What Daniel actually tweeted was this: “@angelneptustar He is the Manchurian candidate – he is an arrogant, pathetic, insulting little narcissist who cannot admit his career is over.”  Succinctly put.

Today the London Standard reported that Ken had described President Obama as “looking like a mobster”, for sanctioning the attack that succeeded in taking out Osama Bin Laden. He condemned the scenes of US jubilation, (a view I agree with), because “ it would increase the likelihood of a terror attack on London.”

IS ARROGANT KEN LIVINGSTONE BRAINWASHING HIS SUPPORTERS?

In an interview with one of his followers, arrogant Ken Livingstone made it plain he does not consider it necessary to inform voters of some of his key plans until after the election.  It is surely only fair that voters know what they are voting for and what to expect?  Such democratic considerations though do not trouble the Labour Mayoral candidate.

Nobody is suggesting that Ken is another Charles Manson

Ken seems to have some sort of mental hold over his supporters, several of whom appear to be decent people with ideals. Nobody is suggesting that Ken is another Charles Manson.  Amiable and reasonable Dave Hill of the Guardian is perfectly rational – until you discuss Ken with him, and then you hit a brick wall.  On twitter, Dave told me he “didn’t know much about Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradi” whose views appal all decent people.  He said he wasn’t covering City Hall at the time that the Sheik was a visitor.  This is an incredible thing to say, surely Dave is as capable of doing the research as the rest of us?  He told me he had not agreed with Ken about his Press TV job – but still supports Ken as a Mayoral Candidate?  I don’t get it.

FRIGHT NIGHT – NOT KEN AGAIN WEBSITE REVEALS THE TRUTH ABOUT KEN

The new Not Ken Again website, launched today by the BackBoris2012 team,makes pretty gruesome reading. Just as scary is the article by Andrew Gilligan entitled “Ken Livingstone: suicide bombers and a suicide candidate.”  It is vital that Londoners regularly read both of them.

If, in some impossible, nightmare scenario, Ken were ever to recapture the Mayoralty, what sort of future would there be for the Jewish and gay communities in London?  Ken has steadfastly refused to offer any words of comfort to the victims of the vile homophobic heckling that is taking place in the council chamber of Tower Hamlets.  He campaigned with the successful independent candidate, Mr. Lutfur Rahman and according to Andrew Gilligan, on March 7th this week, showed support for Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradi who supports, among other appalling things, female genital mutilation.  Ken has hailed the Sheikh as “a progressive”.

MORE DETAILS OF HOMOPHOBIC HECKLING IN TOWER HAMLETS

The London Editor of the Daily Telegraph, Andrew Gilligan has provided more detail of the vile homophobic heckling that pollutes the council meetings at Tower Hamlets.  The heckling is alleged to come from a band of followers of the independent councillor, Lutfur Rahman, whom Ken Livingstone campaigned with during the council election.  This was against the wishes of the Labour Party.

Tower Hamlets Coat Of Arms

Andrew Gilligan reported: “It has started really since the mayoral election,” Cllr Peter Golds, the leader of the opposition, told me. “Beforehand there may have been the odd comment, but never anything like this.”

“This” is the homophobic abuse to which Mr Golds, several other gay councillors and even a member of the public asking a question have been subjected in the council chamber. “It is horrible, absolutely bloody awful,” Golds says.

Mr Golds confirms that he was repeatedly subjected to homophobic abuse from the public gallery at the council’s abortive budget-setting meeting on February 23. “A prominent supporter of Lutfur Rahman with a very distinctive voice kept calling out ‘Mrs Golds! Mrs Golds!’ when I spoke,” he said. Another Rahman supporter called Mr Golds a “poofter.” A councillor, Anna Lynch, has made an official complaint about the abuse.

At the previous meeting, on February 2, Mr Golds says, Lutfur Rahman supporters in the public gallery heckled Labour’s deputy leader, Josh Peck, who is also openly gay, with the shout of “Unnatural acts! Unnatural acts!” At the same meeting, a member of the public who asked a question about bringing a (gay) Pride march to East London was greeted with “animal noises” from the public gallery, Mr Golds says.

The evidence of this abuse has been confirmed by Rachael Saunders, the Labour Chief Whip and also by Cllr Anna Lynch.  There is no place for such vile behaviour (reminiscent of the Nazi Party) in any city, but particularly not in a beautiful, tolerant and diverse capital like London.  This is an outrage.  The judgement of Mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone must be questioned, because he should know better than to have even the slightest association with  a man like Mr. Rahman who has such allegedly vile supporters.  Cllr Lynch has lodged a formal complaint.  Where is the sympathy and support for the people forced to endure these slurs from Mayoral candidate Ken?  Surely that is the least he can do?

nb.  Correction on matter raised by @Vote Axel on twitter.  Mr. Axel asked for clarification of my tweet of 4th March.  I am happy to confirm that there was a typo.  It was the allies of Mr. Rahman who allegedly indulged in the heckling,  there was no intention to suggest that Ken or Mr. Rahman indulged in homophobic heckling themselves.