News is doing the rounds about the Tory councillor, Ellenor Bland, Calne Town councillor and former Tory parliamentary candidate, who has been sending round racist emails.
The email contained the lines:
“We think UK darn good place. Too darn good for the white man race! If they no like us, they can scram. Got lots of room in Pakistan!”
The councillor in question has now been suspended and is claiming that it was her husband who sent it.
But questions remain as to how strong her support within the Conservative party is. The debate thread on ConservativeHome is revealing. Comments range from “what a fuss about nothing”, to “It’s a jokey rhyming poem pointing out what a soft touch we’ve become. Why can’t they just laugh this off?” and “All TRUE Tories (there aren’t many MPs who can legitimately call themselves this) must be aghast that this poor lady is being made into the sacrificial lamb by this ghastly leader, whilst that degenerate Gregory Barker (MP for Bexhill who had a gay affair with his ‘interior designer’) has no reprimand whatsoever.”
Regular readers of The Daily will also remember the Tory councillors John Hudson, Derek Tipp and Keith Standring who refused to back down from sharing a campaigning platform with a named BNP member on the Freedom Association’s Better Off Out campaign.
The Daily 
Speaking as one of those new ‘warm & cuddly’ Tories I only signed up on the strength of Cameron’s pledge to rid the party of vile people like this. Her performance on PM yesterday with Eddie Mair was shameful and if Cameron doesn’t come down on her like a tonne of bricks the party is finished..and deservedly so.
May will have to pop down russell and bromley again for her shoes and start calling them the very nasty party. But then a tory is a tory.
clealry the racist sentiments do resonate with the tories, at some level.
given that rome was not built in a day, on this front atleast, the tory party still has some way to go.
Just read an interesting article by Billy Bragg on integration and belonging:
“History is multilayered – many cultures can claim a place as their own. Take the Manchester Free Trade Hall, for example. It was built in 1856 as a meeting place for opponents of those who held a monopoly over the price of corn. Christabel Pankhurst, campaigning for votes for women, was arrested there in 1905 for spitting in the face of a policeman. In 1976 it was the venue for a Sex Pistols gig, an event which inspired the whole Manchester music scene. So whose tradition should be given prominence? The anti-corn-law movement, the suffragettes or the punks?”
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/comment/0,,1941287,00.html
The stuff mad Tories actually really do never ceases to trump the sort of thing I’d come up with if I was trying to make up lies about them. Breathtaking stuff!
So that’s ‘racist mockery, yes’, ‘sexual relationship between consenting adults, no’. A Conservative future really would be a very dark place indeed.
I was particularly impressed with her response today that some of her best friends are Asian. Brilliant.
“We do have friends of all kinds – we actually have German in-laws. And we have friends who are Asian. I wouldn’t be rude to them.”
It just gets better and better.
Clearly this woman deserves a safe seat as the archetypal Tory candidate!
I do hope that ConHome and Guido start a campaign to have her reinstated like they did with that guy from Orange.
This must be the perpetual fear of Cameron that he can be undermined by stories like this at any given opportunity. We went through the tough and much-needed process of removing Militant and cleansed the party of their repugnant politics. Trouble is if Cameron took on all those with racist, sexist or homophobic views, he would be fighting a quite considerable number within his membership. He’s right to try though.
Yeah, and aside from the damage to the Tories own image, this sort of thing helps to remind Labour people why – whatever our differences – we’re on the same side as each other and on the opposite side to the appalling Mrs Bland.
This could be a fantastic opportunity for DC to purge his party of the likes of Ellenor Bland. But closer to home, I note that Ann Winterton is still a Tory MP.
I thought Michael Howard had dealt with her, but evidently the local party had other ideas! Cameron still has a long way to go …
“Cameron still has a long way to go … ”
the well plugged in and astute observor Philip Stephens of the Financial Times reckons that the next election is going to be down to the public perception of which party can handle the public services better.
sham, Ann Winterton is still there and want to continue to be there…apparently Cameron team would like some old guard MPs like the Wintertons and co to stand down at next GE to make room for some fresh new faces (from the A List).
The Wintertons (according to the Torygraph) already replied that they want to stand again. When Ann was asked about the rumours of Adam Rickitt replacing Sir Nicholas, she allegedly said that they should pass over her dead body to do so.
“When Ann was asked about the rumours of Adam Rickitt replacing Sir Nicholas, she allegedly said that they should pass over her dead body to do so.”
Funny, if I were a Tory I might advise Cameron to do just that!
Ian, are you suggesting that DC first policy announcement should be physically getting rid of Ann Winterton? 😉