Earlier this year, a veteran member of the
European Parliament from Britain's Conservative Party, made news when he stood
up to British Prime Minister-in-waiting David Cameron's alliance with right
wing Polish politician Michal Kaminski. That MEP, Edward McMillan-Scott, accused Kaminski of being a "fascist"
with "anti-Semitic,
homophobic, and racist links."
As it happens,
there seems to be evidence that lends considerable support to all of those
assertions. And how has the likely next
leader of the United Kingdom rewarded the courage of this stalwart of his party
who has served for a quarter century? A
gold watch perhaps? No, he has given him
his walking papers, kicking him out of the Conservative Party.
Such is the
character of the man who, according to this week's polls, is the heavy favorite
to move to 10 Downing Street after the next general election. It reveals much about him as a man and about
the kind of party he wants to run. So
much for a system that thrives on debate and cherishes honesty.
Of course if
the only way to cover up the flaws in your record are with lies or enforced
silence, I suppose silence is a better choice, even if it is not necessarily
the one you would expect from a former flack like Cameron. In this case however, the silence speaks
volumes ... not only about Cameron but about the flock of sheep who now run his
party ... and one can only hope this public political execution has the same
effect on the British electorate that ill-considered beheadings have done in
times past.
Whatever happened
to perspectives like that of an on-again, off-again Tory from the last century
who said: "The truth is
incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the
end; there it is." (And do you think
Cameron would have made it above the rank of State Secretary for Snooker and
Other Silly Games in a Churchill government?)
Matt Cardy/Getty Images
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