I see that the Daily Mail is off on
one of its tirades again... the targets this time are the Labour MP for Leeds East,
Richard Burgon and his partner, Shelly Asquith. Under a headline proclaiming,
"Jeremy Corbyn's justice chief, 36, poses with his 'lawbreaker' lover, 26, who believes religious extremists should have the right to break the law"
it says that the MP,
"has gone public with the romance in classic Corbynista style – by posing with Miss Asquith alongside a statue of Karl Marx."
So there we have it... all us Corbynistas have a BIG problem now: we have not posed with our lovers alongside the statue of Karl Marx so we cannot be proper Corbynistas! Perhaps we need to organise a mass outing to put that right - does anyone have a bus big enough to take half a million of us to Berlin and back tomorrow afternoon?
But wait, the headline said that Ms Asquith is a "lawbreaker" - is posing with a statue of Marx now an offence? The DM goes on to assert that,
"Miss Asquith, vice-president of welfare for the National Union of Students, has campaigned against the Government’s drive to stop young Muslims being radicalised in colleges, describing it as ‘racist’ and a restriction on free speech."
So it's not the posing with the statue that's illegal then? It must be campaigning against something she disagrees with... but do you know something? I think she has a point, and I am not alone in that view. Writing in the
Guardian last October, Ian Cobain reported,
"Following a nine-month examination of the programme known as Prevent, the Open Society Justice Initiative has recommended a major government rethink, particularly on its use in the education and health systems."
He went on to say,
"It is the second time in three months that Prevent has faced criticisms following a major study. In July, another NGO, Rights Watch UK, concluded that the programme stifles free speech."
So, why would the DM have a go at Ms Asquith about it then, given that two major rights watch organisations have expressed the same concerns? Could that be because she is dating an MP that they don't like?
Ms Asquith did say at some time that,
"Well, I think there are some laws that should be broken",
but given that practically everyone in the whole country has, at some time, broken one law* or another either deliberately or accidentally is this something the DM should be pillorying her about? She only said that she thought it, she didn't say she broke them herself! Is thinking illegal too, now?
In fact, breaking the law is how we came to have many of the rights we now have: the
Tolpuddle Martyrs broke the law, the
Suffragettes broke the law, sometimes it is the only way to achieve justice!
Meanwhile, Mr Burgon
"is a staunch Republican who staged a protest against the Queen while taking his oath to enter the Commons."
Ahhhh, so he's a red, a rebel, he probably should be locked up in the Tower of London for the next century then have his head chopped off and his innards draped across Traitor's Gate! How very dare he suggest that not having a Queen might be a good thing for the country? All that pomp and ceremony, privilege and expenditure, all those big houses and expensive posh togs... what is the world coming? So what did he do? Spit in the Queen's face? Poke his tongue out at Prince Philip? Kick a corgi? Nothing so exciting it seems, he simply said:
"As someone that believes that the head of state should be elected I make this oath in order to serve my constituents."
He then said:
"I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God."
Look at that! Not even an affirmation of a man without a religion, he swore by Almighty God to be faithful to the Queen and her offspring... what sort of red-blooded Commie does that?!
Meanwhile, a
YouGov poll of 1579 people in 2015 found a majority of the common people want to keep the monarchy (probably as they get a day off for Royal weddings and coronations, and it does bring in a shedload of tourists with money who like all the Royal ceremonial stuff and tea-towels with guardsmen and Big Ben on them), so,
"Over seven in ten (71%) adults believe the British monarchy should remain, with less than a fifth (18%) saying we should have an elected head of state instead."
Meanwhile, another
much larger poll with 606,934 respondents produced a slightly lower figure of 67% against abolition of the monarchy, so although Richard Burgon isn't alone in favouring Republicanism, removing the monarchy is not something that is going to happen anytime soon, and that YouGov survey also found that 62% of those polled believe Britain will still have a monarch in 100 years' time (although probably not the same one!)
Mr Burgon's final misdeed appears to have been his attendance at a (whispers quietly) Communist event some 9 years ago, 7 years before he actually became an MP; the DM stated,
"As recently as 2008 he was a guest speaker at a meeting of the Leeds branch of the Communist Party celebrating the 1917 Russian Revolution."
Celebrating a revolution eh? Now there's revolutionary... of course the 1917 Russian Revolution (actually two revolutions, one in February and another in October) was about the overthrowing of a repressive Tsarist regime by a people so hungry and oppressed that they felt they had nothing to lose by doing so, and the formation of a state run by the people for the people. So was young Mr Burgon encouraging Commies in Leeds to follow suit and overthrow Her Maj? Was he proposing chucking the Duchess of Cornwall off the end of Bridlington Pier? Was he suggesting converting Buckingham Palace into a refugee camp for asylum seekers? Was he fiddlesticks! The official programme of events stated,
"Yorkshire activists from the Communist Party & Young Communist League are leading the way in the annual international celebrations of the Russian Revolution of 1917 by declaring ‘Red October’ throughout the region this month.
"The Party & YCL has worked with a variety of local progressive organisations to create a programme of public events to celebrate the 91st anniversary of the revolution, and to add some much-needed revolutionary heat to a dour Yorkshire winter.
"Events begin with a public meeting in Leeds at the Swarthmore Education Centre on the 1st October at 7pm, where Richard Burgon from Leeds Labour Party will be speaking about the current political crisis within Labour. Admission is free and all are welcome."
Ahhh not so much a Yorkshire revolution then, as a coming together of progressive organisations to try and build a better future at a time when the world was facing a huge banking crisis: said crisis having been caused by various big business, banking and right-wing interests, of course. Those same sorts of interests that own national newspapers like the Daily Mail. Funny that, isn't it?
I wonder if they provided tea and biscuits at the public meeting?
* What do you mean you haven't broken the law? Have you never exceeded the speed limit? Dropped a piece of litter? Written on a banknote? Bought a drink for someone who is drunk? Downloaded a bootleg album or video? Allowed your child to eat a packet of biscuits in a shop before you had paid for them? Used your mobile phone whilst driving? Hah! Thought so.... Gotchya!
