Tory Bigot Rapped - Now The Spin

After a welter of condemnation - some of it from within his own party - the recent activities of Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski have at last earned him a rebuke. The BBC has reported that “Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski has been reprimanded by his party for sharing a platform with some of Europe's leading far-right politicians”.

Daniel Kawczynski

There was more. “The party said his appearance at the same event as Hungary's nationalist PM Viktor Orban and Italy's leader Matteo Salvini was ‘not acceptable’. The Conservative Party said the MP had accepted this and apologised. Labour and Jewish campaign groups have been calling for him to be suspended from the party”.

So what did the Tories say (eventually) about Kawczynski’s actions? “Daniel Kawczynski has been formally warned that his attendance at this event was not acceptable, particularly in light of the views of some of those in attendance, which we utterly condemn, and that he is expected to hold himself to higher standards. Daniel has accepted this and apologised.”

But then the thought occurred that a mere rap over the knuckles was rather lenient, especially as more than 20 Tory MPs had effectively been kicked out of the party recently for defying alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson over Brexit. The message being sent out by The Blue Team is that rubbing shoulders with racists and anti-Semites is not as bad as disagreeing with your party leader.

Clearly, what was needed was some kind of deflection, a little creative spin, to get critics to look somewhere else. And right on cue, to no surprise at all, riding to the rescue of the Tory right came the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog, where replacement teaboy Tom Harwood was on hand to blame Welsh Labour.

What time is it, Eccles?

Er, WHAT? Yes, Welsh Labour. “Funnily enough …  Labour politicians have not condemned their own party for associating with the speakers too … One of the other top listed speakers was Matthias Storme, a party board member of the Flemish N VA. That’s the same N VA that Welsh Labour did a deal with just last month”. But they didn’t.

Last month, Eluned Morgan AM, Minister for International Relations and the Welsh Language in the Welsh Assembly Government, visited Brussels as a representative of that Government, and met the Minister-President of the Government of Flanders. He noted “the potential for a Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of Flanders and Wales, creating a clear commitment to ongoing close collaboration”.

Note “the potential for” a MofA. That’s why Teaboy Tom put “Close Collaboration” in quotes - because there wasn’t any, and nor was there a deal. Also, it was one Government representative talking to another, which Kawczynski certainly wasn’t. Harwood once again demonstrates his commitment to the usual Fawkes high standards of, er, lying.

But good to see that, when the Tories are getting stick for the bigotry within their ranks, they can always count on the provisional wing of Bozo’s spin operation to kick someone else. It’s only a pity that Harwood is such a rank amateur. Another fine mess.

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