Conservative candidate Ivor Tiefenbrun resigns over insult to Scots

They say a week is a long time in politics, however, for Ivor Tiefenbrun three days is enough.

On Monday he was the Conservative candidate for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn.

On Tuesday, he insulted Scots while at the same time defending Margaret Thatcher in an interview published in The Scotsman.

Also on Tuesday,  a spokesman for the Scottish Tories denied Mr Tiefenbrun had made the comments, stating:

"The candidate denies using these words and does not hold these views."

On Wednesday, he has to resign as the Conservative candidate for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn.

However, in a statement published today [Wednesday], Mr Tiefenbrun said:

"There are many important issues facing our country and I have no desire for anything to divert my party - or indeed the media - from concentrating on those vital challenges.

"Accordingly, I will not be standing in the forthcoming Holyrood elections. I wish my successor and our candidates across Scotland well in May."

Andrew Fulton, Scottish Conservative Party Chairman, added:

"I have spoken to Ivor and respect and understand his decision which has been taken in the best interests of the party."

So, the Conservative Party are now seeking a new candidate for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, preferably one who doesn't insult the very people they may well rely on for votes next May.

Conservative candidate Ivor Tiefenbrun describes Scots as "so thick"

I must admit when I read the headline in yesterday's Scotsman, I did  a double take and thought “Really?”  Would anyone be so stupid as to say that?  Has The Scotsman got this out of context?
 

Apparently not.  The Conservative candidate Ivor Tiefenbrun has defended Margaret Thatcher's policies and in doing so said "It's only because Scots are so thick that this was swallowed."

Now,  I have to be honest, Ivor isn't the only man to defend Margaret Thatcher's policies. A fairly well known Scot within the world of politics has also done this, not yesterday but during the Glenrothes by-election in 2008. This person said that the Scots didn't mind Thatcher's policies.

Have you guessed who it is yet?

Well it was in fact Wee Eck himself, our very own First Minister and leader of the single issue party itself, the SNP's Alex Salmond.

Who would have thought that he would support the devastation that Thatcher brought to Scotland?

Anyway, I digress. Back to Ivor who has in fact been selected as the Tory candidate for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn.

He claimed Baroness Thatcher had;

"saved our cities" in Scotland and had broken the "corrupt power" of the trade unions as well as "enabling people to buy their own homes" during her 11 years in power.

No-one will argue that allowing people to buy their homes was entirely a bad thing, although we should remember that most councils were then prevented using the money raised from the sale of these homes to build  any more by Thatcher. That’s why we have such an affordable housing crisis today. Ivor Tiefenbrun played a leading role in the anti-devolution Think Twice campaign so isn't always on message with Scots anyway.

Mr Tiefenbrun defended the 1980s governments of Lady Thatcher, whose controversial policies included the unpopular poll tax and wide scale closure of Scottish coal mines.

He said:

"The way Labour work is that they have demonised Thatcher as if she was an evil force.

"It's only because Scots are so thick that this was swallowed."

When asked to explain his comments by The Scotsman, Mr Tiefenbrun said;

"You would have to be thick to accept that" Lady Thatcher had been bad for Scotland.

I am neither a Scot, although I now live here and call this home,  nor am I thick and I can see the damage that Margaret Thatcher and the Conservatives did across Scotland in the 1980s. What I can also see is that Labour didn't mend some of the damage either.

During the Glasgow East and Glasgow North East by-elections in the last two years I saw that there are still areas of deprivation which should not exist in this day and age and it is only down to the communities living there that they don't let it beat them.  Yes the Conservatives did damage this country and they should be ashamed of themselves.

Ivor Tiefenbrun continued;

"We have to look at the education system and ask if we have got too many teachers."

Too many teachers?  When did Mr Tiefenbrun last visit a school?

The Tory businessman was last night heavily criticised for his remarks, which included a claim that patients could;

"walk into hospitals and be dead in 48 hours from an infection."

Annabel Goldie has a lot to deal with being the leader of the 4th party in Scotland with just one MP in Westminster and candidates such as Gill Dykes claiming to be an MSP when she isn't, John Lamont who is bored of Holyrood and now Ivor Tiefenbrun who is insulting Scots by calling them "so thick".

I hope Annabel does the decent thing and at the very least insists Mr Tiefenbrun issues an apology, very quickly, or he may just face calls for his resignation from the good folk of Glasgow.

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray stabbed in the neck

I thought this photo on The Herald website was a great catch.

It shows Iain Gray MSP, leader of Scottish Labour with an obvious item sticking out of his neck, so which of his own MSPs has done that?

Obviously, it is a microphone, just in case you were wondering?

My little blog gets a mention on The Guardian website

My little blog continues to go from strength to strength and this week another first was achieved.

On October 1st my blog was mentioned on the Society Daily section, written by Patrick Butler.

On my radar ...

• Nadine Dorries MP. I thought at first her blog attack on "benefit scroungers" who Tweet was a hilarious spoof. But apparently not. Much Tweet anger followed yesterday, and some good blog ripostes, such as these by blogger Mind in Flux, Ms Humphrey Cushion and Liberal Democrat activist Andrew Reeves. Reeves writes:

"Oh my god, it is stupid ridiculous comments like ...[Dorries'] that remind me despite being in coalition, our two parties are so far apart."

And here's Rich Watts' pithy Tweet:

"I don't know which is funnier: a) Nadine Dorries's indignation, or b) Nadine Dorries's obvious ignorance and stupidity."

Dorries has kept digging though. You can read the latest instalment of her War on "the left wing Twitterati" and the Workshy here.

So my thanks to Patrick Butler but I really should thank Nadine Dorries MP whom without the blog post - Conservative MP Nadine Dorries loses the plot - would never have been written.

My monthly report on internet stat porn

So, continuing my monthly stat porn figures for anyone who is remotely interested in who reads my little blog, the monthly summary of my visitor stats according to google analytics is as below for September 2010.

The busiest day on my blog last month was Wednesday 1st September and the story was about the coalition replacing NHS Direct but highlighting Labour's hypocrisy and lies on this as it was in their election manifesto, to do the very same thing - many thanks to Guido Fawkes for linking to the story.

Last month I had 6,950 absolute unique visitors, over 2,500 up from last month. They made 8,169 visits and 10,231 page views.

11.46% of the visitors were through direct traffic, 59.53% from referring sites and 29.01% via search engines.

So, my top 10 referring sites for the last month (with previous position in brackets) were;

1. Order-Order.com (1)
=2. Facebook (3)
=2. Twitter (2)
=4. Lib Dem Blogs (4)
=4. Lib Dem Voice (5)
6. Blogger.com (7)
7. Google.co.uk (8)
8. SNP Tactical Voting (6)
9. Total Politics (49)
9. Better Nation (New Entry)

During September I wrote 31 blog posts, once again keeping up the momentum from the month before.

The top 10 stories by direct page views that you've read most were;

1. John Prescott, Labour and the truth about NHS Direct
2. William Hague's special adviser Christopher Myers quits
3. The Liberal Democrats Conference in Liverpool was a disaster
4. Clinton Cards - homophobic or just plain lazy?
5. No word from Clinton Cards on whether they are homophobic or just plain lazy?
6. Conservative Minister to address the Liberal Democrat Conference this weekend
7. Chris Bryant MP tells Sky's Kay Burley she's a bit dim
8. Rugby star Gavin Henson strips off to raise awareness for male cancer
9. Clinton Cards answer back
10. Conservative MP Nadine Dorries loses the plot

This month is dominated by Clinton Cards stories, Labour's lies about NHS Direct (again), Conservatives quitting, Kay Burley is dim according to Chris Bryant MP, a naked Gavin Henson and Conservative MP Nadine Dorries loses the plot once more.

The visitors to my little blog came from 81 countries this month, up 13 from 68 last time, the top ten were as follows;

1. United Kingdom (1)
2. United States (2)
3. France (3)
4. Canada (5)
5. Spain (10)
6. Ireland (5)
=7. Netherlands (9)
=7. Germany (=7)
=9. Australia (=7)
=9. Belgium (4)

Scottish Police pledge swifter response for homophobic and racist crimes

Why?

I am sorry, I really do not agree with this one and I say that as someone who has suffered homophobic crime twice in my lifetime, one was a mugging and the other was more serious.

Did I want the police to prioritise those crimes any differently to the occasion we were burgled, absolutely not, they were all crimes and I would want them treating no differently to any other crime.

The Scotsman was carrying this story earlier this week and Assistant Chief Constable Mike McCormick, of Lothian and Borders Police, said:

"We wanted to make sure our own staff were aware of the impact hate crime has.

This I agree with, informing all of the rank and file officers of the impact is a sensible aspect of this manual.

"If you punch me in the nose because you don't like me because of the colour of my skin, race, sexuality or whatever, that has a longer effect because I'm thinking that not only does this person not like me, but lots of other people won't like me either.

I don't agree with this and it certainly was not how I was feeling after any of the three crimes I have suffered (two homophobic and one other).

"If people say 'I had not meant any harm' it was just a bit of loose language, we're saying think hard before you say something. And we want victims of hate crime to know this is how we feel."

Again sensible, but did this really require the eight Police Forces of Scotland to bring together their best practice into one manual, or actually are we saying use your common sense?

The manual represents a promise to protect, not only ethnic minorities, but anyone who might be prejudiced against because of age, disability, gender including transgender, race including gypsy/travellers, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.

It is backed by new powers in the Offences Aggravated by Prejudice (Scotland) Act, which was passed in Scottish Parliament earlier this year.

All commons sense again, or as my Mum used to say, treat other people how you would expect to be treated, good advice that if a few more people took heed of, the society we live in can only benefit.

There was one part in the article that was spot on.

Sergeant Martin White, of the diversity unit at Lothian and Borders Police, one of the officers who wrote the manual, said:

"(Under the act] if someone is arrested for hate crime, we must look to put them before the courts as soon as possible, if not from custody then bailed to appear as soon as possible.

"In the courts, hate crime has to be recorded and reflected in the sentence. It gives the courts the chance to give an appropriate sentence."

But surely, every single victim of crime deserves that same right?

All crime has to be recorded and the sentence must reflect the crime.

My message to all Scottish Police Officers today is simple, once the crime is identified ensure the perpetrator is apprehended and pushed through the system.

My message to the courts and judges is also simple, ensure you act swiftly, take the accused off the streets and ensure the sentence fits and is carried out to completion, a weeks good behaviour behind bars doesn't help the victim, whoever they are.

Please let us not treat homophobic or racist crimes any different, crime is crime and if you commit crime, you should be punished - simples!