Should we all be wearing hoodies?
If I were Conservative leader (and for my sake and theirs, I hope I never am) I would worry when the Daily Telegraph turned against me. Today’s Daily Telegraph carries an interesting commentary from Gill Hornby, calling for David Cameron to speak up and speak out against his former man in Watford.
It is time for him to start telling us what he stands for. When the Ian Oakley scandal first broke, the official Conservative response was that it would be “inappropriate” to comment. But now he has actually pleaded guilty to a three-year sexist vendetta, and still the new, modern, forward-thinking, women-friendly party has failed to come up with even a line. Could we perhaps, future prime minister, hear your views?
As my Watford constituency colleague Iain Sharpe has said, “No one should crow, but it is impossible to refrain from commenting about the silence from both Watford Conservatives and the national party“. Yet four days after that posting, there is still a deafening silence from Cameron and his team. It appears that Dave might want his party to hug hoodies, but he’s not going to go as far as apologising to Liberal Democrats.
Now I am certain that if one of my senior LibDem colleagues, let alone the parliamentary candidate had been behaving in a similar manner to Oakley, I would be demanding an inquiry. I would be embarrassed, furious and feel badly let down. I certainly wouldn’t turn up to court to support them and give them a hug. Yet still the Conservatives keep quiet. Just how quiet can be seen from the blogosphere. Tonight I set myself the task of checking all 267 blogs listed as Conservative on the Total Politics web site to see if I was doing them a disservice. Not a pleasant task, I can tell you!
Of those 267, just four mention Ian Oakley at all. I do apologise if I missed one, but the mixture of right-wing tirades, sycophantic quotes and people with an unhealthy interest in countries on the other side of the world started to wear me out. Excluding Iain Dale and Conservative Home (of which, more later) there were just two brave enough to mention the thug that dare not speak his name. One Tory described it as ‘deeply disturbing‘, whilst another has that well-known picture of a man in a bad taste shirt, headlined ‘What a nutter‘, with the caption, ‘Not smiling now, are you Mr Oakley?
Several LibDem blogs have picked up on Hornby’s thoughts. including Mark Pack, Paul Walter and Jennie Rigg. Still silence from the Tories. Maybe we Watford LibDems should all put on our hoodies? Or maybe Ian Oakley already has his on.
Related posts:
- Nothing to do with us, mate
- McBride, Draper and the Ian Oakley link
- What shall we do with the little toerag?
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