One of the major scandals of last week’s local elections was the decision by the Tories – scrabbling for anything to call ‘good’ news against a strong Labour performance – to reinstate a councillor suspended for sharing a vile racist ‘joke’, in order to gain control of Pendle council.
A SKWAWKBOX exclusive led to Ms Carroll’s suspension – but she appeared to dismiss it and the outrage of other councillors.
The Tories attempted to excuse Rosemary Carroll’s horrific ‘joke’ by claiming that she had meant to delete it and shared it instead – Tory chair Brandon Lewis’ excuse even though you can’t delete someone else’s post on Facebook.
The Pendle decision came against a backdrop of eighteen Tory councillors or candidates suspended for racism, homophobia or misogyny during the campaign.
Today, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell put out a tweet calling on followers to sign a petition calling Councillor Carroll to resign – and for the Tories to expel her permanently:
The petition has so far gathered almost five thousand signatures – but with the level of outrage Ms Carroll’s reinstatement generated, it should have far more and fast.
Sign and share to raise awareness.
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Mrs May always reminds me of a crow,and now I see you have Brandon Lee as Tory chair.
Steve (skwawkbox): My apologies for changing the subject, but will you be reporting on the defeat in the Commons today to proceed with Leveson Part 2, and a breakdown of how the parties voted AND who abstained etc?
Forgive me, but I just want to say the following in relation to what happened in the Commons yesterday.
In an article in the Guardian yesterday, and referring to Ken Clarke, who was one of the five Tories who voted in favour of Leveson Part 2 (and Justice Secretary at the time of Part 1), it said:
‘He says everyone in the Commons favours a free press. He says it is “a joke” to suggest that holding a Leveson two inquiry will undermine that.’
And Ken Clarke said THAT in the full knowledge that THAT is precisely what the Sun and the Mail and the Express etc have been telling their millions of readers, the millions of people who they lie to and misinform on a regular basis. The point is of course that these so-called newspapers are the Establishment’s propaganda mouthpiece, and they – the Establishment and their newspaper buddies – weren’t going to let the control they have over what people think and feel about any particular topic or individual etc be undermined or jeopardised by anyone.
And Tom Watson has made the point in the past that despite the then Prime Minister David Cameron promising that Leveson Part 2 would go ahead, it was of course a false promise, and the PTB never had any intention of letting that happen. But then David Cameron couldn’t very well have said THAT at the time of course – ie that he and the Tories weren’t going to proceed with Leveson Part 2!
The following is a link to a Sun article that is just one Big Lie – in true Nazi fashion – from start to finish. And the Mail and Express etc were churning out the same black propaganda lies and disinformation to their millions of readers as well of course:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6239403/press-freedom-tom-watson-labour/
I’d just like to amend a passage in the fourth paragraph of my above post:
………..and they – the Establishment and their newspaper buddies – weren’t going to let the control they have over what people think and feel and BELIEVE about any particular topic or individual etc be undermined or jeopardised by anyone.
You can’t expect people to sign something if they don’t know what it is. What is she alleged to have said?
If you click on the high-lighted word ‘sign’ at the end of the above article, you can read what she did there.
Thank you, Allan. That is helpful.
You can’t possibly be serious! You REALLY don’t know? What the hell are you doing on a site like this with *that* level of ignorance? Looks like a Tory apologist to me….
It’s linked several times in the article
Sorry my previous comment is awaiting moderation was meant light heartedly not to cause offence. I intended to point out that Mrs May seems to crow a lot when speaking,the BBC yesterday said she crowed over local election results at PMQs. In another article yesterday you referred to her making a Freudian slip and I wondered if your naming of the Tory chair in your piece as Brandon Lee ,who played The Crow was also a Freudian slip. Perhaps I should stop reading so many conspiracy theories.
“This petition calls on Cllr Rosemary Carroll to resign her seat (Earby Ward) on Pendle Borough Council, and calls on the Conservatives to expel her from the party for good.”
The problem with this is that it calls for her permanent expulsion from the Conservative Party. It assumes that such people cannot subsequently change their views. It is thus rather defeatist and pessimistic. I would have had no problem signing it if the ‘for good’ part was not there.
John McDonnell has often had this approach and I do not agree with it.
I agree with Tony. ‘For good’ is overkill and panders to the current mania for seeing mischief in everything people say if you don’t like them or disagree with them.
People must be allowed to reform. I’ve been racially/misogynistically abused myself on a few occasions but just just shrugged it off. We must guard against over-reaction – it doesn’t help.