Right-wing MP Ian Austin has a habit of outraging Labour supporters – and others. He has been called ‘thuggish’ and a ‘unpleasant bully’and attacked Jewish author Michael Rosen when Rosen was a guest in Parliament to consult on antisemitism.
And just last week he rewrote his history in order to attack Labour general secretary Jennie Formby, claiming that Labour had ‘dropped’ action against him for aggressive behaviour toward two fellow MPs when in fact he had been reprimanded and warned.
Last week he also attacked Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell after McDonnell described Winston Churchill as ‘more villain than hero’ because Churchill had ordered troops to open fire on striking Welsh miners. Austin revealed on Twitter that he had a statuette of the former Tory PM on his mantel at home and called Churchill the ‘greatest ever Briton’.
But it turns out Churchill is not the only Tory ex-Prime Minister for whom Austin has a soft spot.
Speaking to LBC radio, Austin described Margaret Thatcher as a ‘hero’ when asked:
Ian Austin was asked about his comments but did not respond.
SKWAWKBOX comment:
There was no sense of hesitation from Austin, of any weighing up of the massive damage she did to working-class communities, nor of her own involvement in brutal attacks on striking miners.
She went to war for political expediency and that seems to be enough for him to answer without hesitation.
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Birds of a feather……..
….should be buried together.
You dig the hole, I’ll “prepare” him and keep watch 🙂
Yes Thatcher was an hero who used our North Sea oil politically for the rich and powerful to break trade unions and herald in the age of Neo-Liberal cheap labour. Thatcher also let manufacturing go whilst promoting finance capital.
Oh and meanwhile Norway used its oil for its people and now has a trillion dollar Wealth Fund.
A hero indeed for Neo-Liberal Tory Barbarians and Right Wing Labour political imbeciles!
As did her protégé
Tuck in, Foster
What’s Austin’s problem ? Maybe he should join the Tories?
There are some things a genuine Socialist can never forgive. I would like Mr Austin to come with me to a mining village in the North East and repeat his opinion in the club.
I’m surprised he doesn’t carry a thatcher style handbag around with him. Tory blert that he is.
Who selected these MPs in the first place?
That, of course, is a painful question.
I do have an answer about the false optimism of the early Blair years and the on-going effects in CLPs. But that’s a painful answer.
I remember being asked why I didn’t want to go and see Blair doing one of his invitation only visits – and the numbers who were happy to pick up an invitation. And that was quite late on.
I also remember being berated by a newly elected London-based Blairite MP and another such who had been invited as a speaker – at a constituency meeting – when I questioned the direction being taken by some policies, particularly on the NHS and Education. The response from the visiting MP was ‘I’m proud to be a Blarite’.
The saving grace was the recently retired local MP (who, had strictly observed the protocol of not undermining a successor) muttering “You’re right” as we exited. But, at that time, I guess I was in a minority.
We’re seeing something that has come to inevitable fruition after a long period.
Winston Churchill advocated an unprovoked atomic attack on Moscow.
“America knows that fifty-two percent of Russia’s motor industry is in Moscow and could be wiped out by a single bomb. It might mean wiping out three million people, but they [the Soviets ] would think nothing of that.”
This was in 1946, one year after he advocated recruiting German troops to help launch an unprovoked invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Unthinkable).
Somehow, I rather doubt that these facts would diminish Austin’s enthusiasm for Churchill.
https://www.icij.org/blog/2014/10/churchill-urged-us-wipe-out-moscow-bomb/