It's fashionable in some circles to think William Hague has redeemed himself over the past 9 years since he resigned as Tory Leader in the wake of a hefty defeat after he led a narrow minded, bigoted campaign. Since then, he's become a funny, cuddly national treasure, the doyen of the Have I Got News for You circuit and is a million miles from his earlier persona. His change mirrors the metamorphosis of the Tories to an inclusive party which embraces equality. Aye, right.
Today at PMQs, or perhaps it should have been renamed the Ashcroft Debate, Hague made a really obnoxious comment to Harriet Harman about how she's supposed to stand up for gender equality yet her husband can get selected for a safe seat.
What a nerve! I doubt he'd have made such an issue if it had been Gordon Brown's wife who'd been selected so why is Harriet fair game?
Is Dromey's parachuting into a safe Labour seat not more to do with his lifelong association with one of the country's biggest unions?
Hague's judgement may have been affected by the egg that was running down his face on the Ashcroft Affair, but still, it shows that behind the nice cuddly tree hugging Tory Party image beats the old, bad heart with the old, bad values.
2 comments:
I didn't see the remark first-hand, but from your description of it it doesn't sound sexist, just anti-nepotistic. I'm sure similar comments would indeed be made if Sarah Brown were a PPC.
I think the problem is that almost every safe Labour seat that has come up for selection in the last few months has been an AWS. Lo and behold, Jack Dromey wants to stand and Birmingham Erdington is designated as open, and he gets in.
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