DebateGate

General Category => 3DHS => Topic started by: _JS on March 08, 2007, 12:49:57 PM

Title: Conservative Steps Down Over Comment
Post by: _JS on March 08, 2007, 12:49:57 PM
Tory MP sacked over 'black bastard' comments

James Sturcke and Matthew Tempest
Thursday March 8, 2007

Guardian Unlimited (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329739334-107980,00.html)

The Conservative homeland security spokesman, Patrick Mercer, today stepped down after saying that being called a "black bastard" was part-and-parcel of life in the armed forces.
The party leader, David Cameron, said the remarks by the MP for Newark and Retford were "totally unacceptable".

Mr Mercer becomes the first frontbench resignation of Mr Cameron's 15-month reign as leader.

Although the Tories are not using the word "sacked", his resignation was demanded, offered - and accepted.

Mr Cameron put out an immediate statement regretting Mr Mercer's remarks, adding: "We should not tolerate racism in the army or in any walk of life. Patrick Mercer is no longer a shadow minister."

In an interview with Times Online, Mr Mercer said he used to command a battalion with five black company sergeant majors.

"They prospered inside my regiment but if you'd said to them, 'have you ever been called a nigger?' they would have said 'yes'.

"But equally, a chap with red hair, for example, would also get a hard time - a far harder time than a black man, in fact," he said.

"But that's the way it is in the army. If someone is slow on the assault course, you'd get people shouting 'come on you fat bastard, come on you ginger bastard, come on you black bastard.'"

Mr Mercer said he "deeply regretted" the offence he had "obviously caused".

The story went online late this morning, and Mr Mercer had resigned by 3pm.

The Liberal Democrats immediately seized on the resignation to say it showed the Conservative party had not changed under Mr Cameon.

Ed Davey, Sir Menzies Campbell's chief of staff, said: "Despite David Cameron's desperate attempts to portray his party as moderate and modern, the reality is that the heart and soul of the Conservative party still holds deeply unpleasant views."

In his statement, Mr Mercer went on to praise the work of ethnic miniority officers in the British army.

He said: "I had the privilege to command soldiers from across the east Midlands of whom many came from racial minorities. It was a matter of great pride to me that racial minorities prospered inside the unit, and, indeed at one stage all of my company sergeant majors were black.

"What I have said is clearly misjudged and I can only apologise if I have embarrassed in anyway those fine men whom I commanded. I have no hesitation in resigning my frontbench appointment."

In the original interview, the former colonel also said that when serving with the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters he came across "a lot" of soldiers from ethnic minority backgrounds "who were idle and useless, but who used racism as cover for their misdemeanours".

The Conservative party's central office, after initially claiming that Mr Mercer's comments were a private matter based on his experience in the army, later condemned him.

The defence minister, Derek Twigg, said Mr Mercer's comments were "unbelievable".

"We put a great deal of priority into recruiting ethnic minorities to the armed forces and they play a very valuable role. These comments are not helpful," Mr Twigg told Sky News.

"They [the armed forces chiefs] will be disappointed and angry that these comments have been made at a time when we are doing all we can to increase ethnic minorities in the armed forces. We have a zero tolerance to racial abuse. It is unbelievable that these comments are being made."

The Labour MP Sadiq Khan said: "Anybody who understands racism knows it is a broad spectrum of things. It starts with ridicule and ends with people dying because of the colour of their skin. When a mother or father allows their son or daughter to join the armed forces, there is a duty of care on the forces to look after them."

The Runnymede Trust, an ethnic minority pressure group, said the comments were "completely unhelpful".

"That is an entirely inappropriate response," said the trust's chairwoman, Michelynn Lafleche. "It is so inappropriate that leaders in our society should think and say such things. It is morally wrong, legally wrong and ethically wrong."

Mr Mercer's now-vacant post of shadow homeland security is a Conservative invention and has no direct equivalent in government.

Mr Mercer trained at Kelham theological college near Newark and studied history at Oxford University, before joining the army.

During his time in the Sherwood Foresters, he completed nine tours in Northern Ireland and commanded his battalion in Bosnia and Canada.

Other tours included time in Uganda and Germany and he served as an instructor at both the staff college, Camberley, and at the army's university at Cranfield.

In 1999, Mr Mercer left the army and accepted a post as the defence reporter for BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He left the BBC when he was selected as the Conservative candidate for Newark, and became a freelance journalist writing for the Daily Telegraph.

In the 2001 general election, Mr Mercer overturned a Labour majority of 3,000 to win the seat by nearly 4,000 votes. He was appointed in June 2003 to the newly created frontbench position of shadow minister for homeland security.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Title: Re: Conservative Steps Down Over Comment
Post by: Plane on March 09, 2007, 04:06:12 AM
Where are his former Army comerades and their opinion?
Title: Re: Conservative Steps Down Over Comment
Post by: _JS on March 09, 2007, 09:32:14 AM
Good question Plane.

From the BBC
Quote
Leroy Hutchinson, a black former corporal who served with Mr Mercer for 12 years, said: "He never tolerated racism in the battalion and not a single one of his men would consider him to be racist."

He added: "In the forces... name-calling - whether you be black, white, ginger, red, brown - it is part of the establishment."

He went on: "It's not meant and it doesn't come across from an individual as a racist comment. It's just part of the culture.

"When you wear that uniform, it is what goes on and it's been happening for a long, long time."

According to Mercer
Quote
In the world we live in people take offence very easily and very quickly, and sadly in politics you have to learn to live in the times you live in - not in the past

According to Conservative Party Leader, David Cameron:
Quote
The comments made by Patrick Mercer are completely unacceptable and I regret that they were made. We should not tolerate racism in the Army or in any walk of life.

I think it is interesting. I'm not sure Mercer is really racist at all, though clearly it was a stupid thing to say to a Times reporter during an interview. It is also notable that Cameron acted so quickly when at one time the Tories would not have bothered to react to this kind of behavior (indeed segments of the Tory party would even have promoted it).


Title: Re: Conservative Steps Down Over Comment
Post by: Plane on March 09, 2007, 02:20:09 PM
Quote
"I'm not sure Mercer is really racist at all, though clearly it was a stupid thing to say to a Times reporter during an interview."

That states it well.


What he said could have been said more tactfully without loss in meaning.

But is an intolerance or harsh speech populateing the halls of government with people who can't give a straight answer?