The Labour blogger Tom Harris is upset that the Tory MEP, Daniel Hannan, dared – oh the impertinence! – to attack Gordon Brown the other day. The horror. A politician attacks another politician and about policies too – what is the world coming to? But as Alex Massie puts it, this is tosh, and Mr Harris, if he has any self respect, must surely know it. It also makes me wonder what Mr Harris thinks MEPs should do, or if they have any rights at all to criticise leaders of the countries whence they come?
I have often watched, in recent times, Labour ministers berate opposition politicians for “playing politics” for having the temerity to criticise some policy or other. This is a totalitarian mindset. In an adversarial system such as the Anglosphere one, rhetorical combat and debate is all part of the system and a necessary part, as well. It is probably also a sign of how the ruling UK Labour Party is now frightened that, when confronted with an example of blazing eloquence by a European MP like Mr Hannan, the best that NuLab can do is moan about the MP’s “lack of patriotism”.
At this blog, over the years, we have argued long and hard about the dire state of the Tory Party and the sort of people that have advanced within. I am sure that libertarian purists will be able to unearth unflattering political details about Mr Hannan. But in the current environment, his speech – now a YouTube phenomenon – is like a dash of brandy to a half-drowned man. I hope it galvanizes his colleagues to follow suit.
When it comes to drowning, the gurgling guy you see vanishing beneath the waves is Gordon Brown. Developments such as the insufficient bids for UK government bonds suggest the end is now very close.
I loved the Hannan piece. It ranks up there with the famous Cromwell speech to the Long Parliament.
Sadly, it won’t have the same result, because our current politicians have no sense of shame or honor.
What I find far more worrying than the drivel written by Tom Harris was the virtual news blackout by the entire MSM and Press.
This was without doubt a clear case of NuLabour censorship of the very worst kind.
Such curtailment of reporting when free speech is exercised must be challenged, hard.
Check out Draper being allowed to trash Hannan here after their reporter sneers at him as well. The Ch 4 muppet gets the amount of hits wrong on the level of halving then dividing by ten…its over 800k views at this point.
Nice hatchet job from Channel 4 thar. I particularly enjoyed the glowy white light religious patronisation. Also, “Hannan is wrong about the car industry because although they’ve been promised £2bn they haven’t been given it yet”.
Really, can’t somebody go and find wherever the MSM are plugged in, and just unplug them? They really are at the end, aren’t they?
Does anyone put it past these scrotes to invoke the Civil Contingencies Act?
There may be hope yet, there was something about Mr. Hannan on P.M. this evening on R4, what I caught of it sounded vaguely in favour (though they did belittle it by making it a story about it being an internet meme, rather than the real issues) I’ll have to have another listen to see what they said in detail, I wasn’t really paying attention at the time.
Patriotism is, of course, the last refuge of the scoundrel. (I’ve never considered that a blanket criticism of patriotism, incidentally, any more than pointing out that bugs hide under rocks is an argument against rocks.)
Massie is quite right. Although I’m not convinced about the Queen being our “leader”, either: she may be the sovereign, but she doesn’t “lead”.
Neither have I any wish to be led anywhere. It’s that kind of thinking, in part, that has got us into this mess: Broon thought he, personally, was leading us – could lead us – to the sunny lands of prosperity. The idiot.
Sam,
Free people(Link) don’t have leaders(Link).
It is the aim of despots and tyrants to pull together, free people pull in all sorts of directions.
(paraphrased from Lord Vetinari(Link))
I’ve just come here after visiting Bishop Hill’s blog. (Sorry I don’t know how to do links.)
He’s got a clip of an interview Hannan did with Fox News.
The clip is about 14 minutes long.
About 3-2 minutes from the end Hannan says something like ‘I don’t think I’ll ever be PM, I don’t think governments should do things.’
A number of times in the interview he makes the point that in the current crisis doing ‘something’ is much worse than doing nothing.
He closes with a story about the New Zealand government telling the bankers to get stuffed and deal with their own mess.
So they did.
I commend the interview, and Mr. Hannan’s policies explained in it.
I wouldn’t worry about ‘libertarian purists’ unearthing uncomfortable truths. Hannan has dealt with his support for the Chosen One.There are probably other cloudy issues too, but I’m not a libertarian purist and Hannan’s ideas look like the best obtainable at the moment.
A Conservative party led by a leader with attitudes and policies like those espoused by Hannan would be worth voting for.
I finally got to see Daniel Hannan’s smackdown of Gordon Brown.
A good swift, full-extension front kick to the gonads lifting Gordie off his feet wouldn’t hurt nearly as bad as that tongue-lashing must have. Gordie won’t be forgetting that one…
Good on Daniel Hannan for verbalizing the truth so eloquently. With that speech he put himself in the same league as Cromwell and Leo Amery. Maybe there’s hope for Britain yet!
Indeed, Cats. I was trying to remember that quote when I posted.
A fine speech in content, wording and presentation. What a maestro! Carpe diem indeed.
Withthe Youtube count already at 1.14m (and not updated for the last few hours), together with the vast worldwide TV coverage, this must rank as one of the most publicly widespread humiliations in history. Every participant at the G20 summit and every politician Gordon ever meets will have seen it and his credibilty, such as was left, is now irredeemably damaged.
My joy is tempered by one nagging worry. Gordon’s judgment was already shaky, being in all things subordinate to his ego; enough of us have been dreaming of the men in white coats. This massive blow to his ego, coupled with the rejection of his leadership at next week’s G20, may well push this man over the edge. What more damage can he do while striving to gain popularity? Expect a string of headline-grabbing initiatives from this hyperactive disaster.