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Former Aust PM attacks consertives

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posted on May, 4 2005 @ 08:45 PM
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Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating has weighed into the British election with a stinging attack on opposition leader Michael Howard's immigration policies.

In a column in British newspaper The Guardian, Keating condemned Howard's Conservative Party for adopting the same "despicable" election policies of Australian prime minister John Howard and his former Liberal Party adviser Lynton Crosby.

"How wrong it is for Michael Howard's Conservative party to tread the slippery and sleazy track of race to ingratiate themselves with that proportion of the electorate always susceptible to this malignant appeal," Keating wrote.

Keating said "only the shabbiest of political figures has any truck with" race as an election issue.

Michael Howard has employed Crosby as his campaign director and they have made immigration a major issue for Thursday's general election
source

I would like some UK feed back on this.
Are UK consertives forgoting that aussies and poms ,Irish and scottish people are a world away in terms of culture and geographical distance ?
Is Michael Howard falling into the trap that many american posters do on ATS that is assuming the rest of the world fits into there political system labeling people liberals for example ?



posted on May, 5 2005 @ 10:28 AM
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thanks for posting this up xpert11 its good to hear or rather read how politcians from other countries think of each other.


Originally posted by xpert11
"How wrong it is for Michael Howard's Conservative party to tread the slippery and sleazy track of race to ingratiate themselves with that proportion of the electorate always susceptible to this malignant appeal," Keating wrote.


I'd not a Conservative supporter (they all deserve a slap) but Conservative Immigration policy is not racist, I dare anyone to explain in a proper way how it is racist, so far all I have heard it is racist simply because it is....explain!



posted on May, 5 2005 @ 03:40 PM
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We're a few hours away from finding out (as the tory party found out in 1997 and 2001) that the appeal to the 'Alf Garnet' (Archie Bunker in the USA) vote does not win elections in the UK.

Personally whilst I feel the tory 'policy' was designed to sail very close to the wind it was not actually racist (but as much as anything probably because it was a theoretical proposition and not anything especially concrete so they were able to keep it vague enough to - just - avoid the racist 'tag').

What it was though was really really stupid.

It deliberately played on people's ignorance of what the situation is right now (for instance a scheme relating to the requirement on the basis of skills exists already).

It also insulted people's intelligence with the 'fantasy island' nonsense where a foreign country was imagined to simply hold would be immigrants and act on the UK's behalf processing them.

It also deliberately blurred the 2 separate issues of asylum and immigration.

In short it was not an attempt to deal seriously with immigration at all but an appeal to the worst base instincts out there........and rather stupidly ignored the fact that that kind of appeal has the more reasonable and moderate vote deserting them in droves (as will be apparant in a wee while).



[edit on 5-5-2005 by sminkeypinkey]



posted on May, 5 2005 @ 05:50 PM
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Paul Keating is correct about the race and xenophobia card not working in the UK - it only works on the socially retarded in places like Australia when a corrupt PM announces that refugees on boats are capable of throwing their children overboard.

But Keating is not the best spokesperson for national interests, having described his own country once as the arse end of the universe. Maybe he still has UK political aspirations!

The Labour government will be returned, but Blair ought to be removed from any public service along with the criminals in the Bush administration.



posted on May, 5 2005 @ 08:56 PM
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Thanks for the feedback

I am a consertive on many issues but I very much dislike scare mongering Im glad the people of the UK were able to judge the issues on merit not cheape political talk.




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