Look who's back

The return of foul-mouthed Sanders

11 April 2006
There was fury last night as it emerged that shamed politician Neville Sanders - whose foul-mouthed views about Northern Ireland were exposed by the Belfast Telegraph - is to run as an official Conservative Party candidate in the upcoming local government elections in England.

Sanders is hoping to be elected as a Tory councillor in Peterborough next month despite being expelled by the party just over two years ago when he said he was fed up paying taxes to cover for the "lazy Irish".

Sanders also offended the family of teenage RIR suicide victim Paul Cochrane - who shot himself at a Co Armagh barracks in 2001 - when he said "soldiers do get killed, that is what they are paid for"........

........During a subsequent interview with this newspaper he said he was fed up paying taxes to cover for "lazy Irish b******s" and added Northern Ireland could "f*** off and run its own affairs".

He also said soldiers have to be "prepared to deal with a bullet".

During the controversy which followed the then Tory Northern Ireland spokesman Quentin Davies said he was "revolted" by Sanders' comments and personally visited the Cochrane family home in east Belfast to apologise......

......A Conservative Party spokeswoman said: "I can confirm Neville Sanders is standing as a Conservative candidate in Peterborough in May."

She went on to say that she believed that Sanders rejoined the party last year but "did not know the specifics of the case".

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk...

- Clueless Cameron & Co.'s gaffs just keep on coming (check out his 'the return of the living dead' shadow cabinet crew......and he has Howard and IDS as 'advisors' too!).
www.conservatives.com...

Mmmmmm, nice people, huh?

Another fine example of 'all talk and no action' Cameron and his laughable claims to be leading a 'new' and 'changed' tory party.

'The future'?

Try not to laugh too hard now.





[edit on 14-4-2006 by sminkeypinkey]

Christ, let's castrate the man for having an opinion? Let's be fair, he is allowed an opinion even if it differs to yours, ares, theres. I'd much rather that we have MPs who do not tow a line, who do not say what their party want and come out and say what they want.

At least then we know what we're getting, rather than the position we're in now.

Originally posted by Odium
Christ, let's castrate the man for having an opinion? Let's be fair, he is allowed an opinion even if it differs to yours, ares, theres.

- Who said anything about him not being "allowed an opinion"?

He's perfectly free to have that opinion and express it publicly (as he did)......and have others remember it and for him to face the consequences that opinion brings.

In any event a sizable part of his revolting comments were obtuse and idiotic abuse and not really an actual opinion at all.

I'd much rather that we have MPs who do not tow a line, who do not say what their party want and come out and say what they want.

- I think you'll find most parties reject stupid, abusive and gratuitously offensive bigots (which is what his 'opinion' amounted to)......just like the general public has a pronounced habit of doing too.

At least then we know what we're getting

- Really?
So just who is supposed to be informing people about who's getting what?

Cos it seems to me that this one is one of those prime examples of someone unbelievably ill-suited very quietly slipped in (by the local party out of control from the centre) and only being brought to anyone's attention by a very few media outlets (I can't find mention of his return on the BBC website for instance).

rather than the position we're in now.

- Now this bit intrigues me.
Whatever do you mean?

Are you saying someone who is not a stupid and crassly offensive bigot is somehow less desirable as an MP?




[edit on 14-4-2006 by sminkeypinkey]

Just to put his comments at that time into some context, Peterborough Council was asked by Carrickfergus Council to support their campaign for an inquiry into the suicide of an local Irish soldier. So when he said "they should go away and look after their own affairs" he was referring to their request for help from Peterborough council, I presume thats why he also called them lazy. The whole thing blew up in the first place because his initial reply to their request was "soldiers die, its their job".

The Belfast Telegraph were obviously after a quote and he gave them a beauty eh. The guy is 70+, proper old-skool Tory, I doubt he is a bigot to be honest, more stuck in his very conservative ways.

I bet his views on most topics are rather caustic, out-dated (im thinking Dad's Army) and delivered bluntly. I know what he said was insensitive and some of his arguements were irrelevant (e.g when he called for an apology from NI for the police and soldiers "they had killed" - happened after the intial soldier quote created the fuss), but I dont think it was offensive or racist, bigoted. He just didnt see the point in spending Peterborough's resources on another district, once the furore began he got angry and ran his mouth off.

He got a 2 year ban for it too, even though he had been elected, he's no MP, he's a councillor. Councillors are the least media savvy politicians at the best of times, closest we have to real people in politics (that said, I dont like my local ones, most are small-minded egotistical busy-bodies).

I presume thats why he also called them lazy. The whole thing blew up in the first place because his initial reply to their request was "soldiers die, its their job".

I can't remember who said this "A soldiers job is not to die, it is to kill as many of the enemy as possible". Ok ok i know it isn't an important thing in this arguement but i like it.

He got a 2 year ban for it too, even though he had been elected, he's no MP, he's a councillor. Councillors are the least media savvy politicians at the best of times, closest we have to real people in politics (that said, I dont like my local ones, most are small-minded egotistical busy-bodies).

An excellent point. Local councillors are to be honest, idiots for the most part. Even though they are local they are rarely in touch with the 'common' people. A very basic example is this and it happened to my father recently.

Ok so this is a rather stupid example to some, but to me it shows what happens when someone gains 'power'. So my father has an allotment (a small path of land where he can grow crops). He rents it like everyone else for a very resonable price. Recently a councillor moved into a house that has the allotments on the back of it. The allotment behind it has a waiting list and the guy who has it recently gave it up after 20 years. The waiting list was enormous but the councillor got it. He hadn't been on the waiting list, he hadn't even been a councillor when some people had signed the waiting list and yet he got it. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely", this quote is very very true.

Ok so that example is poor but i think it's relevant.

Anyway the conservatives are in my opinion completely lost. I am a truly middle of the road voter but i always liked the conservatives on many different issues. In recent years though they seem to have become less conservative and more well 'same'. They are the same as labour really, they have some policys which are different, but the basic ideals are the same. Maybe labour has become more conservative "the poor can starve", or maybe they have met in the middle, i don't know.