I was going to blog about Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick but Jim has done it already.
He was invited to a wedding of (Labour) Muslim friends and when he got there he didn't like the seating arrangements; so he storms out. Well, he says that he and his wife "left so as not to cause offence." Whereas going to all the papers to denounce the wedding he was invited to is the kind of wedding gift we'd all love to receive, don't you think?
The Labour MP arrived at the wedding to find that men and women were to be seated in separate areas, which is the custom in some Muslim ceremonies and not in others. He then decided that the wedding arrangements were not to his satisfaction and left, no doubt ringing his press officer as he stalked away.
He's quoted everywhere as saying "We are trying to build social cohesion - this is not the way forward." I agree. Insulting your hosts is not the way to build community cohesion.
It's their wedding and the arrangements are theirs to make. Who hasn't been to a wedding where they've had to contend with sitting through drunken embarrassing speeches, being seated next to a booring person or some other less than ideal arrangement?
But if he wanted to appeal to the BNP supporters, then maybe that was his agenda all along. So is Labour heading for the far right? There have been some indications so far, Martin Salter calling polish people thieves, Margaret Hodge MP in 2007 calling for housing for 'local people' and 'British workers for British jobs' says Gordon Brown
We shall see.
6 years ago
