Monday 28 April 2014

Labour councillor's own goal trying to score points off Tory opponent


A Labour councillor and parliamentary candidate has made a bizarre call for the Conservative Mayor of Elstree & Borehamwood to apologise for telling a ranty resident that if he doesn't want to take part in the democratic process he should move to a country that isn't a democracy.


Everyone expects opposition politicians to try and make capital out of the mistakes of their opponents but Cllr Richard Butler's demand that Mayor Clive Butchins apologise for his remarks is just ridiculous.

Here's what Butchins said when a resident complained that he'd had a Conservative Party leaflet through his door when everyone knows he doesn't vote Conservative:
No-one is forcing you to read the leaflets but you might learn something if you do. I believe it is a most important part of democracy .

If you don’t want to participate in the democratic process, you should go and live in a country where there isn't a democratic government.
Since making the comment he's been accused of undermining free speech, being patronising and even "bordering on racist". There are no racial overtones whatsoever, nor is it patronising or undermining free speech. This is dirty party politics as its worst and exactly the sort of cheap whimpering behaviour we've all come to expect from a Labour Party that has literally nothing positive to campaign on.