Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Top Political Traitors: Your Nominations Please

I am in the middle of compiling my list of Top 20 Political Traitors. Would you care to make your own nominations? Let's stick to people who've been active in politics since 1970 - in this country and overseas. I'llpublish the list later today.

116 comments:

Andrew Ian Dodge said...

Without a doubt international: Jimmy Carter (now sucking up to Hamas)

UK: Chris Petain or Ted Heath come instantly to mind.

The Creator said...

Gordon Brown. The sell-out over the EU Treaty in defiance of an explicit manifesto promise and against the clear wishes of the overwhelming majority of the population is the single-most startling act of political treachery (aka treason) since 1970.

Blackacre said...

Margaret Thatcher - a traitor to conservativism as she was a progressive.

Paddy Briggs said...

* Jeffrey Archer

* Jonathan Aitken

* Neil Hamilton

Traitors to those who elected them. Traitors to the Party they served.

Traitors to truth and to the need for responsible behviour by those in public life.

idle said...

Emma Nicholson
Shaun of the Dead Woodward
My body is a Temple-Morris
The Horsham Labour youth who is now Maude's NBF
All those whose reason for avoiding a referendum on Europe is that "it's completely changed from the Constitutional treaty"

Anonymous said...

Easy, this one: David Cameron.

He calls himself, the 'Heir to Blair'.

He should be getting on with being the Conservative leader.

I'm so sorry to be breaking this news to everyone, but duty calls and someone has to do it.

Anonymous said...

Edward Heath-about the "EEC "

Ilja Nieuwland said...

On a European level: Oskar Lafontaine (Germany, ex-exchequer). Now in 'Die Linke', former SDP (Labour), changed sides many times in service of all that is Oskar

Anonymous said...

My vote goes to those who rat and then rat again.

So: John Horam lab to SDP to Con

and

Sue Slipman Communnist Party to Labour Party to the SDP

Anonymous said...

Shirley Williams for destroying the British education system.

Anonymous said...

Saj Karim

Archbishop Cranmer said...

gqprTraitors to their party/leader:

Geoffrey Howe
Michael Heseltine

...'treachery with a smile'.

Traitors to their country:

Ted Heath
Tony Blair

...treachery with contempt for democracy.

Rush-is-Right said...

Number one has to be Heath surely. His behaviour in office arose not out of weakness and stupidity, as was the case with Jimmy Carter but out of cold and cynical calculation.

And while posting I have to point out the usual bollox from Paddy Briggs. What a berk.

Tapestry said...

Edward Heath

Paul said...

Sarah Teather

Anonymous said...

Heseltine.

His behind the scenes plotting against Margaret Thatcher lead to the farce of the Major government and the subsequent corruption of public standards instigated by the Satanic trinity of Mandelson, Blair and Campbell - father, son, and holy g.

Poor old John Major never stood a chance because of the chaos he inherited.

Heath

Lied to the electorate about the true direction of the Common Market. I voted for a common market not subjugation by a European State.

Blair

Took the Country to war and justified it with the lies in the dodgy dossier.

And, I second Gary Elsby's (10:11am)
nomination of Cameron. Why are the Tory MEPs still tied up with the federalist group?

David Boothroyd said...

Merely changing parties does not in itself make someone a 'traitor'; I think something more is required.

Clare Short certainly fits the bill. She was protected and indulged by Tony Blair who was prepared to let her shout her mouth off in a way no other Minister was allowed to, but she repaid him by launching a stinging attack after leaving office. (Come on now Clare, if he was that bad, why were you in the cabinet for six years?)

Ex-Blyth Valley MP John Ryman also fits the bill. John Stonehouse could have been expelled from Parliament in 1975 (a date was set for the debate) but he was saved, only to join the English National Party.

There are two 'office-seekers' who certainly merit entry. John Marek, who was Labour AM for Wrexham, spent most of the early 2000s badmouthing Wrexham's Labour-led council and was elected Deputy Presiding Officer of the Welsh Assembly on the votes of all the non-Labour AMs in 2001. Richard Balfe, who has some interesting associations with small far left groups and was a Labour MEP, was so determined on standing as a Quaestor in the European Parliament that he stood despite losing his party's endorsement.

I might also include Hugh Kerr and Ken Coates, the two maverick MEPs in the 1994-99 European Parliament.

Tom Hatton said...

Quentin Davies

Anonymous said...

Shaun Woodward - I nearly vomit every time I see his smug grin on the Labour benches.

Still, he must be pleased with how it is all going now...................

Anonymous said...

Sir Geoffrey Howe (as he then was).

Despite Major surprisingly winning the '92 election; the link to 11 years of Gordon Brown destroying the UK economy!

Anonymous said...

Governor Richardson is certainly being labelled as one in the States so he might be a name to look at - likewise Joe Lieberman or Zell Miller.

I agree with Oskar Lafontaine

In the UK: Saj Karim, John Redwood, Michael Heseltine

One thing I would say though is that one traitor is another person's hero. Certainly Ted Heath and Margaret Thatcher hardly strike me as deserving the label "traitor".

Anonymous said...

Heath the Grocer.


Discusted Grange-over-Sands

Anonymous said...

Thatcher and Tebbit, for seeking to damage Major's Government in the 1990s, thereby worsening the result in 1997.

David Boothroyd said...

Ted Heath certainly does not fit the bill in any respect, and I say that as one who would identify him as the worst post-war Prime Minister by some way. Heath always made it clear his support for British membership of the European Union, and won the leadership on that pledge; it was in the 1970 Conservative manifesto, and there was a full debate in Parliament. Heath can hardly be criticized for betraying any group to which he belonged, even if one accepts the ludicrous position that membership of the EU is damaging to Britain.

Bob said...

Traitor.

Maybe McGuiness and Adams to the Irish republican cause, and add Trimble and Paisley to that too if you are feeling cheeky.

Blair - a traitor to the left.

Whoever really stabbed old whiskey face of the liberals.

The SDP mob with their diversion from Labour.

Heath in 73.

Scargill over the miners strike, as he went into a battle he could not win, and then ended up causing the miners to lose so much, when they needed the best result possible. He also gave the country the taste for stronger controls overs unions than was before acceptable.

Anonymous said...

Robert Kilroy-Silk.

Couldn't give a toss what he believes and he has zero effect on the world of politics these days - if he ever did - but surely leaving one slightly irrelevant party just so you can form your own extremely irrelevant party counts as rank treachery?

Tim Roll-Pickering said...

George Galloway betrayed his country. And then in the true style of socialists he proceeded to betray his comrades and smash his party.

However you could compile the entire list around egotists betraying microparties.

And I'd agree with the rest about Heath betraying so much. Conservatives believe in the rule of law and order, not in giving in to militancy. Conservatives believe in a strong approach to the economy, not chickening and U-turning at the earliest sign of problems. Conservatives believe in parliamentary democracy, not in imposing dictatorship on part of the country. Conservatives believe in the sovereignty of nations, not in submerging national identity into artificial constructs. Conservatives believe in giving clear leadership to the nation, not in making it a serious question as to whether the country is run by Parliament or the National Union of Mineworkers. Conservatives believe in traditional communities, not in ripping up and redrawing the map of the country.

Heresiarch said...

Who hasn't been mentioned yet? George Galloway seems a fairly obvious omission. Not a major figure, nor a politically significant one, but sucking up to a vile dictator and then openly supporting her majesty's enemies would surely in former times have earned him the full rigour of the treason laws, evisceration and all.

Then there's Ken. He betrayed his party: his party begged him to come back. He betrayed London, and London re-elected him. He betrayed the women and gay campaigners he once championed by his lavish welcome for Qaradawi. He betrays democracy on a daily basis with his (potential libel deleted). So far, he has proved that treacery pays. Hopefully not for much longer.

Anonymous said...

Gordon Brown - 10 years of continual plotting against Tony Blair. If that's not treacherous, than I'm a banana.

And since everyone else seems to be saying it, Ted Heath.

I hope Iain will give us his opinions.

The_Beekeeper said...

Gyles Brandreth

Anonymous said...

Obviously Galloway.
And he was paid.

But Benn.
Ensured Thatcher a free run.

Anonymous said...

Galloway,obviously.
To his own country and secretly funded.
And a traitor to the Iraqi people by supporting the government which was oppressing them

Anonymous said...

Richardson owed his loyalty to Bill Clinton, and has been clear that loyalty has been repaid and would not be transferable to family members anyway.

Liberman, on the other hand, is a worm.

Anonymous said...

Geoffrey Howe
Michael Heseltine
Shaun of the Dead Woodward
Roger Knapman

Kate Hoey (and I love her for it!)

Ken Leavingsoon for using the Labour brand only when it suits him i.e. sometimes being the Anti-Labour candidate and sometimes being the Labour candidate.

The Labour MPs who voted for Michael Foot to be leader and then skipped off to the SDP.

Mr A Blair for scrapping clause 4

Charles Clarke for being a class traitor and constantly undermining Mr Blobby.

Michael Foot for wearing a Donkey Jacket to the cenotaph.

The Chipmunk for her pathetic attack on HRH The Prince of Wales.

Kinnock for shutting down Militant and therefore damaging Soviet Foreign Policy (aka kicking the reds out from under the bed)

Derek Hatton for being one of the reds under the bed.

Anonymous said...

Sir Richard Rich.

("St Mark reminds us that it profit a man not to sell his sould for the whole world: so to do so for Wales, Rich, for Wales?)

Anonymous said...

Interesting thoughts.

One small distinction to note, namely that those who have been the most destructive politicians of the modern era so far as the nation is concerned – I nominate Heath (Common Market), Jenkins (permissive society) and Brown (one man weapon of mass financial destruction) – would not necessarily qualify as traitors for that alone.

Against that background, I suggest Michael Heseltine for Tory traitor, mainly because of Westland rather than the later leadership challenge. Why on earth did he not stay put, keep a dignified silence and assert himself as a worthy leader when MT had stood down of her own volition, rather than set off all the internal strife? On the Labour side, I suggest Roy Jenkins for his role in ultimately ensuring that Old Labour, the party of the working man, was replaced by New Labour, the party of the political elite and cronyism.

As to National Traitor, for taking office upon a manifesto that simply confirmed “our sole commitment is to negotiate possible terms of entry with the Common Market, nothing more” and then to pledge the country to economic and monetary union within the next 10 years – thankfully not realised, although he’ll probably now be singing in his grave at the Treatistution shenanigans – stand up and take a bow, Edward Heath.

Anonymous said...

The wretch Shaun 'two butlers' Woodward.

Anonymous said...

Thatcher, Tebbit, Gorman, Marlow, Taylor, Body and the other serial rebels who did som much to destroy the Major government. Not to mention Archer, Aitken & Hamilton who did so much to discredit the party in the eyes of voters.

Anonymous said...

Easy: Geoffrey Howe, Michael Heseltine & Ted Heath. Let's not forget Ken Clarke too.

Anonymous said...

S. Woodward Esq.

Anonymous said...

Paul Marsden

asquith said...

"On the Labour side, I suggest Roy Jenkins for his role in ultimately ensuring that Old Labour, the party of the working man, was replaced by New Labour, the party of the political elite and cronyism."

Oh, rubbish. Jenkins was always a natural liberal. He probably shouldn't have joined the Labour party, but then with the Liberals almost defunct he realised that he could best advance progressive policies in Labour. Maybe wrong, but hardly treacherous.

Anonymous said...

Prudence - "Michael Foot for wearing a Donkey Jacket to the cenotaph."

It wasn't a donkey jacket. It was a very expensive and quite stylish duffel coat. The Queen Mother, who was at the ceremony, complimented him on it.

Hardly traitorous.

Anonymous said...

I nominate.

Neil Kinnock

Anonymous said...

Jack Dromey and Ralph Nader. In no particular order.

tory boys never grow up said...

David Owen for extending Margaret Thatcher's shelf life - the others in the Gang of Four were just his sock-puppets. His arse licking of Milosevic also contributed to Yugoslavia being screwed up as well.

George Galloway for his suuport of fascism while pretending top be a socialist.

Tony Benn for turning his considerable gifts on his own side rather than the real enemy.

Arthur Scargill for not trusting in democracy and balloting his members before the Miners Strike

And of course the Tory Party en masse as traitors to the Country and progressive thought in general - with the honourable exceptions of Ted Heath and Winston Churchill who in supporting Europe and opposing appeasement took positions against the prevailing Tory orthodoxy.

xx said...

Sir Edward Heath

who should be posthumously stripped of his knighthood.

It wasn't that he was not overt about his EEC agenda (which was a clear manifesto commitment), but that he still lied and deceived the people about the implications for national sovereignty. He also ignored the warnings of the Attorney General who stated very clearly that it would bring to an 1000 years of history.

Anonymous said...

Blair and Brown for betraying the working classes. And Shirley Williams for ensuring many of the working class were stupid enough to vote Blair in a second time.

Anonymous said...

Michael Heseltine and Kenneth Clarke - both traitors to our party.

Edward Heath - a traitor to the country.

The Huntsman said...

Edward Heath - for betraying his country

Michael Heseltine - for betraying the UK's greatest peacetime PM

Unknown said...

Quentin Davies should get some sort of award for stupidest traitor.

The only rat to join a sinking ship? I bet he's kicking himself for joining Team Brown just as the polls began to slide.

Sir-C4' said...

1. Adolf Charlatan Lynton Blair
2. Traitor Ted Heath
3. David Miliband
4. Gordon Broon
5. Gormless George Galloway

Anonymous said...

Ken Livingstone - he stood against, and beat, the official Labour party candidate for Mayor of London (Frank Dobson), and was expelled from the Labour party.

Every one of his "consultation" exercises e.g. on the Congestion Charge etc. has been a cynical betrayal of public trust.

He and his incompetent (or worse) political appointees e.g. Lee Jasper, have betrayed and brought shame on the communities they claimed to be helping.

Anonymous said...

I'd also like to nominate Digby Jones - a natural Conservative who signed up to the Labour project. Bet he's kicking himself now...

Anonymous said...

Pity about the 1970 limit, as I would nominate Lord Stanley, who betrayed Richard III at Bosworth and let in those wretched Tudors.

Oh sorry, is that a racist comment?

Post 1970, the biggest traitor has to be Blair, betrayed his Party and his country.

Anonymous said...

From our side, traitors to the Tory party:

Ted Heath for his constant attempts to undermine his successor, despite the fact he wasn't fit to tie her shoes. (He should have been strung from a lamppost for selling us out to the EU as well).

Michael Portillo for his constant attempts to alienate the right of the Conservative party, thereby destroying any hope we have of returning to power.

Ken Clarke (not for his stupid ignorant views on the EU, which he is entitled to) for always, without fail, criticising the position of his own party on Europe and thereby supporting our enemies in their aims.

I don't count those that change sides as traitors, though I do despise them if they have done it for personal gain.

Anonymous said...

Blogger David Boothroyd said...

Merely changing parties does not in itself make someone a 'traitor'.


hope not, otherwise the winner is...


...Sir Winston Chrchill

Anonymous said...

Edward Heath.

Conning me and most of Britain into voting to join the Common Market. If it had stopped there, that would have been fine but that wasn't the real plan was it?

Anonymous said...

Geoffrey Howe. Without Thatcher he'd have been nothing, and look at how he thanked her.

And Heseltine, for the same reason.

Anonymous said...

What about Mrs T herself? She wasn't as Thatcherite as her disciples: she opposed a tax-neutral government by supporting mortgage relief (where Howe and Lawson opposed), she saw health expenditure rise, she didn't privatise the railways or post office, and her views on Europe - opposition to German unification, virulent euroscepticism - simply forged unity amongst other european leaders, furthering the ever-closer union she despised, also prompting Howe's resignation. She failed to capitalise on discontent with rates by creating a better system, getting caught up in the poll tax. Her opposition to consitutional change lost Scotland and Wales to the Conservatives for a decade.

The biggest blow to Thatcherism was Thatcher's gradual loss of touch - she slowly betrayed the revolution made in her name.

Anonymous said...

Gordon Brown.

Anonymous said...

Geoffrey Howe. Without Thatcher he'd have been nothing, and look at how he thanked her.

And Heseltine, for the same reason.

Anonymous said...

Surely Hestletine, for stabbing the party leader in the back causing a fallout that has dogged the party for the past decade...

Man in a Shed said...

Its going to have to be Heseltine

Anonymous said...

Major, hurd and rifkind were political traitors to the human race and human rights by selling out the people in the balkans to the murderous milosevic and giving him the ok to go ahead with genocide meaning that tony blair then had to take the country to war with the madman to prevent him repeating the exercise in kosovo.

Anonymous said...

Ken Livingstone in the way he becamethe leader of the GLC.
Michael Portillo for destabilising the Tories over a period of time without having the guts to run for leader.

Anonymous said...

Ted Heath without doubt for his ridiculous pro-europe stance.

Blair and Brown for their arrogant disregard for an EU Referendum.

Jeremy Thorpe for being so immoral.

Kinnock for taking the eurosilver which such aplomb and doing absolutely bugger-all about the sleaze and corruption and persecuting whistleblowers like a Stalinite thug.

Senior civil servants who have sold out to NuLab and allowed the Civil Service to be politicised by an arrogant NuLab.

Chris Patten for kowtowing to the bloody slitty eyes.

Post war Labour leaders for giving economic secrets to the Russians and trusting Stalin.

Wilson, Callaghan, Benn, Foot et al., for shamelessly selling out to the unions and anyone else.

Blair for unmitigated mendacity regarding the Gulf War and being the causative for david kelly'd suicide.

Enough for now.

Anonymous said...

Howe for his appalling, disgusting, immoral speech resignation speech.

Anonymous said...

Obviously snivelling, lying, pompous Edward Heath, and to whoever wrote he should be posthumously stripped of his knighthood - good idea!

Europhile Chris Patten.

The repellent Gordon Brown for failing to honour a firm manifesto commitment to have a referendum on the EU constitution with bare-faced lies (that he seems to have genuinely thought he would get away with - which is another nail in the coffin of "Gordon the super-intellect").

Mandelson's a nothing. Just a hungry passenger on one of the world's gravy trains. He's no worse than an African dictator, although without the suave dress sense of Idi Amin.

In a separate category of Traitor to The Entire Advanced West, Jo Moore - remember her? - for writing that 9/11 would be a good day for burying bad news.

And, finally, The Traitor King - Tony Blair for having the impertinence to continue to breath the air without our permission and who deliberately set out to unravel our settled and ancient social fabric and destroy the pillars of our law and our government. It's nice to see him fail at everything he turns his hand to. Even if his ghost writer actually writes his book for him, it will fail, like Alastair Campbell's book.

Anonymous said...

No list of political traitors could be complete without US Senator James "Jim" Jeffords of Vermont, whose transformation from Republican to "independent" handed the Senate to the Democrats in 2001. The list of his political betrayals before that point was, of course, lengthy. He retired from the Senate in 2006 and is not missed.

Anonymous said...

Ted Heath, because of the way he led us into the Common Market whilst concealing from us the full implications, eg the fact that our fishing industry was being regarded as expendable.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, for reasons too numerous to mention.

Roger Thornhill said...

Top traitors.

Kenneth Clarke over the EU.
Gordon Brown over the EU etc.
Ed Miliband over the EU.
Baroness Scotland as above
Jack Straw for being Jack.
Ted "dig him up and hang him" Heath
Shirley Williams for education and subsequent appeasements, SDP etc.



I could go on. So many lamp posts, so little time...

Blackacre said...

I find all the naysayers on Heath a bit odd. He was clear for many years before he became PM that he wanted to join the EEC as it was. It is the job of politicians to sell their desires (in this case genuinely Heath's ideals) to the rest of us the best way that they can. This may involve a little deviousness - tell me one major political figure who has not done some of that.

Heath sold Europe to the country on that basis. It is disingenuous to say that he ought to have told us that we were losing some sovreignty as a result. That was for the antis to make clear and they failed to do that at the time. However, it is not as if there was not plenty of opportunity for them to do so at the time and at the later referendum on the issue.

You might as well give traitor status to Thatcher for the Single Europe Act, Major for Maastricht and Wilson for weaselling around the issue, all for the sake of party unity - in each case a more treacherous thing to have done but each act subject to close parliamentary and medai scrutiny and still allowed through.

So, no Heath is not a traitor. He was useless in many other ways of course and probably the 2nd or third worst post war PM (Eden clear worst followed by Major, Heath, Churchill or Brown on current performance)

Anonymous said...

Gordon Brown re the EU Constitution referendum
Tony Bliar re the dodgy dossier

Anonymous said...

I nominate David Cameron for applauding Blair in the House.

Anonymous said...

Noteworthy for both treachery AND hypocrisy is Hugh Dykes - Conservative MP for Harrow East from 1970-1997, turfed out by the electorate in 1997, applied for selection (as Conservative candidate) at the Uxbridge by-election in July 1997 (didn't get shortlisted) then defected to Liberal Dimocrats shortly afterwards.

Anonymous said...

History will not treat any of the smaller fry, some of which have been cited in this comments section, as traitors to the country, but as merely ignorant or misguided. However, those politicians who deliberately and knowingly undermined the sovreignity of this country, whilst consistently lying to the public should not be so kindly treated. For what he knowingly did and for his deliberate lies over decades, Edward Heath nearly comes within this category.

Anonymous said...

I nominate Guido Fawkes, because he is an utter rotter.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 2:36 - You do understand, do you not, that this is a BRITISH political blog and that we are discussing traitors to BRITAIN? Our country.

Anonymous said...

Blackguard - Seconded! He didn't just applaud The Traitor King, but he commanded the Tories to give him a standing ovation. What a cheap little opportunist this man is.

Roger Thornhill writes: "So many lamposts; so little time." Yes, but contemplating those lamposts - what Devil's Kitchen refers to as "air tap-dancing" - does warm the cockles of one's heart, does it not?

janestheone said...

Gordon Brown for treachery to his party and his country for plotting against Tony Blair for all those years

Douglas Hurd, for treachery to humanity for appeasing Milosevic (may he rot in hell)

Cllr David Sutton (Lab, leader of Reading Borough Council until May 1st) for campaigning for a Tory MP while holding office as Labour leader.

Anonymous said...

All the usual suspects:
Kenneth Clarke
Geoffrey Howe
Michael Heseltine
Ted Heath
Tony Blair
Chris Patten
Gordon Brown
David Cameron
Neil Kinnock
Roy Jenkins
David Miliband
Alex Salmond
Malcolm Rifkind

wonkotsane said...

Ted Heath for putting us in the EU masked by a campaign of lies and mistruths, No Mandate Brown for the EU Constitution and sooooooo many other things and David Davis for dropping his support for English devolution that would have given us equal rights with the celtic master race during the leadership race which he went on to lose.

Anonymous said...

verity said...
"You do understand, do you not, that this is a BRITISH political blog and that we are discussing traitors to BRITAIN? Our country."

Verity, for a change try reading what Iain actually wrote - "Let's stick to people who've been active in politics since 1970 - in this country AND OVERSEAS".

Anyway, having emigrated to Mexico, haven't you decided that Britain is no longer your country.

Anonymous said...

Geoffrey Howe - should be strung up for treason

Anonymous said...

harriet harman wasn't it who got elected in 97 on a promise to reverse Tory cuts on Single parent support, and then forced the very same cuts through parliament only weeks later (while filthy Tony smiled in the background)

Anonymous said...

It's been said before but my vote goes to David Owen. There's the Healey quote that the good fairy gave him Mills'n'Boon looks and intelligence but the bad fairy made him a shit.
Also: treacherous Tory de nos jours: Dianne Abbott's sofa-sharing pal Micheal Xavier Portillo who seems to be not particularly helpful to Cameron (not that I mind particularly)

Anonymous said...

Heath and Blair

Anonymous said...

I'm not a Lib Dem myself, and know she isn't a politician (but you didn't say we couldn't include others), but I would nominate Daisy McAndrew (nee Sampson). Out of her depth as ITN political correspondent - in approx week one, she cashed in all her chips by betraying her old boss Charles Kennedy, rushing to be the first to 'expose' his alcohol problem...I know we shouldn't expect much from journos but thought this particularly cheap and grubby...while I'm at it I would also nominate the half of LD parliamentary party for their self-serving piety and mock concern around the same time... oh, and the hugely ingenuine Shaun Woodward for sure.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, should also add to that list, given its topicality today, Nick Clegg who's been outed as an ex-Tory. See:
http://rupahuq.wordpress.com/2008/04/15/corporal-cleggs-conservative-past/

Anonymous said...

It has to be Grocer Ted.
Whatever his supporters say, he sold
us a "free movement of goods and people" common market. What we got is
a projected United States of Europe.
He also destroyed our fishing industry and made enough money from
his European friends to buy himself a new yacht.
When we are finally independent again we should do what was done to a far greater Englishman, Cromwell, dig him up and hang him!

Anonymous said...

- Heseltine.
- Howe.
- Emma Nicholson.
- Shaun Woodward.
- Quentin Davies (surely the most stupid defection in the history of politics?

- And a collective mention to all of those fools (Redwood/IDS/Bill Cash etc.) who did their best to destroy poor John Major between 92 and 97 - and thereby condemned us to more than a decade of Blair/Brown.

Anonymous said...

Ted Heath not only deceiving us over what the 'Treaty of Rome' was really all about, but also for slapping our Commonwealth friends in the face by turning his back on them when many of them had died fighting for our join civilisation.

When I consider the contribution of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, India and many other honoured countries in contrast to Heath and John Major's appeasement, it makes my blood boil.

Anonymous said...

Crispin Blunt and John Maples. You know why, Iain.

Anonymous said...

4:21 - I currently live in Mexico on a one-year visa from the Mexican government. What on earth does my place of residence have to do with my citizenship? You are very ethnocentric.

I didn't read that Iain had opened up the traitors' book to one and all. I'm surprised that more foreign readers, in that case, haven't waded in with furious condemnations of people we've never heard of.

Anonymous said...

I seem to have understood this differently to many people here who seem to take traitor as someone who has done something against the interest of the country (which probably includes every politician of any note and is in any case rather subjective). I assumed what was meant was something more frivolous to do with personal or party relationships: possibly more fun.
Can't really think of any good examples but perhaps Shaun Woodward deserves his place not so much in his own right but as his defection meant a certain MP got elected at the next election (though i imagine some would think that even more damning). And maybe Churchill and his quote deserve an honourary place.

People should stop attacking Heath; things just didn't work out.

Nich Starling said...

Alec Kellaway.

Little Black Sambo said...

Heath and Blair, traitors to their country for selling us to Europe.

Anonymous said...

Has to be Heath and Blair.

Heath gave Europe control of our democracy.

Blair devolved our democracy making sure that we could not fight back to regain our democracy from Europe with a united voice.

Anonymous said...

EVERY single Northern Irish politician is seen as a traitor, but my nomination goes to McGuinness and Paisley jointly, with the biggest wimp ever being the long forgotten hasbeen bob mc cartney, the man who stood in six different constituencies at the same time. What an abuse of democracy.

Yes I kid you not. He was desperate tho!!!

Anonymous said...

Definately Ian Paisley. For more than three decades, he hounded good, honourable men out of public life for daring to seek pragmatic solutions to Ulster's problems that were far restrained from his cavorting with murderers.

Anonymous said...

Gordon

Anonymous said...

Tony

Anonymous said...

Ted Heath wasn't a traitor, he may have been wrong about Europe but to suggest he deliberately betrayed Britain is a bit unsavoury. Ted Heath fought for this country, more than anyone on this board has I imagine.

Anonymous said...

It is a toss-up between Tony Benn and Ken Livingstone.

Devil's Kitchen said...

Edward Heath, by a country mile.

Dishonourable mentions for Ken Clarke, David Miliband and Gordon Brown.

DK

Unknown said...

Nick Brown for his incompetent handling of the foot and mouth crisis and Margaret Beckett for the cover up [no pulic enquiry].

Anonymous said...

AID - If we're including foreigners, which apparently we are, I agree with you about Jimmuh Cahduh. This egotistical hick clearly thinks he has the force of character and powers of language (not to say a deep knowledge of islam) to talk terrorists round to seeing reason and abandoning their wicked ways. Maybe hold a little prayer meeting ahead of the talks. Rosalyn could bring round a mint tea cart.

OTOH, I'm not sure Jimmuh is smart enough to be a traitor. I think he's just a delusional moron, as he was when he was, inexplicably, president of the United States.

Dr Blue said...

Tony Blair- for betraying the UK

Gordon Brown- for betraying prudence.

Ed Balls- a traitor to the middle class- "Prolier than thou"

Shirley Williams- destruction of education

Patricia Hewitt- destruction of the NHS, and then moving to corporate vultures picking at the edges of NHS

Anonymous said...

SOme of the comments about Heath are hysterical. Although I do not agree with much of what he did, he was following a manifesto commitment, supported by his Cabinet (including Thatcher) and held a full parliamentary debate (during which Jenkins, Smith et al were greater traitors to their party than Heath was to his).

Don't forget that a huge transfer of power to Europe happened under Thatcher. She guillotined the debate. Yet she seems to escape censure from people who foam at the mouth about Ted Heath. DOuble standards from UKIPers?

Anonymous said...

from the kaiser's point of view, Antonio Salandra.

AR

Anonymous said...

Can I make a special mention of Rehman Chishti, former Labour PPC turned Conservative PPC for Gillingham & Rainham.

I'm neither a Labour supporter nor someone on the Tory candidates list with an axe to grind, however having seen him networking at a recent event, he struck me as particularly oleaginous and ingenuine, patronising and superior, all at the same time - and think he would be a worthy addition to the list. I hope that maybe I've got him all wrong, and that he doesn't come across like this to the voters of Kent, but I'm not so sure...

Rush-is-Right said...

To Verity, 15/4 @11.58 that's pretty much what I said earlier (10.26) and obviously I agree.

There's a nice article about the apalling Jimmuh Caatuh here;

http://tinyurl.com/3pk99u

The dreadful thought is that any one of the three current candidates for the US Presidency could overtake him as the worst US President in several decades with ease.

After JC we got Ronaldus Magnus. I don't see another one coming though.

Anonymous said...

George Bush Senior. Came up with one memorable phrase in "voodoo economics", then spent the next eight years going along with said economics for the sake of the least significant job in world politics.

Incidentally, Shirley Williams has received a few nominations for "the destruction of education." Shouldn't these go to the education secretary who actually destroyed the most grammar schools? (Clue: also female)

Anonymous said...

Traitors to their party:
The Gang of Four - without them, neither Thatcher nor the Tories would have remained in power so long (though Kinnock hd a lot to do with it).

Traitors to their country:
Margaret Thatcher - ripped the heart out of Britain, and we still await a transplant.

James Higham said...

Heath, without a shadow of a doubt, for the reasons stated.