Remember Dawn Butler? She's a Labour MP who seems to specialise in making an arse of herself. For those with short memories click HERE, HERE and HERE. And she's at it again this week, accusing the BBC of racism because they haven't invited her to appear on Question Time. Her reason? Her opponent at the next election, the "hideously white" Sarah Teather has been invited on three times this year. This conveniently ignores that fact that Teather is a leading LibDem front bench spokesman and the LibDems don't exactly have a huge genepool to choose from. Far be it from me to cast aspersions on Ms Butler's intellectual abilities, but her colleagues seem to regard her as, well, not the sharpest knife in the Labour drawer.The BBC responded by saying...
The suggestion that Question Time does not feature panellists from a wide range of backgrounds simply does not bear scrutiny. Diane Abbott, David Lammy, Sayeeda Warsi, Priti Patel, Chuka Umunna, Shahid Malik, Shaun Bailey, Adam Afriyie, Baroness Amos and Paul Boateng have all appeared. Other panellists include the Rt Revd Nazir Ali, Archbishop Sentamu, Rageh Omaar, Shappi Khorsandi, June Sarpong, Trisha Goddard, Beverley Knight, Tim Campbell, Hardeep Singh, Salma Yaqoob, Yvonne Thompson and Bonnie Greer. Sarah Teather is part of the Liberal Democrat cabinet team and every Labour panellist in the current series has also been at cabinet level.
To accuse the BBC of racism just because she's not been invited onto the most high profile current affairs show on TV is typical of people who see racism in every perceived snub. The rest of us should just laugh at her craven attitude.
UPDATE: I have just been told that Dawn Butler was selected from an all black shortlist. So that's not racist then...
67 comments:
And, erm, Diane Abbott is on the BBC after Question Time every single week!
And she typifies those who shout their mouths off when anyone dares mention immigration!
Cry racial hatred!
We're all racists except her I guess.
I can't place Dawn Butler in the great scheme of things, but I do wonder what Dianne Abbott brings to the party.
Her body language says 'liar', and her party loyalty is paramount. By contrast Michael Portillo has had serious Cabinet jobs and is not afraid (or enjoys, if you will) speaking against what he claims to be his party.
Perhaps DB ought to be given an evening or two with Andrew Neil (shurely 'on whatever Thursday night slot Andrew occupies.' No, I don't mean that, it's all in your mind. [Iain, edit this bit out rather than bin the contribution as a whole])
PS - Why has Andrew Neil taken to wearing a Brigade of Guards tie of late ?. he never served
I'd like to see her go on Question Time and implode.
Obviously the BBC has to be a little more impartial than that...
I saw Question Time once and Diane Abbot wasn't on.
PS The word verification doohickle has given me 'conagged' to type. Who else is going to nag me today?
I can't recall seeing a backbencher on question time ever
OMG!!
I needed something to make me smile on a Friday. Plain stupidity is always the winner, hands down!
Thanks for highlighting that Iain, it's put me in a Friday Good Mood!
"Not the sharpest knife"
Yep, that about sums our Dawn up. Pure opportunist, careerist politician, who plays on faux discrimination to advance herself.
This isn't racist, but it's another form of militancy in the Labour Party and will be the death of it.
No, not the sharpest knife in the drawer but certainly one of the greediest bits of cutlery in the thieves kitchen down Westminster way.
"Dawn Butler, a junior whip, claimed almost her entire £23,000 allowance to help to pay for a second home in her constituency in northwest London. Ms Butler, who has a family home in Stratford, East London, and another in Wembley, in her Brent South constituency. The Stratford property is eight miles and a 24-minute Tube ride away from Westminster. The Wembley house, bought after the election, is nine miles and a 32-minute Tube ride away from the Houses of Parliament. She also bought a jacuzzi for the second home and has claimed the maximum available food allowance since being elected"
And remember, wee Miss Teather is as clean as highly polished whistle on this one. Damn, she's so clean she positively sparkles.
I rather think Ms Butler maybe looking for a job afore long - let's see how her innate sense of self-importance goes down then...
If your looking for extremists and racists, look no further than Labour.
Is it coz i iz black?
Stupid thick cow.
The far-left are just as bad as the far-right.
Any way isn't it the case that the Parties choose which individuals go on Question Time rather than the BBC?
The Right Hon Lady should take this up with Harriet Harman.
Is it coz I is....Not Really the Sharpest Knife in the Labour Cutlery Drawer?
It's like diving in football. Any chance of showing the red card to the race card?
What a spectacularly stupid comment by Dawn Butler. The Beeb racist?? Did she notice Bonnie Greer and Baroness Warsi? Two panelist out of five - 40% of the panel - was "non white".
Considering that the non-white population of the country is about 8% (4% asian, 2% black, other 2%) then the Beeb over-represented the non-white population by a factor of 5.
Hardly the act of a racist organisation.
Hi Iain
Have you got a quote or a link to a quote from Dawn Butler making this complaint?
Did anyone notice the 'racist' comment on This Week by Brillo?
Why is Diane Abbott on the box so frequently anyway? Is this tokenism. Michael Portillo looks very long suffering.
Why is everything being contaminated by 'ists and 'isms.
It is all very worrying.
But this is what is happening with labours policies. All people should be treated equal. There should not be any discrimination of anybody. The Tories want to discriminate against men.
Its all out of hand and needs to be stopped.
@whiffler....Andrew's tie may not be a guards tie, i have one exactly the same and it is my old school tie. (Hull Grammar School circa 1956)
Did we not witness last night the BBC desperately and vigorously demonstrating just how against racism they are?
Dawn Butler MP (Brent, that figures) should be told to stick her ever present race card up her arse and start paying back our money she helped herself to.
So much for Andrew Marr's comment that there are far more members of ethnic minorites in the BBC than in the general community...
Sorry who is this woman.
Dawn exists because of an All Black Shortlist?
She is an example of how they let in mediocrity.
Even taking that into account, she is still crap at Rugby.
In your link you refer to Butler shamelessly touting for votes in the Women in Public Life Award. There were, apparently, three nominees:
Dawn Butler - maximum 2nd home allowance despite being a London MP, jacuzzi and maximum food allowance.ibid
Margaret Moran - spent £22,500 of tax payers' money treating dry rot at her husband's seaside house a hundred miles from her constituency days after switching her second home there. £4,756.40 new kitchen, fitted a £2,678 carpet and bought a bed worth £527.20.£4,200 for decorators, £699.95 music system.
Sharon Hodgson - £400 every month on food to be placed in her £650 fridge, a £600 bed, and tried to claim for a £1000 telly.
Do you happen to know which one of these greedy sows won the award?
And should the name of it be changed to The Troughing, Piggy Woman in Public Life Award?
The link to the letter is
http://www.labourmatters.com/brent-labour/brent-labour-accuses-bbcs-question-time-of-bias-and-racism/#
Whats with all these far-left wing extremists like Ken Livingstone being interviewed on TV non stop?, Jack Straw is a Communist, Gordon Broon is a Communist, we have have had an extremist party in power for nearly THIRTEEN YEARS, is it ok to be far-left but not far-right?, if so what is the reasoning behind that train of thought that far left wing extremists are any better than the far-right wing extremists?.
Or to use a phrase from 'Question time', have the far-left used the 'Veil of acceptability' a lot more effectively than the far right?, something is very very wrong, rotten, and deeply disturbing here.
Isn't dismantling England into EU 'regions' like Scotland, Wales and Ireland, along with all its ancient rights and Liberties, and signing it over to a foreign power without the people even having a vote, after being told they would have one, "extreme?"
Theres an 'extremist' being touted now as 'EU President', no doubt his personal award for finally signing England over to Labours EU overlords, what will Broons 'reward' be?, Miliband is being lined up as 'EU foreign Minister', yes selected not elected!, what will the man of Straws 'reward' be for 'sevices rendered?'.
Perhaps there is a new definition of the word 'extreme' because were surrounded by them, while being pointed to the ones who wont ever gain power.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/13/race.houseofcommons
The House of Commons, held up as a beacon of democracy, has a 'dirty little secret', according to black MPs - its racism.
Dawn Butler, only the third black woman ever to have become an MP, said she faced such frequent racism from politicians of all parties that she had to 'pick her battles' to avoid being constantly in conflict with her colleagues. Disillusioned by what she has found, she is calling for a dedicated complaints department with the power to suspend politicians and send them on awareness training courses.
So...let me get this straight - If we ensure that parliament consists of only black women with strict immigration policies who never claimed for a single expense, then everything would become hunky dory, providing that the BBC is careful not to be obviously pandering to the left/right/sweaty racists or anyone that isn't called Dawn Butler?
I don't want to appear to be a party pooper, but I have a feeling that may not catch on
The letter is wrong - she's never been a minister, she's a junior whip!
I've been informed that she is known as Diane Abbott lite in Westminster circles.
She should be allowed on QT so we can all be entertained and dazzled...
Note: she lives in Stratford but didn't get selected for West Ham (her local constituency) and there was an all women shortlist.
Iain,
Just seen the all black shortlist note.
I was a Labour member at the time (in Newham where Dawn lives and failed to get through an all women shortlist) and I'm not too sure that is correct or it would've been done in Newham - there were plenty of members wanting one. I'll check with those in the Labour Party who still speak to me.
Mike
Just been told that the shortlist wasn't an openly all black shortlist, but it "just turned out" that all the final candidates were black or Asian.
Act One: Scene One
(Butler household in the morning. Sound of a shower)
DB: (Singing) Beautiful Dawn... Mirror, mirror on the wall why do you steam up and not show me in my best light?
(In the background a radio can be heard playing Magic 105.4 FM "You're so vain...").
Iain - we get the message. You don't want AWL. Not sure you're helping the case by making every post relate to it in some way.
What's the problem, couldn't she forge her own invititaion letter?
Dawn Butler represents everything that is wrong with the race relations "industry" - howling "racism" every time she doesn't get what she wants and claiming victim status at every turn.
And how very typical of left-wing ideology that she can't see how this kind of self-serving hysteria does more harm than good to the cause she professes to espouse - if she, Diane "private school hypocrite" Abbott and David "no brains" Lammy are the beacons of hope for black representation in parliament then no wonder there aren't more black people in politics.
What a pathetic woman. People like her do as much to harm race relations as people like Griffin. Well, maybe not quite, but you get my drift - people like her make people like me very angry and cheesed off. Why are people like her always looking to use racism as an excuse for their own shortcomings.
Dawn Butler - and a whip!
Oooh, far too exciting! All we need now is the thigh-length bondage boots. 'Question Time', eh? You bet, baby!
Well, it does explain how Diane Abbott was selected as a candidate in the first place. All-female, all-black shortlist, selection by alphabetical order. No other explanation is possible for why she was chosen.
I hope CCHQ and John Maples are paying attention to how stupid this discrimination business gets and how fast you end up with every special victim group pleading for preference...
There is Racist tinge to these comments. Was it an all-white list in Bracknell, Iain?
She's not perfect in PC circles.
For that she would also need to be disabled, lesbian and a single parent.
It is folk like Dawn that make folk like me look to the skies and go DEAF to EVERYTHING Labour DRONES spout.
Keep up the good work Dawn.
Paul Hassall said: "There is Racist tinge to these comments. Was it an all-white list in Bracknell, Iain?"
There is a loony-left tinge to that comment. It was all white, (see here) but did anyone who was black apply? If not Mr Hassall, should they have indulged in tokenism and bunged in someone who did not want the job but was black enough to fill your quota?
Your comment is an example of what is wrong with the leftie mind-set. As soon as an argument or discussion goes against The Truth As Revealed By Marx, out comes accusations, smears and blinders designed to shut down the discussion or at least divert it into a "When did you stop beating your wife" type of discussion.
I now disregard all cries of "racist" from the left because they so rarely have anyone to do with race and everything to do with pulling a blinder. The Comrades have cried "wolf" once too often.
Paul Halsall, there were three women and at least one gay!
Careful Iain you will be called racist for your comments, dont forgt you are a white middle aged man and a Tory to boot, in fact you really are the typical target for the lefties.
An aside, careful to watch Labour, with all the hullabalu over BNP they will sneak something past you,,,Meddlesom has been awful quiet.
Errrr, isn't "hideously white" racist?
In fairness, I should have added in my previous posts that of those of her constituents that i have had contact with, most think she's a good constituency MP.
Let's be clear here. Dawn Butler is one of two Black women MPs. This story [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7845103.stm ] was from January and had more to do with Obama.
Here's a question, Iain, which Black MP's have you not picked on?
David Lammy? No you Picked on him.
Dianne Abbot? You treat here like shit.
Dawn Butler? Well you just did.
What percentage of Black MPs are there to all Labour MPs that you have picked on?
Now, I DO NOT think you are in any way a racist.
But I would be very wary of unconscious racism if I had a huge blog.
I mean, are there any good Black or Asian people on the left.
{We can forget Keith Vaz for the sake of argument)
Come to think of it, why do the lib-dems get someone on every week?
Although she has expressed it in a reather cackhanded way, I think she has a point actually in terms of highlighting QT's slightly weird obsession with Ms Teather.
Wouldnt have put her down as being a supporter of 'Apartheid', but then again if its only whites being discriminated against thats alright then isn't it.
Equality?, nah she'll much prefer to keep getting treated with special and preferential treatment im sure.
'Racism' - the New Witchraft.
Paul Halsall
"Here's a question, Iain, which Black MP's have you not picked on?
David Lammy? No you Picked on him.
Dianne Abbot? You treat here like shit.
Dawn Butler? Well you just did."
I would treat all the above three as s*it, By the way, I am a brown Brit, I do not wear ethnic tag on my lapel, and any selection based on colour and gender only without merit to me is a sham.
If your born in England then your ENGLISH!, end of!, lets not confuse race with nationality!.
Everyone should be treated the SAME!, however with a far left wing extremist Regime in power thats unlikely until they are removed next June.
No matter what you say about the BNP at least they were trying to be truthful about what was happening!
"rub the Right's nose in diversity”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6418456/Labour-wanted-mass-immigration-to-make-UK-more-multicultural-says-former-adviser.html#
Paul Halsall,
"I mean, are there any good Black or Asian people on the left."
I don't think Iain has labelled them as "bad", he's just highlighting their occasional stupidity.
I can name a whole raft of "good" black and Asian Labour Party members in east London; sadly, none of them ever get selected.
For example, Newham has a large black and Asian population, yet Labour insists on returning as Mayor a white Scot male... mafia or brotherhood springs to mind.
Immigrants add to and enrich the Labour vote.
Rumoured to be their election slogan next time around, the Labour Regimes immigration 'Policy' has remained exactly the same since day one.
'Get as many new voters into England as we can'.
I dont blame any immigrant, its the extremist Labour Regimes fault.
Paul Halsall: "There is Racist tinge to these comments".
Are you a troll?
"JHL said...Act One: Scene One
(Butler household in the morning. Sound of a shower)
DB: (Singing) Beautiful Dawn... Mirror, mirror on the wall why do you steam up and not show me in my best light?
(In the background a radio can be heard playing Magic 105.4 FM "You're so vain...").
October 23, 2009 4:34 PM".
Where is the racist tinge? The only tinge is Dawn Butler's skin colour. Perhaps, you would like to point out where race comes into this comment?
@Paul Halsall
I mean, are there any good Black or Asian people on the left
As a general rule.
If someone rises up the labour pole to become an mp, then they are to be considered malign and vindictive unless their actions show otherwise. Irrespective of skin colour or creed.
You may consider this somewhat extreme, but the present labour mps and actions of this labour government show this rule to reflect the facts.
"Paul Hassall said: "There is Racist tinge to these comments. Was it an all-white list in Bracknell, Iain?""
As pointed out in an earlier discussion, I counted at least two hobbits on the Conservative list.
Credit where it's due.
Paul Halsall said "unconscious racism."
Now I've heard everything. Perhaps we're all guilty of unconscious sexism as well; I mean we can't prove that we're not guilty, because as it's "unconscious" we're not even aware that we are doing it. I wonder what other "unconscious thought-crime" we are all committing on a daily basis. Unconscious anti-environmentalism perhaps, everytime we switch on a light bulb? Unconscious ageism whenever we get a little bit annoyed if we are in a hurry and are stuck behind a slow-walking OAP? I'm sure there an "ism" somewhere in being irritated by a crying baby. And what do you call it when you hear left-wing clap-trap and start feeling violent?
Mr Halsall, if you can't see the utter stupidity (not to mention legal incomprehensibility) in your words then there is no hope for you.
Oh dear! The "R" word is hanging over this thread, isn't it?
Re: "Unconscious Racism"
If ever there was anything more ridiculous, its this. You're not actually being racist, you're not actually thinking racist, but you might.....just might be racist deep down. So deep down that you don't even notice. So deep that no one notices at all.....except for the leftie twat.
And how could anyone pick on poor Diane Abbott? Except for the fact she's a two faced bitch who spent years trying to get rid of private schools, right up until she put her own child in one. Unconscious conservatism anyone?
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