Phil Woolas - Labour MPs out of step with Public Opinion

Political Betting has today published an interesting poll by YouGov which gives a fairly clear and unequivocal thumbs down to Phil Woolas. 71% of voters agreed that the decision to get rid of Woolas was the right one. Significantly, that includes 65% of Labour supporters.

This shows that Harriet Harman is more in tune with public opinion than her MPs. (I never thought I would be saying that).

Meanwhile, The Staggers also finds in favour of the public, and goes further, by declaring:

The figures show those MPs rebelling against Harriet Harman's decision to suspend Woolas from the Labour Party are vastly out of step with public opinion. The Labour deputy leader said at the weekend that it was "not part of Labour's politics for somebody to be telling lies to get themselves elected".
The BBC reported last night that one MP told Harman that she was "a disgrace", while Labour MP Graham Stringer warned that she had gone "far too far", and that there were "big issues involved here in terms of the future of our democracy". Another Labour MP, Michael Connarty, said that he had asked Harman to "examine her conscience".
This response beggars belief. Woolas was convicted of lying and exploiting racial tensions in order to defeat his Liberal Democrat opponent, Elwyn Watkins. Quite apart from the moral issue, it would be politically disastrous for Labour to be seen to be supporting a candidate convicted of such serious charges.

I was filled with cold symptoms and self-pity when the Woolas result was announced, and consequently did not comment, but it has been on my mind a bit. Chiefly because I think that in the wake of the expenses scandal, and the fact that several Labour MPs are now facing prison on fraud charges (not enough in my opinion) you would think they could show a..let's say...moral compass, and a bit of humility. But they are having none of it. Labour MPs are prepared to back a disgraced colleague who has clearly gone beyond the boundaries of fair play to the point of stoking up racial tension.

I am not surprised really, at this low threshold of integrity. Labour has deified the role of the state. This apotheosis has resulted, rather predictably, in a relativistic approach to morality where the value of right and wrong is predicated upon expediency as a building brick of power.

On another note, I notice that the British delegation to China, Cameron, Osborne, Cable and Gove, have refused to bow to Chinese demands to remove their Poppys. China seems to interpret the Poppy in a different way, something to do with the Opium wars of a bygone era.

Symbolism is such a vulnerable concept.