In a frank admission about life in the Army the Homeland Security spokesman 50 year old Patrick Mercer suggested being called a "black bastard" was part of life for non-whites in the Army.
Patrick MercerMr Mercer had suggested being racially abused was like being singled out for having ginger hair.
He told The Times some soldiers from ethnic minority backgrounds played the race card as an excuse for poor performance.
Mr Mercer said it was commonplace for troops to be given a hard time over their ethnicity, the colour of their hair, or because they were overweight.Of course some minor nobodys from the looney left MP, Dawn Butler whittered on about how ‘the Tories have not changed’.
"That's the way it is in the Army. If someone is slow on the assault course, you'd get people shouting 'Come on you fat xxxx, come on you ginger xxxx, come on you black xxxx'."
He added: "I never came across a piece of nastiness inside the battalion that was based exclusively on racism."
Shahid Malik, said the comments were ’shocking’. Then banged on about the Conservative Party as sexist, racist and homophobic. Maybe he should take a look at the dubious dealings with New Labour - I understand the recent book on New Labour sleaze was quite a good seller.
Other inane whittering came from Jack "man of " Straw - The comments are breathtaking and dreadful and Mr Mercer's resignation is appropriate. Maybe Jack should take a look at his own history, a man so slimey he can slide under a door rather than have it open for him.
Adam Ingram MSP - Racist abuse can have no place in any walk of life, and it is appalling and inappropriate for any politician, never mind a senior Tory MP like Patrick Mercer, to suggest that 'this is just the way it is in the Army'. Minor opportunist who is looking for headlines, oh the nearest this chap has ever come to the armed forces is supplying bread for them.
Ed Davey - LIB Dem. These are staggering remarks from a frontbench spokesman. Comments like this undermine all those in the Army who have gone to great lengths to ensure that every soldier is treated fairly. Minor league nobody who is best known for the Lib Dems Orange Book and saying that 1p on income tax should go towards education.
What both the Conservatives/Lib Dems are getting all in a flap about this and the baying for blood looney lefties don't get is thatPatrick Mercer recounted what used to happen in the Army when he was a soldier.
He stated what happened when he was in the forces many years ago, past tense. Is it now a crime that he states things that happened previously? For those claiming to be outraged it may well be that as an ex soldier he knows a lot more about what went on in the army that the hoards of armchair generals - who in my experiance lack both the ability and courage to actually serve the nation rather than pick holes in it while at the same time expressing solidarity with killers from despotic parts of the world - out there who wish only project a pc ideal of army life.
For simply telling the truth about how it is the Conservative leader, David Cameron forced the MP for Newark to resign. In a repeat of the vitriol which faced other former Conservatives who have not been more observant in adopting politically correct behaviour his Parliamentary colleagues were quick to gang up on Mr. Mercer.Is it really implausible that there may have been a few such ‘idle’ soldiers in Patrick Mercer’s regiment? Are his critics claiming that no single ethnic minority worker is guilty of this behaviour?
Unlike many in the House of Commons Patrick Mercer is not a career politician(Paul Flynn MP take note you worthless prick) having spent 25 years doing something useful with his life as an officer in The Sherwood Foresters after studying history at Oxford University.
During his time in the Army, he completed nine tours in Northern Ireland and latterly commanded his battalion in Bosnia.. Other tours included time in Uganda and Germany and he served as an instructor at both the Staff College Camberley and at the Army’s University at Cranfield. Mentioned in dispatches in Northern Ireland in 1983, this was followed by a gallantry commendation in 1990 and the MBE in 1992. In 1997 he received the OBE for services in Bosnia.
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5 people have spoken:
from the feedback on the BBC news website.
it seems most normal people ( you know the ones who used to run the country before the age of Human Rights, minorities ruling the majority and PC) believe he should never have been pushed and is just another sign of the PC S$!T that infects this country like a cancer
Yes, I think the point he was (politically unwisely in a formal interview for the media) trying to make is that an insult does not racism make.
There have been, unfortunately, and no doubt will be in future, despite the best efforts of the chain of command, racist incidents and even racist assault within the British military. There are undoubtedly individuals in the British military with profoundly racist views (and I suspect that not all of those will be white).
However everybody in the military gets the piss taken out of them at some level, whether private soldier, Colonel Commanding or CGS (some of the things said about General Jackson's unfortunate visage were less than complementary :). These insults are normally very shallow because they are not intended to offend - height, weight, accent, hair colour and, yes, ethnic origin.
I believe that the resignation was appropriate but on the grounds of being careless enough to give the twittering cretins useful ammunition, rather than on the grounds of racism.
S-E
True one and all, the poison filled pc correct atmosphere of the mile at Westminster seems to overide all common logic in all its forms.
The tories will lose out on this issue and more importantly will labour and the lib dems, after all if you supress free soeech for one it affects all.
As a leftie I have to agree with the sentiments that Mr. Mercer expressed in his interview. "You fat b*stard", "You bold ****" "You ginger ****". All par for the course in the pub and on the pitch. C'me on, we are not all sissies are we?
http://conservativemindblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/patrick-mercer-is-martyr-for-common.html
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