If you didn't laugh at Bremner's Cameron you can always think of UKIP...

Did anyone watch tonight's Bremner, Bird & Fortune?  The funniest sketch parodied Rowan Williams for attacking the US over Guantanamo Bay whilst he was in Sudan - where he ignored the Darfur crisis.  But I digress.  More relevant to this blog's focus was Rory Bremner's impersonation of David Cameron.  What did people think?  I felt the impersonation was very Blairite - something Rory Bremner has admitted before.

RB attempted two main lines of ridicule...

1. David Cameron says he wants to distance himself from the past but has brought back IDS, Ken Clarke, Michael Heseltine, John Gummer etc to devise his policy agenda; and
2. David Cameron is all things to all people - a liberal Conservative... the heir to Blair... someone who wears ties for some audiences and is tieless for others... We won't know the true David Cameron until he has been put out to an eighteen month period of consultation...

***

Someone beyond parody is UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom.  Today's Yorkshire Post reports Mr Bloom admitting that "as a Hong Kong-based businessman he used to visit whorehouses as if he were going for a curry following an after-work drink".  Apparently there were so many after work drinks, however, that his visits were never consummated.

Mr Bloom criticised the popular way in which prostitution is portrayed:

"Terrified young women beaten into prostitution often from Eastern Europe... is only a very small aspect of the flesh trade... In short, most girls do it because they want to... If they (prostitutes) wanted a job as a Tesco check-out girl, they'd go do that instead."

Unbelievable.

Mr Bloom had previously gotten himself in trouble for saying that "no self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age".  After arriving in the European Parliament he said: "I am here to represent Yorkshire women, who always have dinner on the table when you get home."  His other famous statement was to say "I want to deal with women's issues because I just don't think they clean behind the fridge enough."

Comments

[Richard]

Damn, I missed it! Is it repeated?

[Jonathan Sheppard]

That Godfrey sounds such a charmer. Do you think he's going for the female vote? Not sure who is appeals to myself.

[Rob G]

Richard: I also missed it. But it seems to be on More 4 tomorrow at 18:55 - so okay if you have digital.

[houndtang]

What is it with bowties? They seem to be the garment of choice for complete loons.

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

The impersonation of Cameron was rather poor I felt (it sounded like a cross between his Peter Mandelson and Ken Clarke impersonations!) - as previously, it was only funny when he used his Blair impersonation as the voice of Cameron (if that makes sense).

On the other hand, the Ming Campbell version of 'It's Chico Time!' was hilarious, as was the always-good-for-a-laugh Mandelson monologue.

[Christina]

It's no wonder Bloom cannot score in a brothel.

[Richard]

"Richard: I also missed it. But it seems to be on More 4 tomorrow at 18:55 - so okay if you have digital."

Thank you. Fortunately I do.

[Issas]

One of his worst impressions I thought.

"If you didn't laugh at Bremner's Cameron you can always think of UKIP..."

Oh don't worry, after several years of voting Tory, that's exactly who I'll be voting for at the next General Election - the only other alternative (since Mr Cameron's lurch to the left) is the BNP.

[Jonathan Sheppard]

The BNP an alternative... Ughhhh purleeeasseee. If they are the answer you really are asking the wrong question!

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

"Oh don't worry, after several years of voting Tory, that's exactly who I'll be voting for at the next General Election - the only other alternative (since Mr Cameron's lurch to the left) is the BNP."

Bye then.

[dave dinner]

Spot on in terms of the attack lines. The inconsissency between trying to be the new new thing and fronting retreads from the past (who are no threat) and a camelon like ability to be all thing to all people is not exactly inspiring. He should be working at Foxtons rather than aspire to lead the country- smart,posh, good salesman, no integrity and a broker rather than a builder.

ps Am i the only one who feels that the priority list is the sort of undemocratic party list we would campaign against if it were instituted in for example zimbabwe.

Please let's get some substance, vision, and conviction back before we become irrelevant.

[CDM]

"Oh don't worry, after several years of voting Tory, that's exactly who I'll be voting for at the next General Election - the only other alternative (since Mr Cameron's lurch to the left) is the BNP."

Mr. Cameron's "lose 25%, gain 50%" approach appears to be working. However, I'm willing to bet that at election time many of the "25%" will bite the bullet and vote Conservative, if only to remove Labour from power.

[kingbongo]

I never bother watching Bremner etc any more and think any line of attack on Cameron will be based around the obvious and have little element of satire in it - though I like the sound of Cameron with Blair's voice, worth a chuckle; but you know it's going to be trotted out endlessly, as Blair is the only voice Bremner can do and get a laugh (except for Blunkett, but that's an impression which seems to rely on people laughing at the comedy eye rolling rather than any political insight)

OT but Issas succeeded in winding me up
I am repulsed by the thought of Issas and anyone like him/her thinking the Conservative party was ever a home for their vote - I'd rather stay in opposition than have policies aimed at trying to win the votes of people who think the BNP is a reasonable alternative to any of the mainstream political parties in Britain.

Where people vote BNP in urban parts of England it is largely because the real parties have abandoned them and they have been conned into thinking the racist morons who run the BNP care about them. That is partly the fault of the Conservatives and hopefully we will start to work on breaking the stranglehold of Labour pocket boroughs. We need to do this with a voice of optimism and freedom, not the racism and fear peddled by the BNP, the moronic opportunism of Respect or the barking mad unpleasantness of UKIP.

[Annabel Herriott]

has anyone ever seen BNP arriving en masse at a count?? The mafiosi have nothing on them, Short squat little men with huge shoulders, and one does wonder where they stashed their piece!! Really. I mean it. My only regret is I didnt take a snap of them, but my mouth was hanging open at the time. Not conducive to focussing. You must be barking Sir, unless of course, you are just winding us up.

[john Skinner]

"In short, most girls do it because they want to."
Not "unbelievable," Editor. With some exceptions, prostitutes are motivated by laziness and greed. It's not PC, but it's the way it is.

[RodS]

The real damage done by the BNP is that they have occupied (and therefore polluted) a perfectly legitimate strand of right wing opinion.
A strand that cares passionately about National Identity/Law & Order/Punishment fitting Crime/Clear Cut Policy rather than mealy mouthed platitudes/an end to our own culture being dismantled to accomodate incomers !
More people than you think, especially in Northern Cities, would support 90% of the BNP's manifesto without supporting its Party Organisation.

Has Bremner tacled Nick Griffin yet ?

[EML]

Is it just me, or does Cameron wear his ties with really small knots? Bremner should have got at this.

[Derek]

I agree with Rod S, there is a lot of support [including me] for the right wing policies. It is the lunatic fringe who attach themselves to those policies that put people off. How sad that there is no credible mainstream leader for us.

[Richard]

"More people than you think, especially in Northern Cities, would support 90% of the BNP's manifesto without supporting its Party Organisation."

Indeed, I read the education section of their 2005 manifesto and found myself agreeing with most of it and thinking "why wasn't this in a Conservative manifesto"? They called for the return of grammar schools, fewer people at university studying joke subjects and an end to progressive teaching. Now, while I personally favour more free-market measures to bring this about, I expect most Tories would be content with the state-directed solutions contained within the BNP manifesto.

[Issas]

Well, if my comments wound you up then good, it's about bloody time that somebody did!

To be completely honest that was the first time I'd actually visited this site, I merely followed my nose here from Newsnow.co.uk, my apologies if I offended anyone, I'm usually carefull on any board to avoid accusations of being a "troll" but to be honest, Mr Cameron is winding ME up and being a regular 37 year old voter, happily married with a Wife and 3-year old, I despair that there appears to be no-one remaining on the centre-right of politics any more!

I don't want another Blair (or BNP), I'm sick to the back teeth of Labour and am furious at how minority groups and immigrants in general are apparently getting preferential treatment over the "indiginous" and family-orientated population of this country - whatever the hell "indiginous" is, my lineage is Celtic. And before anyone starts shouting "racist" my son's Godmother is Chinese!

I honestly believe that debate on this issue is being stifled and that we are all (from whatever race) suffering as a result. Personally speaking the reasons are legion. To give just one of many examples, we were advised by our GP to have our son vaccinated at two years of age against TB simply because we live near Heathrow, our doctor had people on her books who were sufferers.

I had my TB injection at 11 years of age and can still remember how it hurt. The nurse failed twice to inject our son, three of us were having to physically restrain him as he was in so much distress and pain and another nurse was accidentally stabbed with the syringe on the third and final attempt.

No, I won't be voting for the BNP - I consider them to be most unpleasant, but since Mr Cameron's arrival there appears to be no-one left in politics who represents ME. So, realistically, who am I to vote for? Please tell me.

Again, my apologies if I hurt anyone's feelings.

[Sam Coates]

Thanks for expanding on your comments Issas! I hope you find the site useful.

[malcolm]

Interesting that in only his second post Issas seems to suggest the most important aspect of politics is race.I think that extremely unfortunate and would think that Issas would be more comfortable in a party led by Nick Griffin and his acolytes and would urge him to join them rather than become an embarassing member of the Conservative party.

[RodS]

"Rather than become an embarassing member of the conservative party"

That says it all - this what the current rebranding of the party is all about. We are trying to create a bunch homogenised - pasteurised - sanitised (but electable)clones.And it won't work.

Also can anyone sensibly define a 'Racist' the word has become meaningless through over use.

[Ted]

Malcolm,
Issas expounds the views of many in this country - and its not actually about race. A recent study in the East End showed that it becomes about race because of perceived unfairness. The welfare state was introduced on the basis it was earned and deserved - the deprived & working classes had suffered through the depression and the second world war, they had earned their safety net. As the application of the welfare state increasingly became about entitlements then many saw new arrivals seemingly being put first for council housing, put first for social investment - changes in law on homelessness meant new arrivals without accomodation took priority over young people living with their families.

The new arrivals could have been North East people in South London but instead they were from Bangladesh or Pakistan, India or Uganda and now Somalia and Zimbabwe. Those who had lived and contributed longer felt the immigrants were taking what they, the residents, had a right to by their struggle. The residents were often of Irish, Scots, Polish or other immigrant stock themselves.

The BNP took this ingignation and made it the basis of their tactics - when Oldham or similiar towns were addressing the high levels of social need in the asian comunity then the BNP could say to the residents from communities that had been there longer "look how they are ignoring you".

The lessons isn't to ignore the social needs of the new arrivals but to also bolster what you are doing for the host community; recognising that it isn't just about for example celebrating Diwali, or the Eid but also Christmas, That if you are investing in social housing in a mainly asian area perhaps youth facilities in mainly white areas might be a good idea. It's about getting better integration, stopping virtual ghettoisation.

[malcolm]

Rod S,absolute rubbish.The Conservative party has, and will continue to be a broad church made up of diverse opinions.
Ted, we often agree and you seem a good chap,but I think you are being overly generous in your interpretation of Issas'posts.You say 'it's not about race' in your post, my impression of Issas'post is exactly the opposite.

[Ted]

malcolm,
I don't disagree that it becomes about race - but underlying this are issues we need to deal with which reduce the racial issues. Ignoring peoples fears helps give ground to the BNP. We need though to tread carefully because its all to easy to cry racism.

[John Hustings]

I agree with Ted: people are far too quick to scream "racism" at the first opportunity. I don't know when this tendency started, but it doesn't seem to me to elicit the "tolerance and understanding" which it claims. In fact, it seems rather quick to judge.

I too would like a sensible definition of racism, since I think almost everyone who uses the word hasn't got a clue.

I would always prefer to assume the best in people until given reason to think otherwise. I wonder why this generosity of spirit is so rarely extended to those accused of "racism"? I don't think it helps race relations if anyone who makes any point in any way connected with the race topic is ostracised like a sex-offender. We need to have an openness of spirit, or we will just inflame hatred. It also means that if someone has a *legitimate* point which touches on race, he/she is often too afraid to express it. This creates unnecessary grievances.

It is the liberal doctrine of PC that has made the race issue so sensitive. Because no-one feels they can express their view, everyone bottles it up. Further, they loudly denounce perceived racism in others -- not because it is something that *really* aggravates them -- but because they feel the need to demonstrate to others that they themselves are not racist. They believe it garners them moral approval in the eyes of their peers. This creates a Salem witchhunt mentality.

And that just makes race relations far far worse.

[Issas]

I attempted to reply to Malcolms comments last night but unfortunately it didn't seem to go through.

As Malcolm has said: "Interesting that in only his second post Issas seems to suggest the most important aspect of politics is race."

I suggested nothing of the sort and it is disingenuous of you to imply otherwise. Your "impression", Malcolm, is most certainly wrong! Precisely where in my post(s) did I actually make any derogatory comments regarding race in general or any specific race in particular?
It is this tendency to scream "racist" in an attempt to shout down those who happen to disagree with you which I find particularly unpleasant in todays politicians. As I have already stated, my son's Godmother is Chinese, it would be nothing short of hypocrisy were I to voice derogatory comments about people of any race and I wouldn't anyway.

My issue, is to do with the sheer number of immigrants crossing our borders, the difficulties in integration and the effects it is having on my immediate family, my friends and myself. It is also to do with the absense of anyone in the Tory part to speak on my behalf and the rather worrying fact that the only two parties now residing to the right of centre who might, are UKIP and the BNP. Quite frankly, I couldn't care less whether the new arrivals were blue with purple spots and three heads, "race" is irrelevant and the sooner our politicians extract their heads from the sand and pluck up the guts to actually address the issue, the better.

Being someone who generally avoids politics apart from on polling day, I would have thought that the conservative Party would be looking to engage and reassure voters like myself but sadly it seems I am wrong. So thank you, Malcolm, for convincing me that the Conservative Party doesn't require my vote at the next General Election!

I certainly accept, however, that it was rude of me to mouth off having only just arrived at these boards, and for that I apologise.

[RodS]

We've wandered a long way from Rory Bremner but this is important. I hope Issas sticks with it and contributes some more. Don't know how Malcolm reconciles his statement that ' the Party is a broad church with many diverse opinions' with saying mine are'absolute rubbish' - but there you go.

The issue isn't race its a problem of assimilation of the sheer numbers involved.

The UK is one of the most populated countries - more crowded than China with the South East counties twice the density of Holland.Population is growing faster since the baby boom years. We passed the 60million mark last year and are adding 300,000 a year (84% through immigration) The Office of National Statisics forecast that we will be 67m by 2031 and nearly 71m by 2074

Over population drives all our current problems - housebuilding - energy - water - flood risk - road gridlock - carbon emmissions And yet Government and Opposition actively encourage more growth within a finite land area - something has to give and it will be community relations.

The argument that we need more people to combat aging and pay our pensions is a myth and akin to the logic of Pyramid Selling. Who on earth will pay the next generations pensions.There will be different opinions on the solution to the problem of over population but no party dares to even acknowledge it. And one of the reasons is the fear of being labelled 'Racist'