You are here: Home » News »

Yvette Cooper calls for Mitchell to be sacked

October 12, 2012 11:21 am

Tags:

Share this Article

The shadow home secretary has said:

“This has gone on long enough. Neither the Prime Minister nor the chief whip have proved capable of coming clean swiftly and putting this right. And it is now clear no one even in the Conservative Party has confidence in Andrew Mitchell either.

“The failure by David Cameron and Andrew Mitchell to take this incident seriously enough and to sort it out straight away means Andrew Mitchell will clearly not be able to instil respect in Parliament or beyond as chief whip, and this will just drag on and on. David Cameron needs to put an end to this now and remove Andrew Mitchell from his position as chief whip.”

Related posts:

  1. Mitchell must resign, say Tory voters
  2. The Tory PCC candidate shares on office with Andrew Mitchell – so the Labour candidate dropped by with a letter…
  3. It gets worse for Mitchell – now he’s accused of threatening to have cop sacked
  4. Tory Chief Whip accused of attacking police as “f**king plebs” and “morons”
  5. “We now have a Chief Whip who has no authority at all” says Tory MP
  • TomFairfax

    The chief whips career is nailed to the perch and pining for the fjords.

    It’s a clear sign of how weak Cameron’s position is within the  Conservative party currently that he feels unable to deal with Andrew Mitchell and Jeremy Hunt in the same way as he did with David Laws and Lord Young (an absolutely  minor offender in comparison with Hunt and Mitchell’s transgressions) at the beginning of his term in office.

    Still the advantage for Labour is that if he can’t bury these pollies the stench of them impinges on everything else.

    199′s victory relied on the public perception of Tory sleaze as it’s foundation. The nasty party doesn’t seem to understand this still.

  • TomFairfax

    Hi Mark,
    Is there any particular reason that all my comments need to be moderated these days. It certainly discourages participation. And I’m a party member.

  • markfergusonuk

    All comments in general Tom. It has stopped some of the silly comments we used to get and there are fewer pointless rows

    • TomFairfax

       Hi Mark,
      It certainly kills the ‘type before thinking’ bun fights, but it does rather disrupt any meaningful discussion as well.

      I’ll grant you’re stuck with a damned if you do, damned if you don’t issue to judge on. And having to balance it with a public window that could be used to attack the party if you get it even slightly awry in the opponents view isn’t easy.

      If it’s any consolation, I think are erring on the side of getting the balance right generally.

      • PeterBarnard

        ThomasF,

        The way I understand the moderation policy (and this happened to me), the remarks from any contributor are looked at by Mr F (or one of the helpers) for a few days – basically to assess that the contributor isn’t  unduly aggressive and disrespectful. During that period, a contributor’s comments are indeed “held up.”

        Once Mr F has established that you’re a reasonable sort of bloke (not difficult in your case), the pre-moderation is lifted and your comments should appear as quickly as cyberspace (and the occasional LL hiccup) allows.

        Hope you are well and enjoying life with JLR – the company certainly seems to be flying these days.

        • TomFairfax

           Hi Peter,
                             That seems clear. Thank you.

          Yes, JLR does seem to be doing well, but still a lot of Merc/BMW/Audi owners out there to persuade to trade up ;) , so hopefully will keep flying for a while even if the demand in the emerging markets is met.

          Currently the likes of JLR and Nissan are doing well, based on export demand. However, that requires people in the respective market segments overseas to keep buying. That is a worry for the next twelve months. Though I think someone ‘scrimping’ to get a Range Rover might just cut down on the optional extras.

  • AlanGiles

    I think we can safely say Mitchell is safe now, and he has not Cameron, but Jimmy Saville and the media, and Esther Rantzen now Ed Miliband to thank for it:

    http://uk.news.yahoo.com/jimmy-savile-labour-demands-abuse-probe-233704947.html

    Yet another bandwaggon for Labour to hitch it’s horses to.

    Make no mistake, I don’t defend Saville (though I very much doubt that he was the only wrong-doer in the sordid history of beat groups, with their promoters and managers and groupies). My view of Saville, for what it is worth, is that he was a crashing old boor, and a wicked old fraud.  Now we hear he was a dirty old man.  I recall that in the 196os he wrote a weekly column for “The People” Sunday newspaper,  which was full of self-promotion, about the wonderful work he did for charity, the impression he liked to give that every charitable action he made was because he was a living saint – that and rather sickly tributes to his mother (“The Duchess” as he called her). After her death (and he kept her corpse for 5 days before calling an undertaker), he continued to keep her clothing dry cleaned for the rest of his life, and to compose elegaic columns that would have even made Liberace blanch:  he attached himself to the likes of The Queen Mother (“would you have me put in the tower if I told you that you were beautiful?”), Mrs Thatcher and Prince Philip (whom he called “The Boss”). Here was a man totally obsessed with his own self-importance. In that regard he would have made a very good politician.

    But – even IF all the allegations are true (and am I alone in thinking that there are people now coming forward in the light of the revelations that some of Saville’s “victims” are attempting to sue the BBC and NHS?, who have shall we say, fecund imaginations.

    If the allegations are true he started outraging public decency in 1959 and continued until 2006, by which time he was in his late seventies. Perhaps. Perhaps not. I should hope in the late 70s all one would wish to take to bed is an apple and a good book.

    If all the allegation are true – what can be done about it?. Saville is dead, as are several of the BBC producers and executives who allegedly turned a blind eye to it. Nothing can be done, so why does the leadership  want to persue a matter which can have no real resolution?. Some of the allaegations are no doubt true, some might just be the invention of the mercenary.

    My advice to politicians would be to concentrate on the here and now, the wrongdoings of the living. All that will happen in the Saville case is that the only people who can now be punished are members of his family, and given the events of the past week and the removal of the mans gravestone, the punishment has  commenced

  • AlanGiles

    I think we can safely say Mitchell is safe now, and he has not Cameron, but Jimmy Saville and the media, and Esther Rantzen now Ed Miliband to thank for it:

    http://uk.news.yahoo.com/jimmy-savile-labour-demands-abuse-probe-233704947.html

    Yet another bandwaggon for Labour to hitch it’s horses to.

    Make no mistake, I don’t defend Saville (though I very much doubt that he was the only wrong-doer in the sordid history of beat groups, with their promoters and managers and groupies). My view of Saville, for what it is worth, is that he was a crashing old boor, and a wicked old fraud.  Now we hear he was a dirty old man.  I recall that in the 196os he wrote a weekly column for “The People” Sunday newspaper,  which was full of self-promotion, about the wonderful work he did for charity, the impression he liked to give that every charitable action he made was because he was a living saint – that and rather sickly tributes to his mother (“The Duchess” as he called her). After her death (and he kept her corpse for 5 days before calling an undertaker), he continued to keep her clothing dry cleaned for the rest of his life, and to compose elegaic columns that would have even made Liberace blanch:  he attached himself to the likes of The Queen Mother (“would you have me put in the tower if I told you that you were beautiful?”), Mrs Thatcher and Prince Philip (whom he called “The Boss”). Here was a man totally obsessed with his own self-importance. In that regard he would have made a very good politician.

    But – even IF all the allegations are true (and am I alone in thinking that there are people now coming forward in the light of the revelations that some of Saville’s “victims” are attempting to sue the BBC and NHS?, who have shall we say, fecund imaginations.

    If the allegations are true he started outraging public decency in 1959 and continued until 2006, by which time he was in his late seventies. Perhaps. Perhaps not. I should hope in the late 70s all one would wish to take to bed is an apple and a good book.

    If all the allegation are true – what can be done about it?. Saville is dead, as are several of the BBC producers and executives who allegedly turned a blind eye to it. Nothing can be done, so why does the leadership  want to persue a matter which can have no real resolution?. Some of the allaegations are no doubt true, some might just be the invention of the mercenary.

    My advice to politicians would be to concentrate on the here and now, the wrongdoings of the living. All that will happen in the Saville case is that the only people who can now be punished are members of his family, and given the events of the past week and the removal of the mans gravestone, the punishment has  commenced

Latest

  • Comment Where are the women over 50 on our TV screens?

    Where are the women over 50 on our TV screens?

    By Harriet Harman

    Most people like to think that we live in a society that is fair and equal but for some it is still not equal at all. When it comes to TV presenters, women disappear when they reach over the age of 50. As part of the work of the Older Women’s Commission, I wrote to the six main UK broadcasters asking them how many older women they employ on screen and behind the camera. The figures provided by broadcasters show [...]

    Read more →
  • Featured The Loneliness of the Long Distance Leader

    The Loneliness of the Long Distance Leader

    By Stefan Stern

    That’s it. Enough is enough. I try to be reasonable. But you can only push somebody so far. It’s time to sort this out once and for all. I am fed up with this huge and growing army of sycophants and cheerleaders constantly bigging up Ed Miliband, and making helpful or supportive interventions on his behalf. The list is endless. Let’s shine a spotlight on the guilty men and women. There’s… well, there’s… er… you know… er… thingy… on a [...]

    Read more →
  • Comment Europe We do not stigmatise your country, Deputy Prime Minister. It is you and your party we find distasteful

    We do not stigmatise your country, Deputy Prime Minister. It is you and your party we find distasteful

    By Rob Marchant

    Last Saturday a senior European politician wrote an article in the British press which made you want to shout at the computer screen. Not such an unusual event, you might think, but this was not a debater’s disagreement as one might have had with the viewpoint of a Tory, a Gaullist or a Christian Democrat. It was one which also left the reader feeling a bit nauseous. And that is because, rather than an honestly-expressed case justified with some evidence, it was [...]

    Read more →
  • News Watson urges investigation of “supressed” Leveson evidence – Media roundup: May 21st, 2013

    Watson urges investigation of “supressed” Leveson evidence – Media roundup: May 21st, 2013

    Subscribers to our morning email get the best of LabourList – including the Media and blog round up – every weekday morning. If you were a subscriber you would have already received this in your inbox. You can sign up here. Labour proposes teachers spend time in industry “All teachers involved in vocational education would have to spend a period of each year in industry, under Labour plans to integrate further education with emerging skills gaps identified by businesses. The strategy – announced on [...]

    Read more →
  • Comment Featured Is party politics dying out?

    Is party politics dying out?

    By Mark Ferguson

    This week has brought the role of party members and activists back to the front pages. That’s rather unusual to be honest – and rightly so, as party members (swivel eyed and otherwise) make up only 1% of the British population. Being a party member is already a niche interest. You are somewhat odd if you’re a party member – sorry to break that to you, but of course I’m odd too (and quite possibly odder than you). What swivel-eyed [...]

    Read more →