This is a sort of follow on blog from yesterday. Douglas Carswell, the UKIP MP for Clacton likened anti-austerity protesters to a “lynch mob”. He was being melodramatic. I was watching a programme a few weeks ago that looked at election hustings from the 1960s and 1970s. It was fascinating how much contact politicians had with the general public. This was an age when politicians possessed oratorical skills. These days, politicians do all they can to avoid contact with the public who elects them and when they make speeches, they sound as though they’re reading from a phone book.
I found this clip on YouTube. It’s of Quintin Hogg, aka Lord Hailsham and father of former Tory MP, Douglas Hogg. Hogg takes offence to someone in the crowd brandishing a Labour Party placard and lashes out at it with his stick. The year is 1964.
What a charming fellow.
Labour won a small majority and the Tories left a massive balance of trade deficit after 13 years in power.
In the same election, the accidental Prime Minister, Alec Douglas-Home had to escape “potentially violent hecklers” by climbing through the back window of a hall.
Can you imagine Carswell having to do the same thing? No, I can’t either. He’d be cowering in a cupboard shouting for his mummy.
Reblogged this on sdbast.