Thatcher, trolls, hypocrisy and faux outrage: the world of Louise Mensch

I have no time at all for Louise Mensch, the author of rubbish ‘chick lit’ novels, Tory MP for Corby and apologist for Murdoch. Her only skill seems to be getting things badly wrong. Recently she has taken to Twitter to complain about people, some of whom describe themselves as Labour supporters, who have openly tweeted that they will celebrate once Thatcher finally dies.  Others have been more forthright about the Auld Witch.

The Telegraph, naturally, has the story. Here’s a taste,

Last night, Louise Mensch, the backbench Conservative MP, called on Labour to respond after being sent a message by a follower who claimed to have worked for the Party inviting her to a party following Lady Thatcher’s death.

Her message triggered a Twitter storm, with other critics of Lady Thatcher sending abusive messages about the former prime minister, calling her a s— and other crude names.

However, other Labour supporters told Mrs Mensch that they deplored the remarks, and insisted that the Tweets did not represent the views of most party members.

I saw some of those tweets, so what’s the problem? Don’t Tory supporters and other right-wing loons say pretty much the same thing about Labour MPs? Well, they do. Have a look at some of the comments left on Telegraph blogs if you’re in any doubt.

Here’s a sample of some of the tweets that have upset dear, sweet Lou,

One critic of Lady Thatcher, John Bradley, said: “Silly isn’t it, when she dies there will be so many parties you won’t need an invite.”

David Blessing ‏added: “It’s not like anyone’s planning a murder. Just poised with balloons, streamers and a conga is forming right now.”

Chris Castle said: “She wished me unemployed, powerless and subservient. why shld I show any compassion to her?”

And Simon Gardner said: “There’s going to be the mother of all parties when Margaret Thatcher dies.”

Hmm, doubtless many Tories raised a glass of champagne when Attlee died (his grandson is a Tory peer by the way). The one thing that escapes Tories like Mensch is the devastation that was wrought on this country in the 1980s by the mass redundancies and the closure of the pits. When Thatcher dies, they will have a right to feel relieved and celebrate the end of a truly terrible era. But the Tories, like Mensch, are in denial. They believe the destruction of Britain’s industries was necessary for the country to move forward. The country didn’t move forward and now we have the most draconian anti-union laws anywhere in Europe with certain members of the party calling for even tougher anti-union laws.

Fellow Tory backbencher Philip Davies commented: “These are the same people who try to claim to have a monopoly in compassion. At least everyone can now see how vile they are.”

Incidentally, this is the same Tory who said that the disabled should work for less pay. It shouldn’t surprise you that he is also the Parliamentary spokesman for the dismal Campaign Against Political Correctness.

Mrs Mensch said: “Right. Enough of this. Sunny day, extreme left embarrassing themselves all over my @ stream. Lady T worth millions of any of these trolls.

No she isn’t. Enough of the hero-worship already.

Really encouraging to see all, including those on the left, repudiate the celebrants of an old woman’s death. Will @UKLabour do likewise?

You can see what Mensch is trying to do here: she’s using the tweets of a few individuals to suggest that this was Labour Party policy. It’s low but then she’s an admirer of Thatcher. She reiterates,

What we want is a simple statement that rejoicing in anyone’s death is, like racism, cause for expulsion.

Here she tries the same line as the Lyin’ King by feebly joining the dots.  “It’s like racism” she cries, while everyone else laughs. Here’s something that should make you laugh, dear readers, it’s a tweet that Mensch sent last Friday.

@LouiseMensch best bit of the opening ceremony was the tribute to the NHS says so much about PM that he protected & increased its budget

Is she serious? Yes, she is. This leaves us with one question: do you have to be smart to be an MP? No, all it takes is the right amount of social capital and Mensch has plenty of that.

Here are a few of the replies to Mensch’s outburst.

We are often told that this is a ‘free country’, so if someone wants to rejoice in the death of someone who killed thousands of people through her policies, then surely that is their right? In fact, when she dies, I’ll be celebrating too. Will she call for me to be arrested? I’d like to see her try.

Finally,  The Daily Shame does a great take on this. Enjoy!

Who cares what Lord Sugar says?

Well, for starters, I don’t. Yesterday, the anti-Ken brigade was cock-a-hoop over Alan (Lord) Sugar’s tweet, which urged his followers not to vote for Ken Livingstone. Personally, I think Sugar, who has let the title of “Lord” go to his head, takes the word “follower” a little too seriously.  Here’s what he said,

I don’t care if Ed Miliband is backing Livingstone . I seriously suggest NO ONE votes for Livingstone in the Mayoral elections

Naturally, this made Kennite’s day.

Lord Sugar donated a total of £69,424 to Labour or to Mr Miliband’s office in 2011, including £12,576 as rcently as December. He is of course a prominent member of the Jewish community and was believed to have been extremely angry at Ken’s behaviour towards Jews.

Ken’s campaign is in crisis now.

Livingstone’s campaign is hardly in crisis. Going by those tweets that I saw on the #skylondondebate hashtag last night, I’d say Bojo the Clown’s campaign was in crisis.   What I find so dishonest about Kennite’s blog is the fact that he continues to repeat the lie that Livingstone is an anti-Semite. If he’d have said that about George Galloway, he’d find himself slapped with a libel suit so fast, his head would spin. But is Sugar really a “prominent member of the Jewish community”? If so, where is this homogenized Jewish community? It’s like talking about Trevor Phillips and saying that he represents the ‘black’ community.  There is no homogeneous Jewish community any more than there is a homogeneous black or Asian community; it exists only in the collective mind of the media. Sugar is more likely to be a prominent member of the capitalist class than anything else. He just happens to be Jewish. So what? But remember, Gilligan is the one who claimed that there was a “white establishment”. So if anyone is obsessed with ethnicity, it’s him.

What Kennite and others have missed in their haste to describe Sugar as some sort of model Labour peer is the fact that not only is this the man who gave us crappy Amstrad products, he was a firm supporter of Thatcher in the 1980’s. Thatcher also admired him as a businessman. No surprise there then.  In fact Sugar supported the Conservative Party right up until 1997 when he switched his allegiance to Nu Labour. This man is no friend of anybody’s but himself. Indeed he is the very model of buccaneer capitalism. A real bully of a man. The ideal Tory in fact.

This morning’s edition of City AM,

Did you see the way they juxtaposed the image of Ken crying at his campaign video with one of Sugar with his finger raised as if to point to someone and say “You’re fired”? Yes, it’s a cheap trick and no, it did not happen in real time but such is the nature of propaganda. City AM is supportive of the City and all the evils that flow from it. No prizes for guessing which mayoral candidate this paper supports.

If Bozza wins the election, he’ll spend most of his term preparing to oust Cameron as leader of the Tory party. He’ll also moonlight by penning numerous articles for the Telegraph and The Spectator for which he will be paid a handsome sum of money. He will continue to bullshit and bluster his way through interviews and he will offer no real policies that improve the lives of ordinary Londoners.  London will become a city for the rich (it’s heading that way now), which is just what City AM and the likes of Sugar want.