"Racistisk" skygge-minister fyret i UK

Denne historie har undgået min opmærksomhed, men bedre sent end aldrig: Patrick Mercer, en højt dekoreret tidligere oberst i den britiske hær er blevet fyret som "skyggeminister" for sikkerhed af sin chef, den konservative leder, David Cameron.

(Via: Scott Burgess)

Hvad er den arme Mercers forbrydelse? Jo, han har ladet en racistisk bemærkning falde i en samtale med en journalist.



Og hvad er det så Mercer sagde?:

"I came across a lot of ethnic minority soldiers who were idle and useless, but who used racism as cover for their misdemeanours.

"I remember one guy from St Anne's (Nottingham) who was constantly absent and who had a lot of girlfriends. When he came back one day I asked him why, and he would say, 'I was racially abused.' And we'd say: 'No you weren't, you were off with your girlfriends again.'

"I had the good fortune to command a battalion that was racially very mixed. Towards the end, I had five company sergeant majors who were all black. They were without exception UK-born, Nottingham-born men who were English - as English as you and me.

"They prospered inside my regiment, but if you'd said to them, 'Have you ever been called a nigger,' they would have said, 'Yes.' But equally, a chap with red hair, for example, would also get a hard time - a far harder time than a black man, in fact. But 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 bastard, come on you ginger bastard, come on you black bastard.'

Det er naturligvis ord, der har sat sindene i oprør ovre bag The White Cliffs of Dover (Gad vide hvornår de bliver omdøbt til The Multicoloured Cliffs? At de er hvide kan vel ikke ses som andet end et udtryk for utålelig racisme.)

To timer efter bemærkningener var blevet offentliggjort havde David "The Boy" Cameron fyret Mercer over telefonen.




Nu kan det godt være, at jeg er usædvanligt tykhovedet (det hævder fru Turbanbombe i det mindste med jævne mellemrum) men jeg kan ikke, selv med min bedste vilje se, hvad der er så racistisk ved de udtalelser.

At dømme efter billedet var Patrick Mercer ikke oberst der ville tillade dovenskab af sine mænd, og jeg er ikke sikker på, at jeg ville have nydt at være under hans kommando, dengang jeg selv var i trøjen. Men omvendt ligner han også én, der nyder (og ikke kræver) respekt. Flere af hans tidligere underordnede har da også været ude med støtte-erklæringer, sorte soldater vel at mærke:

However, two black soldiers who served with Mr Mercer during his 25-year Army career - one of them a sergeant major - said Mr Cameron had made a big mistake.

Owen Lewis, a former non-commissioned officer who was hand-picked by Mr Mercer for key promotions, said: "David Cameron doesn't realise what a good man he's lost. I worked with Patrick Mercer to eradicate racism from the battalion. He is the finest Colonel I ever served under."

Ikke at det vil gavne Mercer. Han er fortabt, begravet under det mudderskred der udløses hver gang racisme-kortet bliver spillet. Hele sagen viser, hvor utroligt tyndhudet de vestlige samfund er blevet. En kommentar fra Labours Shahid Malik er ganske sigende:

"It doesn't matter what they (the Conservatives) tell you, they still are the nasty, racist, sexist, homophobic party they have been for many, many, many years."

Det vil muligvis forbavse David Cameron, at han er formand for et parti bestående af lutter rettro islamister, men sådan er der jo så meget.