Ray Lewis, the man the Tories lauded a few weeks ago as an example to everyone, and someone chosen by the Tory hierarchy to be s sign of the new Tory party, and be deputy Mayor of London, has been caught out, big time. Everyone knows this, the virtual silence on the issue by Tory bloggers says it all. Except, that is, if you are Iain Dale.
Apparently, a man who lied about being a JP, a man who claimed to be a prison governor but never governed a prison, a man who the Church of England have serious doubts about, cannot be criticised in Iain Dale's world because he is black.
Apparently, according to Iain Dale, because I choose to criticise him, I am an "Uncle Tom hating Leftist".
I believe that Ray Lewis has been criticised because he put himself up for high office on the basis of a number of lies. White, black, orange or yellow, he would have been criticised for what he did no matter what.
If Iain believes that it is racist to criticise someone who is not white, then he is wrong, 100%. What is racist is to believe that anyone who is not white cannot be criticised on the basis of real evidence.
I have learned to like Iain after our battles in North Norfolk and have really been grateful for his encouragement to my blog. He is brave to blog on the subject of Ray Lewis whilst other Tory bloggers stay silent. But his selfless devotion to the Conservative Party, right or wrong, is a real shame sometimes.
6 comments:
Nich, I am surprised that you have wilfully misrepresented what I said.
I didn't say he couldn;t be criticised, let alone couldn't be criticised because he is black.
I did not call you an Uncle Tom hating leftist. I said it was that syndrome which was behind a lot of the criticism aimed at him from the left. FWIW I don't consider you to be on the left anyway!
My comments are irrelevant to my loyalty or otherwise to the Conservative Party. Was I so loyal to the Conservative Party when I slagged off Boris Johnson for getting rid of James McGrath? Was I loyal to the Conservative Party for slagging off Ken Clarke's views on English votes? No, thought not.
Now, now, girls, play nicely.
There can be no misrepresentation of the Dale posture. It is a cynical application of an old tactic, shouting insinuations of racism when caught with a hand in the till (or worse).
Lewis was a wrong'un. The rumours about him, all the way across East London (and -- yes -- I still have my contacts) were rife. C4 and the Guardian were chasing them some time back. City Hall (it is alleged) issued a strong legal warning a week back: was that done, and, if so, did it have the Borisonian benediction?
No, no, no: the hierarchs in City Hall did not have revelations about Lewis dropped on them in the last day or so. They knew. They thought they could bluff it out. They thought the Mail and the Evening Standard were on board. For once, they were wrong. When the likes of Dale now to ride to the rescue, it is a gesture of total futility.
What is more interesting is how the story was sterilised.
Overnight on Thursday, the headline story was that the allegations against Lewis involved "sex abuse" [Evening Standard], or "sexual impropriety" [Telegraph], and "sexual misconduct" [Times]. At the milder end of the scale the Guardian had "sexual in nature" though the Indy went the whole hog about a "sexual past".
The Chelmsford diocese has, perhaps necessarily, been very circumspect, saying that Lewis was put on the Lambeth list of banned clerics "because a misdemeanour of such seriousness had been committed that in the opinion of the Archbishop, the person concerned should not exercise his ministry for the time being." My reading was it involved something more serious than a few thousand quid of loose change. We do not know more from the diocese because someone (according to the BBC, the Mayor's Office) called in the heavy mob of "our legal friends". My interpretation was given support by Richard Ingrams in today's Independent:
"Anyone with experience of the Church of England will know how difficult it is to get rid of a rogue vicar. When I looked into the matter some time ago, the principle seemed to be that he had either to preach heresy or be drunk in the pulpit to merit expulsion.
"Therefore, when the Bishop of Chelmsford tells us that he barred Boris Johnson's deputy and former clergyman Ray Lewis following allegations of sexual and financial misconduct, it's clear he believed that he had very good grounds indeed for taking that step. This is especially true since Ray Lewis is black, and the church authorities would have been sensitive to any possible charge of race discrimination."
So, young Nich: stick to your good, proper and liberal reading of the situation. On this one, Dale is well out-of-order and doing a brown-tongue job.
Any bets on the News of the Screws having something for the weekend, sir? But, of course, as the old adage has it: the best Labour scandals are always financial, and the best Tory ones are always sexual. Then, as my blonde, blue-eyed daughter surprised me by saying: "The Hollywood lawyers say never to get caught in bed with a dead woman or a live boy." What on earth could she mean?
"I did not call you an Uncle Tom hating leftist. I said it was that syndrome which was behind a lot of the criticism aimed at him from the left."
That's a bit of a misrepresentation of your own article, Iain.
You said that there's "nothing the left hate more than a black person who does well in the Tory party" and then went on to cite one example in support of this assertion.
If it's such a widespread symptom then there are surely numerous cases to diagnose.
Respectfully,
Ben
Do they now intend to burn Uncle Tom's Cabin?
The Lewis fiasco is an example of something I have noticed less spectacularly several times at a more local level.
A black person joins a mainly white group. The white members get over-excited and to show their anti-racist credentials put the black newcomer forward for a position of responsibility before he has proved himself.
The black person then loses interest or finds his other commitments prevent him doing the job properly. He stops attending meetings and the organisation finds itself in a mess.
If Ray Lewis had been a white youth workerI doubt whether he would have been appointed as Deputy Mayor.
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