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Post by marksenior on Feb 25, 2013 21:54:02 GMT
As someone who was actually involved in that campaign , your comment is completely false and an outright lie . Most of the anti Tatchell leaflets were put out by neither the NF or the Liberals but by Mellish and his supporters . We who were campaigning for the Liberals were simply astonished as to what was going on . And before you mention " straight choice" , back in those days it did not have the connotation in usage in the poulation ar large that it does today . *Most* Did you put any leaflets out about Tatchell's sexuality? No and I can remember being briefed for canvassing not to mention it on the lines of others are doing it widely . |
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cibwr
Plaid Cymru
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Post by cibwr on Feb 25, 2013 21:56:45 GMT
I remember the old Surrey Docks, indeed I remember the byelection.... The estate was run down, the housing list was opened to single people and single people jointly sharing - which quickly became gay. Surrey Docks was somewhat changed. I remember in one block of 36 flats on one landing, 2 were occupied by straight people. However Surrey Docks were not in the constituency, but just outside it.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 22:03:37 GMT
I would love to see how the gay population vote. It would be fascinating.
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Post by gwynthegriff on Feb 25, 2013 22:21:17 GMT
The 'contentious' leaflet included some artwork that claimed (rightly!) that the election was "a straight choice" between Labour and the Liberals. It was a piece of artwork widely used in the party in those days of Pritt sticks and cut-up sheets of paper artwork. [Happy days!]
Some people choose to recall it as "Simon Hughes is the straight choice", but nobody has ever found such a leaflet.
Because - presumably - it never existed.
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Crimson King
Lib Dem
Be nice to each other and sing in tune
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Post by Crimson King on Feb 25, 2013 22:21:42 GMT
I remember the old Surrey Docks, indeed I remember the byelection.... The estate was run down, the housing list was opened to single people and single people jointly sharing - which quickly became gay.. What! Sharing a flat with someone makes you gay! ;-) |
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Post by gwynthegriff on Feb 25, 2013 22:22:26 GMT
I would love to see how the gay population vote. It would be fascinating. Same way as the rest of us - either with a stubby pencil in a polling station, or by post. They're just like the rest of us you know ......  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 22:23:06 GMT
It was probably the most viscously homophobic campaign ever, all organized by the Liberals. Much of this was in breach of electoral law with anonymous leaflets which many assumed to be from the NF being circulated by the Liberals. The ultimate irony is that most of the things that the Liberals said about Peter Tatchell were also true about Simon Hughes. All this talk for some reason reminds me of Kenny Everett's famous contribution on our behalf in the general election that year (this could have been before he publicly acknowledged his sexuality): |
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Post by East Anglian Lefty on Feb 25, 2013 22:38:27 GMT
*Most* Did you put any leaflets out about Tatchell's sexuality? No and I can remember being briefed for canvassing not to mention it on the lines of others are doing it widely . I'm certainly that the rationale for giving canvassers negative information they were not to provide to voters was entirely innocent... |
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Post by stepney on Feb 25, 2013 23:45:36 GMT
(Reposted from another place - blatant attention-seeking)
(From about three to six minutes in) - featuring John O'Grady on the back of a cart singing a muck-raking ditty, Peter Tatchell putting on a comedy Cockney accent, and "TATCHELL IS A COMMUNIST POOF" painted in four-foot high letters up a dock wall.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 23:49:38 GMT
Tatchell apparently lives in the same council flat he had at the time of the by election, on the Rockingham Estate near Elephant and Castle. (It now has a blue plaque in his honour.) I wonder how many times he has voted for Simon Hughes since.
There are some good discussions on this by election in the uk.politics.electoral archive if you do a search - this and "were Tower Hamlets Liberals racist" being matters of recurring controversy...
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mboy
Liberal
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Post by mboy on Feb 25, 2013 23:52:48 GMT
It was probably the most viscously homophobic campaign ever, all organized by the Liberals. That's not true and you know it. |
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Feb 25, 2013 23:53:23 GMT
Tatchell apparently lives in the same council flat he had at the time of the by election, on the Rockingham Estate near Elephant and Castle. (It now has a blue plaque in his honour.) I wonder how many times he has voted for Simon Hughes since. My guess would be none. He was still Labour until 2000 (and had a Jeremy Fraser poster up in 1997), and then joined the Green Party in 2004; there was a Green Party candidate in the constituency in 2005 and 2010. That only leaves 2001, where I would guess he voted either Green or Labour (the former is the more likely). |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 23:58:23 GMT
To be honest, he was a terrible candidate. I bet he would have lost even if he wasn't gay.
Like the chap at 8:00 said, losing a seat with a 20,000 majority in opposition is unbelievably horrific. The leader was a joke, the candidate was a joke and labour got what it deserved.
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mboy
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Post by mboy on Feb 26, 2013 0:03:11 GMT
Did the Liberals take a stand against the rampant homophobia? Or did they just sit back and reap the benefits? They didn't speak out against it, that's true, and Hughes has said he regrets that and publicly apologised for it. Likewise, although "straight choice" was a standard slogan, given what was going on it was insensitive to use it that time. But let's be clear: trying to blame the Liberals for a hate campaign that was being run by a combination of Old Labour and the right wing attack media - on the grounds that the Liberals didn't try hard enough to stop that campaign - is just pure smear work. And as has been pointed out, the large majority of hate that was poured on Tatchell was political in nature. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2013 0:05:53 GMT
Tatchell apparently lives in the same council flat he had at the time of the by election, on the Rockingham Estate near Elephant and Castle. (It now has a blue plaque in his honour.) I wonder how many times he has voted for Simon Hughes since. My guess would be none. He was still Labour until 2000 (and had a Jeremy Fraser poster up in 1997), and then joined the Green Party in 2004; there was a Green Party candidate in the constituency in 2005 and 2010. That only leaves 2001, where I would guess he voted either Green or Labour (the former is the more likely). From wiki (shamefully) On 27 April 2010, he urged Green Party supporters to vote for Liberal Democrats in constituencies where they had an incumbent MP or a strong chance of winning. [32]So unless he chose not to follow his own advice he must have done. |
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mboy
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Post by mboy on Feb 26, 2013 0:33:17 GMT
the LibDems still know how to fight dirty in by-elections. Miranda Grell. Phil Woolas. Both within the last few years. Oh Yeh, you were hoping everyone had forgotten about those, weren't you? Silly boy. |
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Post by timrollpickering on Feb 26, 2013 1:18:09 GMT
But let's be clear: trying to blame the Liberals for a hate campaign that was being run by a combination of Old Labour and the right wing attack media - on the grounds that the Liberals didn't try hard enough to stop that campaign - is just pure smear work. The usual charge is not that the Liberals sat back and reaped the rewards. Usually it's that the Liberals or individual groups of Liberals were stirring things themselves. "I've been kissed by Peter Tatchell" badges? |
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john07
Labour & Co-operative
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Post by john07 on Feb 26, 2013 2:35:24 GMT
It was probably the most viscously homophobic campaign ever, all organized by the Liberals. Much of this was in breach of electoral law with anonymous leaflets which many assumed to be from the NF being circulated by the Liberals. The ultimate irony is that most of the things that the Liberals said about Peter Tatchell were also true about Simon Hughes. As someone who was actually involved in that campaign , your comment is completely false and an outright lie . Most of the anti Tatchell leaflets were put out by neither the NF or the Liberals but by Mellish and his supporters . We who were campaigning for the Liberals were simply astonished as to what was going on . And before you mention " straight choice" , back in those days it did not have the connotation in usage in the poulation ar large that it does today . The source for this was from Steve Radford. petertatchell.net/politics/Liberal-dirty-tricks-Bermondsey-by-election-30th-anniversary.htm |
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Post by johnloony on Feb 26, 2013 3:18:33 GMT
I once asked Peter Tatchell what would have happened if he had won the by-election. He said that Parliament is a very "civilising" place and that he would probably have gone native in settling down as a loyal back-bench Labour MP. He has achieved far more in the last 30 years than he would have done as just another MP.
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Post by johnloony on Feb 26, 2013 3:33:02 GMT
... I wasn't aware of the homophobic issue until afterwards. It occurs to me that my source of information from the media at that time was from the Daily Telegraph and from BBC TV News. I would have been totally unaware of any more colourful homophobic (or otherwise) coverage or comment which might have been coming from the tabloid newspapers. |
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