Yesterday I covered the anti-homophobes letter from amongst others Stephen Fry, Partick Stewart, Eddie Izzard and Jo Brand. Today there is news that the he president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Vivian Wineman, has also sent a letter to the Conservative leader over his alliance with far-right groups in Poland and Latvia.
There is rising concern about just what some of the Tories partners stand for. In the same way that under the gloss that Nick Griffen likes to put on the BNP there is a lot of concern about the core values of what he party actually stands for. We're well aware of the underlying message that the far right parties in our own country have, yet the so-called new social liberalism that the Conservatives want to portray turned their back on the central right parties in Europe and heading off to find more extreme colleagues to form a group.
This is the party that all the while is claiming to bring a new progressivism, but over at over at this conference is defending Poland and Latvia for being less progressive. Well there are some in those countries that are looking to be progressive but the Tories haven't aligned with them, they have gone with the far right wing. They have partnered up with those that have banned the right for Gay Pride marches to take place in Latvia, opposed gay rights from the EU convention of Human Rights to be ratified, that celebrate the Waffen-SS in annual parades.
It truly is a case of double speak and the Conservatives are trying to put the con into their answers by denying some of the stuff that these leaders are doing and are saying. Zile has tried to defend himself by saying it was back in WWII. Wrong! Look at the violence meted out on Government orders to a peaceful Gay Pride event but a few years ago. This is real, this is current and the Conservatives are being apologists for it, and then some, much as Chamberlain was for the Germans in the late 30s.
You'll have noticed that some of the Tory sources have been pointing the fingers at other parties having links to 'extreme elements' but this misses a very large point. The Tories went out and chose their new friends after a desparate trawl round the right wing in Europe. They were warned, not least from within their own ranks but they presumably had to go ahead because of David Cameron's rash campaign promise. It doesn't inspire much confidence in the maturity of his judgement should he win the election does it?
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