Wednesday 28 November 2007

Institutionalised stupidity

I am beginning to think that Donorgate, to coin no phrase at all, may be evidence less of institutionalised corruption in the Labour party so much as of institutionalised stupidity.

David Abrahams is self-evidently a card-carrying nutter. This is a man – 'a confirmed bachelor who enjoys musical theatre,' as the Mail felicitously puts it – who in 1990 presented himself for selection as the Labour candidate for Richmond in Yorkshire claiming to be married and with an 11-year-old son.

This turned out to be untrue, the woman in question and her son having effectively been hired by Abrahams. When the story broke, as inevitably such a childish attempt at deception would, Abrahams asserted that claims he was unmarried were 'totally false.'

(As an intriguing sidelight on Labour's apparently inbred stupidity, once the deception was exposed Abrahams was nonetheless re-confirmed as the candidate for Richmond, reluctantly stepping down only the following year, not that this deterred him from standing, unsuccessfully this time, for selection for another parliamentary seat).

Self-evidently then, Labour knew they were dealing with a lunatic, a known fantasit and liar.

Would you think it prudent to accept money from someone with this kind of track record?

Just how stupid do you have to be to become general secretary of the Labour party?

1 comment:

Jeremy Jacobs said...

Even the Jewish Chronicle didn't mention this. What a bizarre man this Abrahams is.