Crashed and Burned

Hazel Blears campaign has hit new lows as the national media almost universally condemned her for her comments. Hazel, well known for her outspoken comments, has perhaps overstepped the line this time. I'm sure that her supporters were cringing behind their clip-boards when the news of her speech's reception reached them. It's all very well to be seen to be taking a tough stance on crime, or even to propose greater restrictions on immigration. However, by suggesting that immigrants are the source of crime, drinking, broken housing laws- she has unwittingly made herself appear to be as stereotyping as the more right wing members of the Tory party. Though obviously her personal politics are fairly centrist public perception is everything, and I think that whatever support she expected from the middle-class uber-politically correct members of the party has quickly dried up.

"Now, the community doesn't object to the people - they object to the exploitation and the fact that that leads to people being on the street drinking and anti-social behaviour. They don't object to the people being there but they object if they are undercutting wages and not getting the national minimum wage and they are not abiding by health and safety, so you have got to enforce the law."

I see Mrs Blears point- ramming literally hundreds of people into just a few houses, not providing jobs and not showing a great deal of support is probably a very good way to cause a mess very quickly. But the problem is the situation, not the people who are in it, and if we tackle the root cause- overcrowding, unemployment and uncaring social services- then we will fast see the effects- poor hygiene, crime and alienation- die away. In addition to this, the response from members of Hazel Blears Salford constituency has been one of bemusement. One local seemed confused by the whole debate, claiming that most of the people he met drinking on the streets were more native than the bedrock.

The deputy leader of the Labour Party is as much an ambassador of the government as a leader. Voters will be asking themselves whether they want a deputy leader who makes gaffes like this one. The fact is is that with the election coming up Mrs Blears has not just stepped on the proverbial banana-skin, she's taken a running jump at it. Whether she survives or not will depend entirely on how many people are aware of her past record, her personal views and her politics before Blair announced his resignation... ah. Well. About nine people then.