Michael Howard makes my BLOOD BOIL

[Enid]

It makes my blood boil to hear Michael Howard talking about Labour 'diluting British values' - eg giving some asylum seekers special treatment.

How dare he presume that British values aren't ones of tolerance, understanding and caring.

I hate the Tory party and I especially hate Michael Howard.

Thanks, I feel better now.

ME TOO dOPHUS

haven't read the thread but what about "We're going to look after the British people"..................

well what about all the 'non British' people who are living here perfectly legally, paying their taxes and are eligble to vote. What makes someone 'British' anyhow? Do they have to have a British passport, be born here, parents born here? What about those that have been given permanent residence - does he not want to look after them too?

Crunchie: bit shocked that he practices. Don't people throw things at him?!

Also how come his son is a vicar?!

Well put it this way I have seen him in there.

NDP - the Tories certainly would have gone to war in Iraq! And MH himself admits that.

And tell your DH that when MH was Secretary for trade and industry in the Thatcher years, it was him who insisted on selling arms, and the equipment to build WMD to iraq in order to boost exports. The MoD argued against him - but Thatcher gave the call and the arms were sold. The Tories, under Thatcher, also built a huge weapons factory for Iraq, which they kept secret from the USA.

here

well I have to say MH is going up in my estimation - never really rated him as party leader but I'm fast changing my opinion. He's on Ask Michael Howard with Jonathan Dimbleby and studio audience and doing rather well (imho). He can't speak without his hands though!

I'm sure you're all thrilled to have this post on this thread - but after todays shennanigins I thought 'why not?'

he's doing well because he's being interviewed by a pro tory interviewer
sigh
notice also Paxo allowing Charles Kennedy a bit of verbalising time in his interview last night
Will be keen to see if he allows MH and TB the same privilege
Although my apparently LibDem 11yo DS was horrified at Paxo and said oh he's being so mean to him.
Ahhhh innocence

Was he asked "Did you threaten to overrule him?"

How we chortled.

Poor Charles Kennedy - I'm amazed he's awake at all!

I may have to leave the country if MH ever becomes prime minister - I absolutely can't bear him!!!! Can't find words strong enough...

I must say piffle at one stage I thought stop the interview, the poor man is getting murdered.

When he asked him about wind farms, I nearly cried - the look on Kennedy's face was a picture. He absolutely slaughtered Kennedy and their policies.

I noticed the 'verbalising' bit at the end but I thought he had to let him have a little say because for the other 25 minutes, Kennedy was made to look like a fool. I thought though that Kennedy handled the war questions quite well and didn't appear at all like a smug git which is what Paxman was hoping to draw out.

I'm glad the leaders are doing these - they should have put them on slightly later so that everyone had a chance to see them.

I hate the Tories as much as I hate Labour But just to offer up some perspective. Michael Howard is standing for his seat as much as the next MP and his constituency is Folkestone. Council taxpayers in Folkestone (and other Channel coast areas) are having to foot the bill to house tons of asylum seekers/applicants for immigration because central govt (Labour) refuses to carry the costs. One of the major gripes of Folkestone Council is the length of time that it is taking for potential immigrants to be assessed due to Labour policies. If you lived in Folkestone you might agree with Michael Howard.

God Michael Howard. Reeeeeeeeeeepulsiveman, vile politicking. pity so many people seem to be listening to him though.
I'm a pretty staunch socialist, work in public sector, approve of taxing those who can afford it etc. However I can't vote labour this time cos of Iraq. And the libdems (who would prob have got my vote despite it being a wasted vote in my area)aren't standing locally. We have an independent MP and the lib dems have stood down to give a better chance of being re-elected. Don't want to vote for him either! GAH!

Yep, on Radio's 4 Today this morning the political commentators were all in agreement that its going to be very hard to find anyone to vote for.

not at all - vote conservative!

foxinsocks it was funny as I was cooking or something else equally banal and ds was yelling paxmans murdering Charles Kennedy muuuuuuuuuuum hurry
like I could save him?
pmsl
I really want to see mean Paxman start on MH I'll not miss that and we'll all be yelling with glee
Paxmans incinerating Tory policies
Although the healthcare ones were on Jeremy Vine today and I think John Reid came across better that the LibDem and Tory guys.

Just seen this. I must say my reaction to this is different from some of you. I am enormously heartened that the Tories' emphasis on immigration and asylum seems to be backfiring on them. Most people polled don't rate it the most important issue and it seems to be alienating some of their supporters. According to the lunchtime news on the radio, even Rupert Murdoch has asked them to tone it down a bit. All this suggests to me that there is a majority in this country who don't like racist sloganising. A big defeat for the Tories may get even them to see that there is no future in this approach. It may also persuade those of the Blunkett tendency in the Labour Party to take a more liberal line on immigration and asylum. Isn't this an interesting election? Not at all what I expected.

Interesting that Michael Howard's grandfather was apparantly an illegal immigrant himself. Hypocritical t**t

why hypocritical?

I think it's fair to say that Michael Howard is hypocritical on immigration.

In order to 'control immigration', Howard wants to pull out of the Geneva Convention on Refugees (1951 - drafted in recognition of the refugees who escaped Nazi Germany including Howard's grandparents).

yes, pulling up the ladder after climbing to the top so others can't get to the top.

I agree with some of the other posters that I am not sure that Micheal Howard actually is racist, but I think that he knows that his policies are written to appeal to racists.

I used to live in Bradford where racism was the norm rather than the exception and during a coffee break the conversation would start with the words "I'm not racist but...." inevitably followed by some ill informed and offensive racist comment about "them". I think that political parties have a moral obligation not to encourage racists to feel that most "reasonable" people agree with their lowest opinions.

My mum told me the other day about a council meeting she had attended the other day which was aimed at addressing the dire conditions at a local council run gypsy camp. The gypsies have been living on the camp and paying rent for the last 13 years and little or no money has been spent on maintenance. This has lead to very unsanitary conditions and a very high infant mortality. One of the tory councillors announced that it was "their" fault for being filthy. This is what the anti gypsy stance leads to.

He's hypocritical about something else too - yesterday he was on the news saying 'Labour's campaign is founded on lies and therefore they're unfit to govern' - the lie referred to was that he said they'd misquoted a tory policy. Now, let me see....

The conservatives published leaflets with INCORRECT MRSA rates

A conservative candidate was SACKED for telling the TRUTH

A conservative candidate was NOT SACKED for airbrushing a picture of himself, changing a placard from a picture of an asylum seeking family to 'Fair, controlled immigration'

A conservative candidate HACKED into the labour party's candidate website and redirected everyone accessing that site to his own.

Dishonesty????

I'm not very political. I can't bear the awful propoganda that the major parties spout - all of which seem to be designed to attract tabloid headlines
BUT
I actually think Michael Howard is quite sexy. I realise that this will probably make me a Mumsnet hate figure & I can't really explain it - probably out of control hormones or unnaturally blonde hair (mine not his)! But there we have it!