The Labour Party candidate to defend Hartlepool in the upcoming by-election has apologised for his past “inappropriate” tweets, including one about “a favourite Tory milf”.
Dr Paul Williams said on Friday that he “wouldn’t dream of making comments like this now” after some of his less savoury Tweets to came to light.
The offending Tweet asks: “Do you have a favourite Tory MILF? Mind-blowing dinner table conversation”
The acronym MILF came into use after the cult classic American Pie, a sort of coming-of-age story about high school friendship and sex, gave us numerous cultural references. One of those “treasures” was the term “MILF,” or “Mom I’d Like To F*ck.”The term, used by one of the characters to describe another character’s mother, quickly gained momentum and became mainstream.
The fact it is mainstream is no reason to use such a derogatory term to women, to a mother, by a Doctor!
Taking into account this by-election has been called due to the resignation of the former Labour MP after alleged sexual harassment allegations and a former investigation by the Labour Party it seems Labour are falling before they start.
The former MP Mr Hill was suspended by Labour in September 2019 over allegations he sexually harassed a woman but had the whip restored to contest the general election two months later along with the fact Mr Hill resigned as an MP this week coming in the wake of reports that he used taxpayers’ money to fight a staff member’s claim of unfair dismissal, sexual assault and harassment, you have to wonder at how much joined-up thinking the Labour party use in selecting candidates.
Asked if use of the word ‘MILF’ was appropriate during a visit to Glasgow, Sir Keir said: “No it isn’t and Hartlepool is obviously a very important by-election for us.”
The by-election is seen as a key test of Sir Keir’s leadership as he seeks to defend a seat in Labour’s heartlands, with so much of it falling to the Conservatives in the 2019 general election.
Labour members appear to be furious that the selection process resulted in a shortlist of just one name – and no women. “Everyone is a feminist when it’s convenient,” one female MP reportedly told the Labour List website.
A party source described the move to longlist one candidate as “another Jenny Chapman special”, referring to Keir Starmer’s director of politics, who sources say wanted Williams as the candidate. The two were colleagues until 2019.
One member of Labour’s NEC told LabourList that the decision not to put a diverse range of candidates to local members by shortlisting female and ethnic minority candidates was “pretty shocking”.
Sir Keir Starmer always one to break a promise, Tweeted last year during his leadership campaign: “The selections for Labour candidates needs to be more democratic and we should end NEC impositions of candidates. Local Party members should select their candidates for every election.”
That’s another out the window…
Another Tweet that shows his Blairite credentials better than most would be his warmongering comments like this…
A Remainer in Brexit Land
No lessons are being learnt by the Labour Party, they didn’t listen then and the aren’t listing now!
It Beggar’s Belief that the labour Party would select an Arch-Remainer in a seat that voted to leave the EU by nearly 70%
A forgotten fact, the six seats Labour lost on June 8 2017, every one of them was a Brexit town, a leave voting constituency.
In the disastrous 2019 General election, Labour lost 54 English seats, 52 of those seats voted to leave the EU in 2016.
One of those seats taken by the Tories was Dr Williams’ constituency of Stockton South. The local authority area that includes the constituency is Stockton-on-Tees, voted 61.7% to Leave in the 2016 EU referendum.
Williams is an arch-Remainer and was a vocal advocate of a second Brexit referendum, while Hartlepool itself voted 69.6 per cent in favour of leaving the EU.
“Parachuting someone like that in is about the best thing they could do – for the Tories,” one local councillor in the town said.
While Hartlepool has voted for a Labour MP since the 1950s, many in the party appear to be resigned to the likelihood that it will become the latest northern seat to turn blue.
Mike Hill held onto the constituency in 2019 with a majority of just 4,000 – a figure halved from the 2017 election.
The Brexit party split the Tory vote, if the Brexit Party had not stood in the seat, and won 10,000 votes, the Tories would almost certainly have clinched victory.
Hartlepool named part of Teesside Freeport which will mark ‘rebirth’ of region and create ‘thousands of jobs’
Labour certainty won’t win on blaming Brexit.
Mayor Houchen said: “Future generations will look back on today and say this was the day Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool was reborn as an industrial powerhouse.
“The Teesside Freeport marks the start of us returning to our rightful place on the world stage as a global player in advanced manufacturing and engineering.”
You have to wonder at the lack of joined-up thinking from the Labour Party.
Instead Hartlepool are stuck with a failed former MP who has already been rejected by the people of the North East.
The new by-election – likely to be held on 6 May – will be seen as especially significant in London because it will offer an early indication of how voters feel the PM has handled the pandemic, while also providing an early assessment of whether Sir Keir is managing to reconnect with the party’s old heartlands.
The Conservatives are yet to announce their candidate.
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