The Labour Party (I was going to write “Blair’s Labour Party” but it looks like the membership is going away from him) is holding its annual conference in its own Green Zone in Brighton, South England. When one member shouted a comment during a speech on foreign policy about a claim over Iraq. He was roughly bundled from the hall as was another delegate who protested about the way he was being treated.
So who was this threat to the safety of the Great Myopic Greaseball Jack Straw? One Walter Wolfgang, an 82 year old who had fled Nazi Germany in 1937. He joined the Labour Party in 1948, before Bliar was born. He was bundled out of the hall for shouting “nonsense” at one of Straw’s claims or as The Times narrates it:
Mr Straw continued “We are in Iraq for one reason – to help the elected Iraqi Government build a secure, democratic and stable nation – and we can and will only remain with their consent. “
At that point, a delegate at the back of the hall jumped up and shouted “That is a lie!” The man was quickly bundled out of the hall by security guards to shouts of “shame” from other delegates. Another delegate sitting nearby, later identified as Steve Forrest, chairman of the Erith and Thamesmead constituency party, shouted at stewards: “You must be joking.” He too was bundled out and is thought to have had his conference accreditation confiscated.
Later Mr Wolfgang was seen on TV being told he must leave the conference centre by the smaller of the two shown in the above picture who still towered above him. He was grabbed by the arm and forced through doors. The cameras try to follow him but were stopped by a gang of Labour Party officials blocking their way. Mr Wolfgang’s cries of pain or distress could be heard and later he sat in an obviously shaken state giving details to a policeman.
This is how they treat one elderly man who had presumably been a loyal member for 57 years and a senior officer in a local party who objected to the way they were treating him. The true face of “new Labour” is slipping from behind Bliar’s grinning mask.
Update [2005-9-28 12:29:32 by Londonbear]: There are now reports that the two were intially detained by the police under the Prevention of Terrorism Act
