Tories caught up in new immigration storm

[pampango]

Source: UK Guardian

David Cameron's Tories were accused last night of dog-whistle politics after the Conservative leader appeared on the front of flyers saying the floodgates had been opened to mass immigration. Critics say the flyers are alarmist and misleading because they imply limits could be imposed on entrants from EU countries such as Poland. The reference to "floodgates" being opened has echoes of Margaret Thatcher's controversial reference in 1979 to Asian immigrants "swamping" the country – condemned at the time as evidence of her party's anti-immigrant bias.

...it also suggests that the Tories would impose new transitional controls on the right of nationals of the new EU member states to work in the UK. Such controls already exist for Bulgaria and Romania, but retrospective limits on other eastern European states, such as Poland and the Czech Republic, would be illegal under EU law.

In a broadcast on YouTube yesterday Cameron, who is under heavy pressure from parts of his party to focus on immigration and tax cuts, insisted he would not lurch to the right to try to win votes. "It's for us to be both modern and radical. Not to go back to the old ways and not to play it safe." Last night, the Tory right mounted a fresh demand for drastic tax cuts which Cameron is unlikely to be able to deliver. Tory MEP Daniel Hannan hosted an event called the Brighton Tea Party, named after the Tea Party movement in the US, which has gathered huge public opposition to high taxation.

Yesterday, a Whitehall source said the Romford leaflet showed Cameron was losing an internal battle in the party and warned: "If either party decide to push the button on immigration then the only beneficiary will be Nick Griffin and the BNP."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/28/tory-immigration-row

[Captain Hilts]

1. Wow. Labor's ratings are low enough Tories shouldn't have to play these ugly games. Ugh!

Makes GoBro look good!

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. The Tory lead is narrowing considerably

In one poll out today, it's down to just 2 points - probably an outlier, but the trend has definitely been down. Summary of recent polls here: http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/ (figures on the right hand side of the blog).

[47of74]

2. Idiocy exists on both sides of the pond

[LeftishBrit]

4. They should have learned their lesson from last time

It is believed that overuse of the immigration card backfired on Michael Howard and the Tories in 2005, and added to the scale of their defeat (though they would have lost anyway). Although anti-immigrant bigotry is common among the British, blatant demagoguery on the issue among politicians tends to put a lot of people off.

Daniel Hannan is a revolting character who regularly rebels against his party from the Right - it wouldn't surprise me if he eventually switched to UKIP, though I'm sure he'd REALLY rather switch to the American Republican party! He hates the EU, while riding its gravy train; and likes to play to the American Right. This isn't the first time. He is also the one who made the outrageous comments about the NHS in connection with the American healthcare debate. A couple of years he went into raptures about the free-market economic system in Iceland and how wonderful it was! Oooooooops.