A quick update on Philip Lardner, the Conservative candidate who praised Ian Smith a couple of days ago. He has now been suspended as a candidate by the party.
That makes two Conservatives in just a few days who have run into serious trouble after remarks about race, with Boris Johnson’s advisor James McGrath having been sacked earlier.
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3 Comments
Is this the same Philip Lardner who was suspended by the Tories in 2008 for his praise of Ian Smith and his government? Won’t they ever learn?? Or do they actually endorse him?
I will go out on a limb here, and suggest that I don’t thnk Smith was racist himself (although he had racists in his cabinet). He was a brutal throw-back to Empire, with definite fascistic elements, but not a racist: the Selous Scouts, for instance, with their mixed-membership points to this.
His lasting legacy was the elimination of any moderates – on both sides – during the Second Chimurenga, during which he played non-white rivalries off each other. Whatever the truth behind Herbert Chitepo’s assassination, often violent ZANU infighting was there in the first place.
One result of this was the emergence of an even more disastrous leader, Robert Mugabe who was given far too much leeway in the 1980s because of ‘his’ victory of Rhodesia and the continued presence of Apartheid South Africa. Because, white-on-black racism (which Apartheid was) is worse than black-on-black, innit? Joshua
Nkomo’s ZAPU and Nbedelers may have disagreed, though, whilst they were having the Gukarahundi unleased on them.
That said, I doubt Lardner is making these distinctions.
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Lardner might have been suspended by the Conservative Party but he is still there on the ballot papers and right now there is a man canvassing outside the Poling Station at the bottom of my garden with a blue “Vote Lardner, Conservative” rosette. It looks like our local Conservatives haven’t got the Cameron message and I suspect the truth is there are a great many of the new caring Conservative party throughout the country who share Lardner’s views.