Starmer welcoming someone

However if the bar is set to 'labour are jut as bad as the tories' that's not really an party ai am interested in.

Little to choose between them at the moment!

MaizieD

Galaxy

Do you think that is reassuring?

It wasn't posted for 'reassurance' (but then, I don't see security threats under every bed). It was posted to question why, after more than a decade of positive UK government support for Fattah, mostly by tory governments, these tweets, which date from 2011, weren't 'discovered' sooner? Strange how they have suddenly emerged in time to cause maximum embarrassment to a Labour government.

Because people have been trying to find things to criticise Labour with ( and Keir in particular) ever since ‘donkey gate’. Beth Rigby on Sky News seems to be conducting a personal vendetta against him.

eazybee

Alaa Abdel Fallah was not subjected to a normal examination when applying for British citizenship because he claimed it through his mother who was born in London while her mother was studying for a PHD, one of the loopholes apparently of the Human Rights Law. He also claimed to be a prisoner of conscience, hence the cross party support. The Conservatives granted him citizenship.
Since becoming PM Starmer has avidly supported his case and welcomed him into Britain without running basic checks on his background.
Abdel has 'apologised unreservedly for his offensive racist tweets.'
This was followed however by:
"I am shaken that, just as I am being reunited with my family for the first time in 12 years, several historic tweets of mine have been republished and used to question and attack my integrity and values, escalating to calls for the revocation of my citizenship." BBC website, today.
Integrity and values?
Gratitude?

I think that this is obviously a loophole which needs closing then!

Regardless of what anyone thinks of the timing of their disclosure do these tweets offend and disgust or not? If anyone thinks they should be dismissed because they suspect some kind of conspiracy to discredit Labour, will that apply equally to all other political parties in the future too? Are these tweets any less inflammatory than some that have being criminally prosecuted recently?

MayBee70

MaizieD

Galaxy

Do you think that is reassuring?

It wasn't posted for 'reassurance' (but then, I don't see security threats under every bed). It was posted to question why, after more than a decade of positive UK government support for Fattah, mostly by tory governments, these tweets, which date from 2011, weren't 'discovered' sooner? Strange how they have suddenly emerged in time to cause maximum embarrassment to a Labour government.

Because people have been trying to find things to criticise Labour with ( and Keir in particular) ever since ‘donkey gate’. Beth Rigby on Sky News seems to be conducting a personal vendetta against him.

I don't see that at all.
The Tories, when in power, have also been criticised for granting him UK citizenship.

Both governments are culpable and both seemed to be totally ignorant of what his propaganda entailed. That includes some high-profile people like Dame Judi Dench too - useful idiots or do they agree with his views?

A failure of our intelligence services if they did not warn successive governments of his dangerous public tweets. Hey may have done so, of course, and been ignored.

I would not believe a word/spin that lying rag prints

Gfplux

I would not believe a word/spin that lying rag prints

Well, you are perfectly entitled to believe that this man is an upright and caring UK citizen who only hopes for everyone here to live in peace and harmony together.

Gfplux

I would not believe a word/spin that lying rag prints

The internet never forgets, there is ample evidence of the validity of the tweets. He has 'apologised' for making them, a strange thing to do if they weren't real.

So while the Tories and Labour are embarrassed by these tweets, Reform will be 'making hay.'
You can see the way things are going in this Country, with a disgust of the two main parties,
Who can blame voters?

Starmer needs to be more careful - other PMs have had a tranche of publicity folks who check for these things -where arer his?

Never mind what the man said in the distant past - people do change, but comments are not so easy to remove now.

BUT he is a criminal in Egyptian law. He has dual nationality, using the UK as a safe base to hide in- we should revoke his British one if he was not born here.

Sorry but I do find attempts by the liberal left and the BBC, to explain away Fattah's racist and antisemitic remarks, and be very gushing about his regret for the 'expressions of anger of a young man', rather inconsistent with the hysteria and shrieking which issued forth about remarks allegedly made by Nigel Farage in the playground of boys' school in the 1970s.

And I do not believe he has had a change of heart - just an attack of expediency garnished with a helping of victimhood.

I do not believe either of them have had a change of heart FriedGreenTomatoes2.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Sorry but I do find attempts by the liberal left and the BBC, to explain away Fattah's racist and antisemitic remarks, and be very gushing about his regret for the 'expressions of anger of a young man', rather inconsistent with the hysteria and shrieking which issued forth about remarks allegedly made by Nigel Farage in the playground of boys' school in the 1970s.

Good point, FGT2.

The point is, he carried on with this type of rhetoric again and again in public even when he was older and in his country of birth, a country known for its less than liberal attitudes towards such protestors.

Casdon

I do not believe either of them have had a change of heart FriedGreenTomatoes2.

Worrying, Casdon.

However, I've never heard Farage calling for death to Jews, the police and the Government, although what he allegedly said to Jewish pupils when he was at school was abhorrent.

Every Labour/Starmer negative headline, along with what appears to be previous cross party support for this abhorrent man and his vile tweets pushes the U.K. closer to a hung parliament next GE or even a Reform Government.

Where on earth are Labour’s communications team and fact checkers 🤦‍♀️

Allira

Casdon

I do not believe either of them have had a change of heart FriedGreenTomatoes2.

Worrying, Casdon.

However, I've never heard Farage calling for death to Jews, the police and the Government, although what he allegedly said to Jewish pupils when he was at school was abhorrent.

That is the reason why one of them is a party leader and one a prisoner I believe Allira. One guards his views, the other expresses his. Neither leopard has changed his spots.

I love the group “ Led By Donkeys”
I wonder what they will make of all of this? Just saying!!

There has been widespread puzzlement as to how and why our own Prime Minister should boast of his role in bringing such a man to Britain. On one level, it is indeed worryingly revealing about the mindset of Labour ministers that they are so happy to have helped el-Fattah.

But to ask that question is to ignore decades of failure in protecting ourselves from the likes of el-Fattah and others, far more dangerous, who preach hate and terror. This is not a party-political issue because all governing parties have been complicit.

It is risible to argue, for example, that the law granted el-Fattah citizenship, not the then-home secretary. That is the whole point: our laws do not protect us properly, and the failure to deal with that is politicians’ failure. The responsibility and the blame lies with them.

Source; The Telegraph today

The Telegraph is well known for its ‘widespread puzzlement’ at anything the current government does. Perhaps it needs to employ some more erudite reporters?

Casdon

The Telegraph is well known for its ‘widespread puzzlement’ at anything the current government does. Perhaps it needs to employ some more erudite reporters?

That sounds ridiculous to me, their reporting is as ‘erudite’ as in many other papers.
Or could it be that you think any criticism by journalists about Labour or Starmer is a right wing fascist plot?
What the Telegraph says in this instance is spot on.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

And I do not believe he has had a change of heart - just an attack of expediency garnished with a helping of victimhood.

I agree, and he sounds entitled and arrogant.

Daily Mail plus The Telegraph both cut from the same cloth . They are out to “ get” this Government come what may. Pity they didn’t do the same for Cameron, May, Truss, Johnson, Sunak when they had the chance. Are they questioning Patel’s role in all of this? No, I thought not! Shallow to the core !

Gfplux

I would not believe a word/spin that lying rag prints

Pick your lying rag *Gfplux.
One is as good or as bad as another.
Have all the lying rags that you do trust denied any of this or are they complicit by silence?

Oreo

Casdon

The Telegraph is well known for its ‘widespread puzzlement’ at anything the current government does. Perhaps it needs to employ some more erudite reporters?

That sounds ridiculous to me, their reporting is as ‘erudite’ as in many other papers.
Or could it be that you think any criticism by journalists about Labour or Starmer is a right wing fascist plot?
What the Telegraph says in this instance is spot on.

No, I think the Telegraph reporters are of poor quality these days, the quality of their journalism has gone seriously downhill in the last few years, and it is no longer a reliable source of news. I don’t know where your ridiculous comment about criticism of Starmer and Labour being seen by me as a Fascist plot comes from, perhaps you could elucidate?