Mike Parker, the BNP, chavs and bottles of Tippex (Updated)

Update 14/4/15 17.15

We can probably expect quite a few more updates to this one. The latest is that Guido Fawkes, the right-wing London blogger, has now heard about the goings on in Ceredigion, and in what must be a first, carries a quote from maes-e. Maes-e's server is probably held together with baler twine and elastic bands, so let's hope the old beast stands up to this sudden surge of interest.

A Tory backwoods MP (I know, currently technically not an MP) called Bob Neill is demanding that Huw Tippex Thomas should be told to stand down, with a load of guff about British flags.

And of course it was only a question of time before Nigel Farage jumped on the bandwagon, claiming that Labour hate England.

Update

Huw 'Tippex' Thomas has now dispelled any lingering doubts, and has admitted that he was indeed "Huw T" while apologising for his youthful indiscretions.

Meanwhile the LibDems are staying very, very quiet.

Diolch i 'Lol'

_____________________

On Wednesday The Cambrian News ran a front page splash claiming that Mike Parker, Plaid's candidate in Ceredigion, had compared incomers to Nazis or that he was defending a "Nazi slur" in its various editions. This was then picked up by the BBC, with BBC Wales running the item as its lead piece in its evening news bulletins.

The BBC did not use the word "Nazi", and neither had Mike Parker in the article which prompted the headlines - an article written in Planet Magazine 14 years ago, by the way. But although the BBC carried a short interview with Mike, it did not find time to explain that the racists he was referring to were a sprinkling of extreme right-wing fanatics such as Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, who had moved to rural Wales to escape from multi-cultural society in places like Birmingham.

But don't take my word for it. Here is the original piece:

Reproduced with thanks to Dr Seimon Brooks

Who spent hours digging out the article from a fairly obscure source and what their motives were is something we can only speculate about, but there is no doubt that the intention was to create the impression that Mike Parker, and by extension the rest of Plaid, think that English incomers are raving racist monsters.

Unsurprisingly but depressingly nonetheless, candidates for the other parties jumped for joy, and the Labour candidate demanded that Plaid should deselect Mike. Peter Hain weighed in with a tweet screaming, "Plaid must sack Candidate after this 'Nazi' attack on English constituents":

 

The row continued to rage for a second day, but this time with rather saner voices making themselves heard. Vaughan Roderick, the BBC's Welsh Affairs Editor, argued that if we want politicians to have experience of "real life" outside politics, the likelihood is that they will have written or said things in the past of which the party spin doctors might not approve. It's either that or bland career politicians who have remained "on message" ever since emerging from their special adviser cocoons.

Martin Shipton, no stranger to controversy himself, concluded in a thoughtful piece that the condemnation of Mike Parker did not stack up. Also deserving honourable mentions are the Carmarthen Journal, and an impartial analysis of the story by Aberystwyth Voice.

Then there is Ifan Morgan Jones writing on Golwg360 who, true to form, has a go at everyone.

After 48 hours of feeding frenzy, it seemed that the story was running out of steam, but Blog Menai has now uncovered a piece ostensibly written by Huw Thomas, Labour's candidate in Ceredigion, in June 2006 on maes-e, a Welsh-language chat room.

Huw T, who appears to be Huw Thomas, was worked up about the appearance of England flags in Wales during the 2006 World Cup. Many of those waving England flags were young Welsh people, he thought, and we had failed to integrate these "chavs" into Welsh society.

As for cars proudly displaying the England flag, Huw T's tip was to buy bottles of Tippex to throw over them. This would look like birdshit and take hours to clean off, he added.

Blog Menai also spotted that Huw Thomas had confirmed in a separate conversation that he was Huw T on maes-e.

As Day Three of Nazi-Tippex-Gate breaks, will Peter Hain be back on Twitter to call for the sacking of Huw Thomas as Labour's candidate in Ceredigion for advocating attacks on chavs and cars displaying the flag of Saint George?

We wait with bated breath.

____________________

At this point, I'd better declare an interest. In case readers had not noticed, Cneifiwr is a member of Plaid Cymru. As it happens, I have also met Mike Parker, and we have some mutual friends.

But what I and the other Twitterati think about the Cambrian News headlines, the BBC's treatment of the story or the Tippex attacks matters little compared with what ordinary voters think.

While all this was going on I spent the last two days out on the stump, canvassing for Plaid within a stone's throw - literally at times - of Ceredigion.

The Mike Parker issue cropped up only a couple of times on Wednesday and rather more on the Thursday after the BBC Wales coverage. One or two voters were genuinely confused by what they had heard on the news, while the rest were disgusted by what they felt were smear tactics. Some made the valid point that surely there were more important things to be talking about in this election.

The one exception to this was a Ukip voter who declared that Plaid Cymru were a bunch of racists. But then Cneifiwr can clearly recall a conversation with Mr Ukip's wife who told him that Welsh people were dirty and did not live in clean houses. Presumably she regularly cleans behind her fridge.

For anyone who has never done any canvassing, I can strongly recommend it. It is rare to encounter outright hostility, and nobody has ever shouted abuse or set the dogs on me, although I did have a slightly hairy encounter on Wednesday with a very excited Jack Russell belonging to a Plaid-supporting nurse. I was also ticked off by a stern-looking elderly lady holding a bunch of daffodils for saying 'foto' instead of 'pleidleisio' ('to vote' in English).

Some people, especially older voters, prefer not to say how they will vote. Some have absolutely no interest in politics, and a few appear never to read a newspaper or watch TV. Others are very interested in politics and are very well informed, expressing views about everything from Trident and the electrification of the railways to Carmarthenshire County Council and the Welsh economy.

Voters come in all shapes and sizes, but overwhelmingly they are polite, friendly and welcoming. The biggest risk in my experience is not that someone sets their rottweiler on you, but that you are invited in several times in the same street for endless cups of tea and biscuits.


I can honestly say that, apart from Mr and Mrs Ukip, racism or supposed tensions between incomers and locals are not subjects which come up on the doorstep.

Much more common is to encounter people who have made an effort to integrate and are aware of what is going on around them.

"The Plaid office has been brilliant helping Mary next door with her problems," one elderly man with a London accent told me. "We will definitely be voting Plaid, don't worry about that".

And their Jack Russell didn't bite me either.