David Wilshire: why doesn’t he apply his own logic more widely?

Two thoughts on Conservative MP David Wilshire’s absurd and insulting comparison of the media and public’s behaviour this year in response to news about MPs’ expenses to the behaviour of the Nazis.

First, I’d have expected an experienced MP to stop and think, “If I’m about to compare something with the Nazis, I really should have second thoughts”.

Second, David Wilshire specifically complained that, “Branding a whole group of people as undesirables led to Hitler’s gas chambers”.

So you’d have thought he himself would be against branding a whole group of people as undesirable. But wait. What does his Parliamentary record show?

David Wilshire introduced Section 28 of the Local Government Bill, making it illegal for councils to “promote homosexuality or … promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality”.

And that’d be the same David Wilshire who in 2000 opposed measures to tackle homophobic bullying in schools.

Not to mention the David Wilshire who voted against gay adoption in 2002.

And also the same David Wilshire who voted against the repeal of Section 28 in 2003.

Not forgetting that it’s also the same David Wilshire who opposed to Civil Partnerships in 2004.

Or indeed the David Wilshire’s 2007 who opposed outlawing discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities, services, education and public functions on the grounds of sexual orientation.

So, what was that about it being wrong to brand a whole group of people as undesirable?

In happier news though, I notice that Parliament is about to play host to its first Civil Partnership ceremony.

Hat-tip: Harry’s Place.