RACISTS UNITE

Michael Howard may make your skin crawl but he is at least honest.

Not ‘honest’ as in being a person with integrity obviously , more just unashamedly comfortable with his prejudices.

Next to Labour there’s something appealing about the Tories old-fashioned Golf Club sensibilities. They’re absolutely hopeless at the slickit skills of being ‘on message’, are perpetually confused about the difference between shooting from the hip and shooting your mouth off.

Howard’s plans - including Britain withdrawing from the 1951 United Nations Convention on refugees, which obliges countries to accept people being persecuted on the basis of need, not numbers – is a disgrace. His plans for an annual limit on asylum and for overseas ‘processing centres’ is a nightmare and unwraps the flimsy cover for the Tories new happly-clappy image. Remember Portillo touring the country with a perpelexed look on his face? "Where did it all go wrong?"

The far-right world view of the BNP and the UKIP has now become mainstream political consensus with New labour unable yesterday to come out and condemn his racist scare-mongering. These dogs are now scrabbling over each other to out-gun each other and you can imagine how the tabloids will treat this as we g into full electoral melt-down in the next few months.

Meanwhile, back on Planet Reality four black British prisoners return today from Guantanamo Bay.