Tuesday 4 August 2015

Un"Wise" Tweet from Plaid candidate comes back to haunt him.

It is stating  to look like aspiring politicians are going to have decide on a very early age that they want to enter politics  because  modern Social Media is going to record every thought they have and opponents will trawl through old postings in order to embarrass them.
 


Wales Online gleefully tells us  that former Big Brother contestant turned Plaid Cymru candidate has been criticised by Welsh Labour over a tweet in which he appeared to endorse anti-benefit claimant comments made by right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins.

Glyn Wise was selected last month to contest Cardiff Central for Plaid in next year’s National Assembly election. He was runner-up in the Big Brother series in 2006.

After being chosen as a Plaid candidate last month, he said:


 “I look forward to using my experience in reaching out to people across all communities, many of whom have become disillusioned with politics in recent years.
“I intend to use my knowledge of social media and the media generally to promote Plaid Cymru’s message to voters.
"I come from a working class family in Blaenau Ffestiniog in Gwynedd and strongly believe that Plaid Cymru represents and stands up best for the interests of the working class.”
So it unfortunate that in a tweet last year, which has since been deleted, he appeared to back comments made by former Apprentice contestant and rent a mouth  Katie Hopkins, who is now a right wing commentator and controversial newspaper columnist.


During The Big Benefits Row TV debate, Ms Hopkins made a series of comments including one in which she dubbed one woman receiving benefits because she was unable to work due to serious mental health problems “the patron saint for druggies and dropouts”.
In a tweet that has since been deleted, Mr Wise wrote: 
Couldn’t agree more with @KTHopkins on the #BenefitsRow”.
 
In a statement issued through Plaid Cymru on Monday Mr Wise insisted that he found Sun columnist Ms Hopkins views “appalling”.


He said:
 ”I can say categorically that I find Katie Hopkins’ views appalling.”


I'm not writing to defend Glyn Wise but it seems that his tweet  looks like a typical response of someone who has fallen for the Anti welfare rhetoric of Iain Duncan Smith and the former Coalition abetted by the Media and in which Labour totally failed to condemn .
 
A Welsh Labour source said: “

It beggars belief that Plaid Cymru have selected yet another utterly hopeless candidate to represent them in the capital city.
In May’s election they put up a man who blogged about his desire to watch someone commit suicide, called for the legalisation of heroin and penned an article in which he listed what he saw as ‘the three common misconceptions of paedophilia’.
“While most people were appalled to hear controversial right winger Katie Hopkins label a woman unable to work due to serious mental health problems as the ‘patron saint for druggies and dropouts’, Plaid’s newest candidate took to the internet proclaiming that he ‘couldn’t agree more’.
“Plaid’s beleaguered leader Leanne Wood hasn’t held back on coming down hard on some of her own AMs who dare to disagree with her.There will be people in Plaid Cymru and beyond watching closely at how she responds to the latest Plaid politician to go off message.”
Maybe its the last line about going off message that's important  here .

Mr Wise was highly mistaken in his Pro Hopkins tweet, but the idea that anybody considering a future as a political candidate  let alone those who are not but find that they are in the future. should consider what Party line  or public opinion is on any issue. before posting a tweet  or comment on facebook is ridiculous.

But Parties who trawl  out slight indiscretions to embarrass the likes  Plaid and Glyn Wise's. are only to happy tp embrace defectors who had spent their political careers supporting polices their new party have opposed or at least claimed to.

Mr Wise's comments are dully noted  but lets see how he preforms from now on before disnising him.



 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

well said glyn. This apparently is an old tweet long since deleted, so welsh labour must be spending their time and money employing one of those pieces of software you can get to unearth old tweets. no question the views glyn wise expressed in that tweet were wrong, but they were made well before he became a candidate and he's said nothing since to indicate he still subscribes to that view - if he does then he's clearly standing for the wrong party.

it's good to see welsh labour concerned with benefit cuts - so why arent they challenging their colleages at westminister over their support for tory cuts to housing benefits for 18 to 21 year olds and which are going to have a devastating impact?

http://www.rt.com/uk/311556-tory-cuts-youngsters-homeless/