The Nonsensical Neather Plot

Kevyn Bodman

Melanie Phillips' analysis of this is much closer to reality than yours.
I'm not sure how cunning they are, but I am sure that they are:
deeply dishonest
cowardly
and self-intersted

I am happy to say that about both Labour and Conservatives, about front-benchers and backbenchers.

Taking general dishonesty first: fiddled expenses;
government dishonesty: referendum on Lisbon

(other commenters will be able to add more)

Government cowardice: failure to give us the referendum on Lisbon
Backbench cowardice: all those 'rebellions' that were calculated to be not quite big enough to defeat the government.
Also all those bachbenchers who have never defied the whip.

Self-interest rather than national interest:expenses,again. 'Progress' into the Lords, an eye on EU baubles.

As for your 'earlier drafts' argument, this doesn't stand up to scrutiny by anyone who has worked in a hierarchical office.
The broad tone is set at the top and there are ALWAYS creeps and suck-ups lower down who will seek to curry favour by echoing the positions that are believed to be favoured by the leadership.
The leadership might well water these down for tactical reasons, maintaining plausible deniability is one of those reasons.
But if the junior employee is as wide of the mark as you suggest then he will not long remain in a position where he makes submissions to the leadership.

You say that the people who have brought us to where we are are not cunning enough.

I say that they are dishonest enough to deliberately hide policies from the electorate but not too stupid to see the effect of those policies.

When undesirable outcomes became evident what steps were taken to reverse them?

Among the undesirable outcomes are:
Growing ghettoisation in some towns and cities,
time and money spent in schools for English language support instead of on the core scholl subjects,
time and money spent on translation services by public bodies,
time and money spent on 'celebrating diversity' because people need to be 'guided' towards it, (so think our leaders)
and now
demonstrators on our streets holding placards inciting violence.

You say that our politicians don't have enough cunning or foresight.
Certainly there are always unintended consequences but the fact that no remedial action was taken is a clear indication that the consequences were not unwelcome.

Neather has revealed the greatest peace time treachery that I can imagine.

And New Labour knew that if that had gone into an election saying 'we will encourage mass immigration in order to truly establish a multi-cultural society in the UK' they would have been heavily defeated.
But they implemented the policy anyway.

They are cowardly, deceitful and despicable.

Kevyn Bodman

Somewhat more briefly, more on the deceitful and cowardly planned actions of our government over the last 12 years.
If, during the election campaigns, the Labour Party had said how civil liberties would be restricted during their time in office do you think they would have won public approval?

The case that continues to shock me is the case of Maya Evans, but a bit of research will show you that there are many other appalling restrictions.

Maya Eavans has a criminal record for reading out the mames of war dead at the Cenotaph.

Now then Alex, was that the intention of the Act? Maybe not, but why hasn't it been put right?

Because they don't want to put it right; it suits their purposes.
Just like the hidden immigration policy suits their purposes.

Tron

Labour hates the English Toffs and their culture.Ditto the middle class. It says it loves the working class but it just doesn't know any. Could you imagine Mandelson or Harman trying to talk to anyone in a pub on a council estate ?
So if you don't like the people and the culture in this country just let in millions of people from other countries. This drives down the wages of the working class or makes them unemployed. The poor always vote Labour.
Student Politics (Gordon Brown, Jack Straw etc.) makes the big time.

Stuart Beamish

So what's the rational explanation for the way the gold reserves were sold off ?

Wilhelm

Alex, Are you saying Neather is a liar then ?

Neather quote

'' Liebour wanted a third world invasion into England to rub the tories faces in it.''

Austin Barry

".. but attributing all of this to malice is, in the end, spectacularly infantile and pointless."

Really Alex, you're becoming more patronising by the day.

Damien

At last - I'm tired of reading about all that puerile reactionary crap - a regrettable obstruction to sensible debate on real issues. Frankly I am left speechless at the sheer shallow-mindedness of some the posts I read on here. Would all offenders please stick to the Daily Mail website - thank you.

Cuffleyburgers

Alex, it is hardly a cunning and subtle plan - it was one of the few that couldn't fail.

Don't forget after their original election they still had a couple of people with brains, even blair is not stupid, just criminal minded, and the idea of flooding marginal constituencies with foreigners on benefits who can be safely garanteed to vote labour is clever if rather cynical. Besides, having all these people who will require "services" provided by other reliably labour voting people would also have been viewed as a good thing. The fact that it would annoy a lot of people was seen as a further benefit until they realised that the people whom it would most annoy were generally traditional labour voters, and it was therefore necessary to ban fox hunting to annoy the decent folk from the shires, although this was realy the icing on the cake, the main damagein the shires having been committed by the reletlessly incompetent ad maliciously badly handled application of the letter of the CAP law.

Alex these people are evil, and for a brief moment were clever. You only wrote this article because you got yourself in a pickle over immigration a few days ago.

If you can't think of something intelligent to write, don't write anything.

Un-PC social worker

I agree with the posts - am now of the view that all the dreadful things done by Nulabour are the result of conspiracy, not cock-up. Every day brings further evidence of this. The shocking Nimrod report shows how far Labour were prepared to go to undermine the armed forces.

seb

Millions of voters, many of them former Labour supporters, believe that New Labour has deliberately abandoned any attempt to regulate immigration in accordance with the laws of the United Kingdom. It is a matter of complete irrelevance to voters what any journalist or politician says about the 'Neather brouhaha'. As one of the comments here rightly puts it, Labour thinks it loves the working class and appears to have been trying to make the working class, jobless though many of its indigenous members may be, even larger through uncontrolled immigration. The problem is that the party's leadership neither knows nor understands actual members of the UK's working class nor, on the evidence of immigration statistics, appears to give a toss what any actual members of the working class think about anything.

david

Frankfurt School, a system of philosophy and action to bring bout the establishment of a socialist/Marxist hegemony. The projected course of action to bring about the destruction of Western Civilisation in its present form is being currently used in this country and is force behind the EU to be achieved by infiltration of all the public bodies serving western democracies. A list gives the methods.
1. The creation of racism offences.
2. Continual change to create confusion
3. The teaching of sex and homosexuality to children
4. The undermining of schools’ and teachers’ authority
5. Huge immigration to destroy identity.
6. The promotion of excessive drinking
7. Emptying of churches
8. An unreliable legal system with bias against victims of crime
9. Dependency on the state or state benefits
10. Control and dumbing down of media
11. Encouraging the breakdown of the family

Using Freud’s idea of ‘pansexualism, the following agenda was suggested as a means to deal a death blow to western culture.
• exploitation of the differences between the sexes, the overthrowing of traditional relationships between men and women.
• attack the authority of the father, deny the specific roles of father and mother, remove from families their rights as primary educators of their children.
• abolish differences in the education of boys and girls
• abolish all forms of male dominance - women in the armed forces
• declare women to be an ‘oppressed class’ and men as ‘oppressors’

Munzenberg summed up the Frankfurt School’s long-term operation thus: ‘We will make the West so corrupt that it stinks.’
Many of the cabinet in their younger days were various shades of Marxist pink ard are in place to carryout the policies. The last 12 years give substance to the idea that this is indeed occurring. Look up anything to do with Frankfurt school on the net.

Martin Adamson

Alex your point might be stronger if we did not see exactly the same strategy being used in every prosperous Western country. In literally every single one, the parties of the left are enthusiastic supporters of mass immigration because they know that elections can be turned on the reliable immigrant block vote. You are setting up a straw man if you say the Democrats are conspiring to hispanisize America - all they have to do is get 10% more votes in the Mexican border states and they are in power forever. (The only potential exception to the rule is Belgium, where political acceptance of immigration is driven by the need to sustain francophone privilege.) Look at France, NL, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Australia, Canada etc etc

Googler

".. I suspect, that young and keen and excitable people writing this report ran ahead of themselves somewhat .."

The report was written by Jonathan Portes. Here is is his résumé, which hardly supports your presumption. Alex, it only took me a minute to Google this - so how come you didn't?

"Jonathan Portes is Chief Economist at the Cabinet Office. He advises the Cabinet Secretary, Gus O'Donnell, and Number 10 Downing Street on economic and financial issues. Previously, Jonathan was Chief Economist (Work) and Director, Children, Poverty, and Analysis at the Department for Work and Pensions. As the UK Government's leading expert on labour markets and migration, he has published a number of academic and policy papers on these topics, and testified on numerous occasions before Parliamentary select committees. Mr Portes began his civil service career in HM Treasury in 1987. He studied at Princeton and Oxford.

Merlyn

Agree with Martin Adamson, and add that Brown keeps going on about "The New World Order".

Could we be enlightened exactly as to what that is Mr. Brown?
Have humanity been sold out to Alien invaders?
Maybe they are calling for us to self destruct, and are creating an alternative hybrid race.
They could be dictating to us what our world should look like in return for information on energy/technology?

Or you tell me...

Zanu Lieboar

Lieboar Government - pigs with wings!

Ken

Cuffleyburghers: "...these people are evil..."

Ah indeed CB, say it again and keep saying it, the message is taking a long time to penetrate.

Roadrunner

Smeargate says all it needs about the lengths this labour lot will go to get their way.Blair and Brown have done more damage to this country than all previous Labour goverments put together,but the liberal elite are still prepared to give the criminal the benefit of the doubt.Why do you think Blair got rid of the treason laws?

biggestaspidistra

What's struck me reading Coffee House for the last couple of years is how many articles are posted based on the slimmest bit of gossip. Blair is/isnt/is/isnt going to be president of Europe. Months ago a whole series of article were based on a remark allegedly overheard between Lady Vadera (who she) and ANother.

Then Neather came along and suddenly the rules change. Suddenly CH writers (with one exception) become patronising if not insulting to their readership. "Shame on the Spectator' has been a sentiment expressed by readers quite a few times and indeed, 'shame on the Spectator'.

PAUL GILBOY

Naturally we must accept your explanation that it was juvenile stupidity, especially since you predicated your argument on the assertion that you were once stupid and juvenile as well.

Well we can accept that! So long as you know we retain the understanding that you’re still juvenile and stupid.

However, being juvenile and stupid is a mark of labour policy so it rings true.

Unfortunately for you, we are neither juvenile nor stupid.

Kathy Rindhoops

Thanks Alex - for declining to attach importance to this quote from the heart of government - on our behalf. It'll probably sort itself out one way or another. You take it easy - your blogs have had more than 50 views which is a record, take it easy for a while.

There is no conspiracy, you just let the immigrants come, it does you no harm and can only harm your conservative political enemies - a point which is obvious. Do the English people want it? no. Can you be arsed - no - and I don't blame you. goodbye.

NEXT WEEK: Alex Massie will be blogging on the catastrophic news that Sainsbury's may have run out of pesto at some stores.

English Electric

They weren't deliberately trying to 'destroy the country', but there is no doubt that consideration was given to the fact that they could change the cultural face of Britain by allowing relatively uncontrolled immigration. This was to take place without the consent of the electorate.

That they then went on to allow relatively uncontrolled immigration without the consent of the electorate does suggest to me that this is one conspiracy theory which has legs.

Frank P

Sorry Fraser Nelson; delegating your 'promise' to one of the deck hands is not sufficient; particularly as he (or did you draft it) attempts to rubbish one of the first class passengers on this once conservative flag-ship of journalism, which has apparently now been boarded by pirates from the EUSSR. What a coward you are. To dare to answer Melanie's seminal piece with this twaddle is beyond belief! WTF is going on here?

And just watching the Scottish gargoyle gurning on TV this morning about the latest charade over climate change and carbon scams, talking about Europe as if it is now a done deal that Britain in general (and England in particular) is officially subsumed by the European Juggernaut, does nothing to add substance to your denials. Neather let the cat out of the bag. The fact that what he revealed has been as obvious to some of us for a long time now; as obvious as the take over of this magazine by the Long Marchers, does not detract from its shocking truth. Wake up England! It's probably too late to do anything about it, but if you're being raped don't let it happen while you are slumbering in cloud cuckoo land. Start screaming! The rapist seems to think you should be enjoying it because he's such a clever fucker; that you don't know what's good for you, but once you've gotten used to it, you'll start to enjoy it!

Michael Booth

Very odd - my comment in response to david's listing of the Frankfort School agenda has not appeared. Common Purpose censorship perhaps?

Hawkeye

Alex Massie said: "...by destroying this green and pleasant land and turning it into a multi-cultural hellhole."

Well, they are making good progress to that objective, aren't they? They have certainly made us an economic hell-hole.

Dave

I won't say that, after this article, Alex Massie has now lost what little is left of his credibility because he lost that with his earlier piece on Neathergate.

Perhaps it's now time for Mr Massie to leave the Spectator and go to his rightful home at the New Statesman, or the Daily Mirror.

Beer Moth

Conspiracy complex? This is a diagnosis too far Doc. I don't look at it in the confine of that term. I just break the situation down and then conclude.

This government have presided over the largest, swiftest influx of foreigners this nation has ever experienced. This has been done whilst millions of our own people are out of work and whilst thousands of native British families cannot find decent housing.

Our cities and large towns have been transformed into ethnic power bases which no longer look or feel like home.

This has been conducted to the constant feed of media items which have hacked away at us, in the attempt to convince us of the rightness and naturalness of this process. We must 'adapt to the changes', we have to 'tolerate', nay 'celebrate' our new and developing diversity, in all it richness. We 'are an ageing population' which cannot support its future needs. 'Britain...', I remember reading '...like Europe, should no longer expect to remain an exclusive Christian club'. The barrage is as relentless as it is craven and its trail is clearly discernible.

The Spectator has been and persists in being active in this. We are told that the economy demands cheap foreign workers (whilst our young people go to waste - "sod 'em they don't want to work") and that this is a desirable part of the global marketplace.

Our eyes and ears tell us that there is such a massive flow of people and it could easily be stopped; not in five years time, but next Monday morning. The people who could stop it, they make the noises which will dress them in intention and then, they let it carry on. Again and again they have done this and they intend to continue and they are sometimes called Labour and soon they will be called Conservative. And it will carry on.

This is not immigration week Doc, it's jsut another week like the last and like the next.

Conclude.

Peter From Maidstone

I guess the tone of this offensive piece lets us know what is thought of the readership of the Spectator in the editorial offices. How they must chortle when speaking of us 'unhinged idiots' and our 'infantile and pointless' opinions.

Frank P

Beer Moth

Bravo!

But steady on, old chap. As you have made similar expostulations about the theft of our nation on other threads, bear in mind that Comrade Alexandrovic Massieanic may well have diagnosed you as an 'unhinged idiot'. There are special gulags for the likes of you ... and he know's where you are! I figure that the Scottish Isles may well be used for retraining camps, so Comrade Alex is well placed to be entrusted with one.

I suppose the most risible part of all this is that the comrades who are using the Muzzies as 'useful idiots' have deluded themselves that, in such an unholy alliance, their Utopia will prevail against the New Caliphate.

How?

Dream on, Kommikuntz....

daniel maris

Yes, there are lots of cock ups in life, but politicians always have their eye on the main chance. Their business is votes. It would most definitely NOT have escaped the attention of senior Labour people that most immigrants vote Labour and, also, that cornering Tories in positions that can then be presented as "racist" is a good way of securing even more votes within immigrant communities. But of course, being clever folk, they will also have seen some of the risks to votes within the non-migrant community. Hence what was a charter for increase migratino would be presented as "tougher" immigration controls.

Verity

Trenchant, thoughtful posts from all our usual suspects. Too good to congratulate each by name. But Michael Booth brings up Common Purpose, and I would just like to highlight that. Common Purpose, a shadowy organisation in cahoots with the government and others. Their membership list is secret, of course, but I'm certain they will have members in every single quango in the country. Another reason to destroy the quangoes. I have long suspected, and it's only a suspicion, not an accusation, that Cameron's a member. That's how is is, inexplicably, the Leader of the Conservatives. He has no discernible abilities, talents or presence, yet he is, inexplicably, the Leader of the Conservatives. I have long been baffled by this. Common Purpose would seem to be a rational diagnosis.

Edward Sutherland

What a patronising, puerile piece. Just sums up beautifully why there is such a yawning gap between the self-styled political "elite" and the average voter. You've fallen down badly on this, Fraser Nelson, we expected better of you than commissioning this pathetic article.

Noa Zrk

"..you need not be an admirer of this government to appreciate that they have not deliberately tried to destroy this country...".
Well Alex, it seems you would agree with Melanie Phillips to the extent that the Labour Government's immigration policy has had a severely deleterious effect on Britain.
Your argument rests on their incompetence rather than a conspiracy of silence.
If for a single moment one was to accept the ultimately implausible notion that senior government ministers did not understand the consequences of their actions incompetence is simply unacceptable as a defence, as we have seen this week with the publication of the Nimrod Enquiry report.

London Calling

“Conspiracies are all the rage these days
The Iraq War debate, it wasn't all about oil at all”

Really? Only a little amount of oil then?
Recently Iraq demanded nearly $3 billion in "signing bonus" loans for the six oil fields, which are active but underproducing, and two largely undeveloped gas fields. BP et all eight oil giants have decided to pass on this and the nightmare of securing the oil fields if they did sign.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/30/AR2009063000568.html

This doesn’t prove the Iraq war was all about oil, your right, but conspiracies were born out of the evidence we were presented with to go to war with Iraq that later proved to be based on a student thesis that Iraq had WMD could be ready within 45 minutes of an order to use them. A mistake made by Tony Blair and his inner circle? I think not. Do not insult our intelligence, too many lives has been lost.

I actually agree with Melanie Phillips on Neathers revelation, it does add up when you look at the evidence all around us, who cares if it was or wasn’t malice aforethought, you cannot condescend serious debate by summing up Immigration week as a response to concerns shared by millions in Britain about mass immigration, this debate is long overdue without the fear of being accused of anti Europe or racists, that is why the BNP are gaining support and they are racist.

Both yourself and Rod Riddle have used the F-Word in your posts, I shall be sending you both the cheapest bottle of Champagne I can find…white vinegar to wash out your brains, hopefully the sting open your eyes to the real conspiracy…denial.

Nicholas

Nobody so far has mentioned that Damien the Patronising Prig. What a presumptious, judgemental, belittling and supercilious comment.

Anyway, back to the UN Declaration for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples-contravening New Labour plot. Occam's razor methinks. If it looks like shit, feels like shit, smells likes shit then the chances are . . . Besides if Jack Straw had anything to do with it there is bound to have been deceit, cunning plans, deviousness, malice and yet more deceit. The man of "low guile and cunning".

There, shallow-minded enough for you Damien? Lot's more where that came from because I loathe the left and all its nasty works and the more it irritates prigs like you the better. How dare you tell people here to stick to the Daily Mail website you arrogant, pompous little poster.

Richard

Oh dear. Completely unable to understand reality - again.

All you have effectively argued is that the plan to force multiculturalism was hidden due to redrafting. You have not made any substantive argument that this plan was not intended.

Edward Sutherland

London Calling
Re your last para, couldn't agree more.Who does he think he's impressing by being so big and grown using the f word. So much for Spectator standards. Ship him off to join Jonathan Ross where that sort of thing is more appreciated.

Fergus Pickering

OK, so the Iraq war wasn't 'really' about oil. What was it 'really' about then. About weapons of mas destructions that were 'really' there though invisiible to the naked eye. About killing muslims? Surely not. About Tony Blair wanting his very own war like Margaret Thatcher. Remember he was determined to surpass her. I go for the last one, and if you think tht is an amzingly shallow thing to go to war about and kill many thousands of people, well I don't think you really understand Tony Blair. Similarly 'rubbing right wing noses in it seems right up his street. I think you journlists don'r 'really' fully understand how venal, corrupt and small-minded many politicians are. You think the springs of their actions must be big, important things, whereas... Good for Robin Cook for resigning and all that, but would he have done if he hadn't seen his career gradually slipping away down the pan and wanted to go out on a big speech? You don't believe it? Now why should that be? The rage of Caliban seeing his face in the mirror? Well, just possibly.

cmp

Raging about conspiracies seems to be the fashion actually Alex.

Beafeater

It takes great percipience to cut away to the issue of greatest political interest: knaves of fools? foolish knaves? knavish fools? naive-ish noodles? Noodling faves? Footling knives? Er, where was I? Just nodded off there, briefly.

Di Versity

How to ruin a country with massive third-world immigration.

Check out Los Angeles Police Dept. most-wanted: www.lapdonline.org/all_most_wanted

Ray Burston

Of course, Alex. Just like Edward Heath didn't really mean to permanently sign away the right of the British people to govern themselves. He just made "more than the usual number of mistakes".

And as for all those silly Foreign Office archives warning about how our fish stocks were about to be handed over for plundering by our 'EEC partners'; well, maybe they were just written by "young and keen and excitable people" whose reports "ran ahead of themselves somewhat".

egh

Nah. They never intended to destroy Britain and give away the pieces! Not those of commie deconstructionists - no more than the Speccie blogwriters intend to insult and irritate the readership, anyway.

Question, though. In view of the yawning gap between writers and readers - do they really expect us to obey the orders top left: Buy the Current Issue?

Fearless Frank

The useful thing about "conspiracy theories" is that any awkward topic with a few unanswered questions attached can be dismissed to take its place alongside the Roswell incident and the more outlandish Grassy Knoll theories.

A. MacAulay

Filing on a speech is a form of brain-storming, wherein everything out of the atmospheric thought-field will at some point be touched on, proofed and may be disgarded. If you want to know what you want to say, you also have to know what you don't want to say. Therefore there is nothing invented about this.

However, I take is highly likely that morbid or tasteless jokes at the expense of political rivals are cracked daily, and that this sort of thing would, could find it's way into a draft speech. It doesn't make it policy.

Frank P

A MacAulay

Who taught you English? It can only have been John Prescott. Or perhaps you are John Prescott?

A. MacAulay

Thank you Frank P, I take your point. I should have read that one again before sending it down the tubes. Got the vapours again.

Bob T

Andrew Neather is neither a child, uninformed or a fool. He said what he said and the meaning is clear. As speech writer at the highest level he must have had considerable contact with Blair as well as with Straw. If he thought that what he read was atypical and abberant, the product of youthful excess and inexperience he would surely not have given it any importance. If on the other hand he felt that such ideas were in wide currency/held at the top then what he read would have been some tangible evidence of this. However if he had no other tangible evidence then he presumably is vulnerable to legal action which could then force him to retract - which he has now done - without in any way clarifying why he said what he said in the first place.