In defence of Tristram Hunt

I have never had any particularly strong views on Tristram Hunt other (naturally) than finding it bleakly hilarious that he should be the Labour party’s Parliamentary representative for Stoke. But a point needs to be made in his favour.

The shadow education secretary was on Andrew Marr’s sofa this morning and found himself asked six times about this thoughts on nuns and education (see clip, above). For several days now, he has been berated for alleged anti-Catholic hatred and a new thought-crime of ‘nun-dismissal’. The precise words which are deemed to have created this great maelstrom were uttered in response to the right-wing Catholic journalist Cristina Odone talking on Question Time about how wonderful her schooling was. Tristram broke into this with the words ‘These were all nuns weren’t they?’

You might have thought from some of the reaction that he had said more than this, but he didn’t. ‘These were all nuns weren’t they?’ was the limit of it. I should think it is the right of any citizen, including a shadow education secretary to say the words in question. But this has been disputed. Cue real and confected outrage, and several notable ironies.

The first is a sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander point. This election looks likely to be fought in exactly this stupid and trumped-up fashion. But it will bite everybody. One day it will be the Conservative’s claiming that Ukip shouldn’t have dared to say something because it is derogatory of some minority or other. Another day it will be Conservatives doing the same trick on Labour. Yet another day and Labour will be able to whip up the same confected outrage against Conservatives. ‘Ooh look at him’, ‘He’s a hater’, ‘The true face of X has been revealed’ etc etc.