Thursday, 22 October 2009

Is Baroness Warsi the best spokeswoman for the Conservatives against the BNP?

I think Baroness Warsi is a very good Shadow Minister. Despite this, I am not sure she is the best candidate for the Conservatives to put on Question Time with Nick Griffin. Why? Well, before I get to that, let me accept there are some very good reasons to put her on.
1) She is a Muslim woman, and as such can more personally speak against Griffin's prejudices.
2) She is a non-white Conservative, and so on a purely political level will make Cameron look like he is really presiding over a multi-racial party, and can also counterpoint the white faces of the politicians on the rest of the Question Time panel (although one of the panellists is Bonnie Greer, a black American writer) .
3) She is the Shadow Minister of Community Cohesion and Social Action, so more likely than not much of what comes up on the show will be within her Shadow Ministerial remit.

However, there are also some very good reasons why she is not the right person for the job:
1) She is (as Nick Griffin would argue) a perfect example of the ethnic minority affirmative action that the BNP bangs on about. She is the youngest member of the House of Lords, having been elevated when she was 36. She had never been an MP, and when she ran for Parliament in 2005, she actually gained a lower share of the vote than the Conservative candidate in 2001 or 1997 (although more absolute votes). None of this means that she is unfit for the job, but it is merely a very easy point for Nick Griffin to make hay on.
2) She doesn't speak to the constituency that the BNP is contesting. The constituency in play here is the white working class, some of whom truly believe immigrants and non-white people are coming to this country and stealing their jobs. I am not certain that Baroness Warsi will be able to sooth these concerns the way someone like David Davis or William Hague could have done (David Davis especially).
3) Again unlike Davis or Hague, I have no idea how she will perform against Griffin. Warsi's previous experiences on Question Time have generally elicited a less than enthusiastic response from political watchers (especially Conservative ones). While I have never seen her on it myself and so cannot judge, the number of negative reviews I hear from others makes me concerned about whether she will be able to go toe to toe with Griffin.

Anyway in a few short hours we will know the result. Will today see the BNP exposed for what it is? Or will Griffin hold his own and make the party look like a real alternative to Labour in some of Labour's inner-city bastions? And more importantly, will the anti-BNP protesters be able to shut the hell up and let a real debate take place. If they heckle and barrack Griffin (especially if Griffin looks reasonable when he tries to deal with them, as has happened on occasion) they will give him the best outcome of all - make him the centre of attention and do not force him to explain his policy.

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