Centre Stage Hain, Cheryl on a Train
With a disaster on his doorstep in the Swansea Valley Peter Hain, the Shadow Welsh Secretary, has been hogging the airwaves all morning. Though he is the local MP, he seems to be trying to make capital out of the Welsh mining tragedy. Guido understands that Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan is on her way to the site from London, feeding lines to the media on the way. She’s on a train. Presumably not a fast one though…
UPDATE: Hain’s office insist he was only part of the press conference at the specific request of the police.
The future’s Orange.
Hopefully Hain is a man of the past and not this country’s future
Hain is probably one of the most corrupt MP’s around, look at his past. He should return to the sewer he belongs in.
Hooon -
Also on question time last night…
Diane Abbot – asking “what party would pay billions to the bankers and leave the workers to foot the bill?”
I sat there stunned – that was the Labour Party Diane – and the uk population threw them out of power – did you forget the election result already ?
those who voted labour now plan co-ordinated strikes – which will undermine the recovery and lead to less money for pensions…. ?
she is mad… its all tory fault… already – wot about the 13 years of labour ?
These are public sector co-ordinated strikes. They’ll save the Nation a fortune. Reminds me of that scene in ” Blazing Saddles”, ” don’t shoot or the Afr0-american gets it”
Hain really is a turd of the first order isn’t he.
He is the epitomy of sleaze.
BOSS tried to get him for stealing a typewriter ribbon from W H Smiths – pity they didn’t get their man.
It’s a bit harsh to describe South Africa as a sewer. It’s a shame Hain wasn’t killed on one of those student demos 40-odd years ago. Would have done humanity a big favour.
where the fucks wales? has it oil, gold, stuff? can we bomb it?
Watched him in the Telly last night talking about………..what the emergency services were doing. He’s an MP. They DO NOTHING. Just vote as told by the Whips and the EU. Fullstop.
Spot on, Public Sector Parasite. He’s in the sewer and FROM the sewer, a fake, opportunist, perma-tanned hypocrite who runs neck and neck with Keith Vaz as the slimiest creature in the parliamentary ooze. He’s up their with Bliar in the half-truths and lies arena, for which both of them should be in the Olympics, before being put up against the firing wall, sans blindfolds.
By the way, PSP – I don’t know if your monicker is ironic, but MY pension, started in 1972, was stolen by the last “government,” more specifically by the bullying, one-eyed Scottish fuckwit that posed as PM while destroying the country he had no mandate and no ability to manage. For the record, my annual payout is 31% of the “projected” figure. I’ve worked all my life in the private sector, and if I hadn’t bought a couple of small properties in the early ’80s I’d be on benefits by now.
They could use his face to light up the mineshaft.
Weak, Guido.
Leave Guido alone, you horrid oik! Guido is sensitive, caring, loving, takes it up the arse like me. Oops!
Perfectly appropriate.
What exactly are politicians of any stripe going to contribute to the rescue efforts? If they turn up at the site, all they are going to do is get in the way. Community centre to support relatives, maybe.
(Besides, Hain especially has long form on this sort of stuff. There’s only one person Hain has in mind to help in this tragedy, and that’s Hain.)
Has he rolled up his sleeves to make tea or coffee? Has he forgotten that he is actually out of government?
Why kow tow to the Hunt?
He is their MP and if he wasn’t there saying stuff he’d be much more open to criticism IMHO.
True, but he remains a Hoon of the first order. It is a no win for Hain.
A separate issue but nevertheless an exceedingly valid remark.
Quite surprising to hear that he’s ‘there’ . Whilst not in the stuart bellend class of absentee MPs, you’d look at Cap’n Tango a long time, before the expression boyo came to mind
Yes, another proper rugger-buggering, not so much of the former, manly boyo from the valleys, of rent boys arses, just like me. How is Guido by the way? Send him my best.
Have you been invited by Polly recently, Tony ?
Do tell…
She’s not a Toscana but an Umbro, so no.
“Hain’s office insist he was only part of the press conference at the specific request of the police.”
You mean that a Labour politician was invited to an opportunity for self promotion by the Labour Party Civil Enforcement Branch.
He made sure he was in shot all the time and at the end of the conference put his arm around the waist of the policeman and led him and the other chap from the fire service away as if he was in charge of the whole thing.
Sometimes you should just hold back a wee bit Guido
Considering the news this morning
At least wait until the outcome is clear
Or hold back a bit of wee. Either will do.
Opportunistic pantaloooooon
Never let it be said that i fail in my duty for self publicity.
If there is one person who should have his British Citizenship revoked for the public good it is Peter Hain.
I cannot understand why he does not want to return to his roots, the rainbow nation, now that Apartheid has been dismantled & the white population turned into second class citizens.
Mission accomplished Peter, on your way.
I am sure his ANC brothers will make an exception for those with orange skin.
You are too harsh on a deeply caring man of integrity. Autumn is just round the corner so I have sent him a little present:
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/displayProduct.jsp?sku=SA02254
Hain will be mighty pissed off when he finds out the trapped miners aren’t actually Black,they just look that way because of the coal dust.
Hain was born in Kenya. He’d be better off doing something about the humanitarian disaster that’s happening there right now.
FFS! He is the local MP. No doubt if he hadn’t bothered attending you would have hammered him for that as well. Sometimes the Right do look as though they will clutch any passing straw to make their bilious non-point.
Are the Straws making hay out of human misery as well? Mr Hain has a job to do as an MP who’s constituency is suffering from a disaster, and hanging round the pit head like a ghoul at the feast seeking photo ops is a minor part of it.
We don,t mind him attending ,just please do not hog the cameras,
he is one of the biggest hypocrites in the Labour party ,and that
is saying something.
To be fair, he didnt need to be on the news 5 or 6 hours after the event (which he was) he could have been in the constituancy, and speaking to relatives, not on TV and radio.
I agree. I don’t like Hain but he is their MP and he should be there. End of.
When I last lived in Neath over a two year period, over 10 years ago, I never so so much as saw a peep from Hain…
Hain’s only been an MP for just over ten years. Possibly he wasn’t there when you were.
Sorry, that’s bollocks. Hain has been an MP for just over twenty years. Must try counting on my fingers next time.
He was my MP the whole time I was there shit-for-brains.
With 24 hour news channels eager to fill air time or political bloggers looking for material Hain is a gift today. Who would they talk to about this dreadful situation if he wasn’t there – the emergency services are too busy and the families and friends don’t need the intrusion so well done Mr Hain for doing something useful.
I am really Welsh boyo
Wales has served me well…huge expenses and lots of freebies
I am Welsh
me too! I luv rugby! all those tight shorts!
Naughty
Hain will clutch any any straws and photo ops
It’s all he has ever done
Except when he gets caught fiddling his expenses
PS You are as Welsh as me…
ROFL
As creepy as a career MP he is, he is the MP and has every right to be there. This disaster would affect everyone in Wales ( and others) who are connected to the mining industry. I think his being there is genuine.
Rubbish there is no mining industry as you lefties keep banging on and on and on and on.
Thatch killed it remember?
Obviously someone forgot to tell these poor beggers that.
DeepFroat – It was a private mine that was reopened because the markets decree that the price of coal was worth mining for. Something you nasty part sympathisers would applaud. (Except that the loss of life isn’t worth it)
oh and where the F** is the Tory Welsh sec? Didn’t want to get her bouffant hairstyle messed up by wearing a hard hat?? or probably on holiday, like Dave the Rave is all the time.
You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.
Oh so for pushing in where his lack of any talent to help in any practical way except run from camera to camera getting his best angles done we should say nothing because we would pick on him for not being there and then you start on the Welsh sec for not being there ?hypocrite me thinks !
It’s not being there that’s the problem, it’s being constantly in front of the TV camera that is irritating. I don’t need the anguish of relatives to be spelled out to me. He may be genuine but it looks exploitative on his part.
He was on the news last night and he moved to get into the camera shot as they interviewed one of the rescue team. I attended Question Time once and whilst all the guests mixed aferwards, the sleazeball refused to speak to anyone and demanded his ministerial car, like a good old marxist politician. They are many c*nts in the Labour Party, but he is one of the biggest.
He’s not genuine. He’s every bit as exploitative as he looks. Selfishness and cynicism are part of his DNA. He doesn’t have any positive traits.
Perhaps they could send him down the pit to help out.
sort of like apit prop eh? I like it!
Do you mean agit prop ?
He started as a marxist trasher !
Aren’t all the agit props out in New Zealand, causing meyhem in the scrums?
I think wa had a dose of them in London recently
Do you remember ?
Did you see the match? So did I. I drank 10 pints. What a normal hetro man I am.
I speak as a Welshman.
Politics aside, it’s sickening to see Peter Hain consistently standing behind the interviewee as this tragic event unfolds.
He knows where the camera is; he knows exactly where to stand to be seen.
What a disgrace.
More importantly, I’m thinking of the poor miners – one of whom is now lost – and their families.
Watched the news. The rescue service bloke was admirable. Plain speaking and honest, then the cop had a few sensible words…then Hain had to hog the spotlight, hamming it up and pretending he gave a flying fuck.
Hain is desperate to make a come back
Publicity is like a drug to him
It turns him orange
Like most of the Labour Party
All form and no substance
So why didn’t she go yesterday. At least Hain showed up..
Can’t the Tories find someone from Wales as Welsh Secretary ?
Or has Wales become a no man’s land for civilised people like Jockland ?
Cheryl Gillan is Welsh. She’s MP for Amersham. She’s anti-HS2 as are the population of the area, judging by the number of posters stuck up in the area.
There was an audible sigh of relief from the stricken miners.
Thank goodness, they cried in joyful unison. Peter Hain is here.
Thirst class return to Dottingham pleath
Guido
Re your twitter
Y Fronts Bryant has made an intelligent remark
Blow me down…
Send him down the mine, i am sure he bring light where darkness rules.
Just like a stream of bat’s piss.
Who is more greasy and oily ?
Vaz or Hain ?
Vazhailine I would say
I hate Hain.
He is a criminal.
No pitch is safe with Hain about.
But even the sheep are not safe in Denmark now…
Not that many sheep in denmark, but plenty of pigs….
Don’t tell me you mean the Welch like pigs as well
This is all getting too much for me
But only the female pigs.
No Boars like Hain.
What is it about mining – and coal mining in particular – that triggers a response like this from politicians and the media?
If four blokes were trapped by an explosion in a chemical works, would we have the same rush to the scene by politicians?
Is it some sort of social memory of the long string of pit disasters still living in the memory? And why was the fight against the cessation of such a dangerous way of extracting coal so protracted and bitter?
“I’m proud to have been a miner, boyo, but no son of mine will ever go down a pit.”
I’m not taking a pop at anyone, it genuinely puzzles me.
Mining is in our genes boyo
I spent my life down a mine, like my wife and son
So I can tell you all about it
It’s all Fatcher’s fault they will soon be crying…
why didm’t labour reopen the mines ?
It’s a different world.It has (or rather had) a closed community in which everyone made a dangerous living in conditions on which they were totally reliant on each other and which the rest of the world could only dimly imagine. A folk memory remains.Economically only opencasting makes any sense at all in the UK because the thick level seams were worked out decades ago.
Those small mines are ghastly-held up by wooden pitprops and worked by hand with mandrils in dipping seams less than 3 feet thick.I left the industry over 20 years ago and did not think they’d still be working them in 2011 .
3500 people are killed on the roads every year. Nobody does anything about it. A few miners get stuck down a mine and it’s all over the TV. Obviously this case is a tragedy but you don’t see the dead tree press angonising over the ten people a day who are killed in road accidents.
Good point. There are far too many loonies allowed to drive. And this only reminds us what a shit job mining is.
I speak as a Welshman.
Politics aside, it’s sickening to see Peter Hain consistently standing behind the interviewee as this tragic event unfolds.
He knows where the camera is; he knows exactly where to stand to be seen.
What a disgrace.
More importantly, I’m thinking of the poor miners – one of whom we hear is now lost – and their families.
Hain is a very wonderful man. We all know that.
My warmest congratulations go to my friend and colleague Helle Thorning-Schmidt for her victory in the Danish elections.
She has shown courage, leadership and determination to win victory and she has also won with a clear mandate for a different economic course for Denmark
Thank you Eddy
I will may for increased social spending by making people work longer hours
Do you agree ?
It is the opposite of what the French Socialists did. They are so ante diluvian that they thought reducing working hours would increase employment !
But it does show that us European Socialists all follow the same policy…
You don’t mean Shillings and Pence do you?
“Peter Hain the Shadow Welsh Secretary has been standing in the way of the relief effort”
Where is the evidence for this statement? How does speaking to the cameras on behalf of his constituents slow down or impede the relief effort?
If you cannot produce the evidence I hope he sues the hide off you and then gives the proceeds to miners charities.
There would not be much left after all his expenses.
I now see that the offending words have been removed – but if they are not suppoerted the libel has still been committed.
Piss off you twat.
You need to go back to school to brush up on your spelling.
Yup. It was a lame post when it started life, now redacted into complete leglessness
Guiod – re your references article
If The Economist thinks Hari acted unethically
What will they think when a couple of hundred of journalists are convicted of hacking and blagging ?
Hacking & blagging are what journalists are meant to do to get a story. This whole scandal is a storm in a teacup blown up by the anti-Murdoch press and Gordon Brown because Murdoch turned against him. The Tories came to the party late when it dawned on them how vicious Murdoch was to them in the 90s and could be again. Due to the various laws passed by Labour the free press is dying but they are collectively going to a clinic Switzerland to speed up their death. Oh, and making up stories and telling hateful lies is not what the press is meant to do.
I just got the malware warning again Guido
I looked deep into Peter Hain’s eyes and asked him about the unfolding crisis. He turned to Mo Mowlam and insisted they must go forth into the mine themselves and rescue the miners.
Polly Toynbee arose and shouted “You’ll have my axe”
Excellent. We’ll soon have you back at the Independent at this rate.
As well as being a Tango Hooner, Hain has the most nigglesome voice. All he needs now is scratch ‘n’ sniff signed photos, and he’ll be able to disgust all the human senses at once.
Why the fuck would the Police want Hain there? Is he a ‘man of the people’? Fuck that.
I smell utter bullshit.
He is ‘helping with enquiries’.
Peter Vain would never miss an opportunity to promote himself…never! He is a typical Labour MP, vain, useless, corrupt & orange!
+1
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2037926/Belgium-form-new-government.html
Well thats Belguim fucked now!
” re UPDATE: Hain’s office insist he was only part of the press conference at the specific request of the police”
Does this confirms that South Wales Police are ZanuLieLabor supporters as well then, perhaps they have taken the lead from the Met
Just about sums up the terrible state this country is in from top to bottom,every great institution has been politicised with the cancer called ZanuLieLabor, there urgently needs to be a proper spring clean of all these divients, the NTC in Libya would be able to supply that expertise to rid us of both Blue & Red Labour once & for all, it really needs to be that drastic.
+ 1
“at the specific request of the police.”
Shame it was not to speak to the old bank robber about new evidence coming to light!
Bloody hell. He’s still on the telly giving a blow by blow live commentary. Not only is he the self appointed family spokesman, he’s an expert mine engineer, mine rescue advisor and drift mine boffin.
If four teenagers were killed in a RTA, would the media and Peter Hain bother to turn up?
The tango man is still on live TV as I type.
Unfortunately, this article does the same thing that you accuse Hain of-making opportunistic political capital after a tragic event.
Since you sidekick took over the site, Guido is losing is edge and intuition-which is a shame.
So you think it OK to let the ‘politician’ vain get on with what ever he wants because any attacks on him may be political ??
Hain is an opportunist slag. Typical false sincerity from the school of Yvette Cooper. By the disc from Rosetta Stone.
if hes waiting to shake one of the trapped miners hands–tragicaly it doesnt look like it will happen
There is no tragedy so dire that you cannot make political capital out of it. Got to go – time to put the marmite on my face.
That Orange twat actually looked a bit out of breath as if he had run all the way to get that fucking tangerine head on TV. Lets face it we havent seen the big faced poof on Tv much since he was left out of the coalistion proper.
What a prat re-assuring us that he had satisifed himself that everything was being done to save the miners (by the way they are brown bread)
And on questions time last night that IRA woman is so bottoxed or fucking depressed she had no facial movement at all
He loves the lime light. Trots out from the darkness for anything. Prat.
“Hain’s office insist he was only part of the press conference at the specific request of the police.” Knowing his background, they probably thought it best to know his whereabouts…
Of course, the police would be interested in Pensioner Hain’s views.
For Hain to claim that he was asked by the Police to comment defies belief. He is well known, here in Wales, for his constant self-publicity, with an ego the size of a planet. When he had to resign in disgrace from the Labour Government Front Bench he still bombarded BBC Wales with his views on everything under the sun, gave them his contact details when on holiday (‘do call me any time you want a comment’) etc. The man is a male version of Sally Bercow, desperate for publicity.
You righties still sore about apartheid? You lost. Get over it and move on.
Yes what a prosperous and uncorrupted country South Africa is now ,I don,t think.
The Perma tanned Shadow Welsh Secretary is still at the scene of this disaster – with two confirmed deaths. The BBC’s Breafast Show’s coverage of this incident this morning, with the anodyne Charlie Stayt and his female sidekick Susannah Reid (who apparently has a fan club, God knows why) was absolutely awful. Given the subject matter, Reid (similar to the silly, simpering Sian Williams) was asking the most banal and inane questions, whilst posing in a skirt that if it had been any shorter would have been indecent. Sack the pair of them. As for Hain, anything for publicity.
In other news, turns out Hain may have been responsible for the disaster.
http://www.ukcolumn.org/blogs/gleision-colliery
So perhaps it is something other than political capital?
He’s still there pushing his tango face in. 1.38pm on BBC News. The Chief Policeman and the rescue spokesman were briefing the press. Somehow Hain gets in between them and then interrupts the briefing with innane rambling, irrelevance about the history of Welsh mining and a plate sandwiches. The Press ignore him and return to the Police and rescue team. Its shameless self-promotion at the scene of a tragedy. True Blairism at its worst.
noticed this on Al beeb – before it is removed…
“1730: Several MPs, Welsh Assembly members and councillors have been consoling local people, but resident Linda Ware says they are not welcome. She told BBC Radio 5 live: “One thing that is really upsetting the people here in this community is the politicians on the televisions,” she says. “This is private grief. The grief is of the families affected; this grief is not belonging to the nation.”
J H Crist, has he still not gone back to South Africa, his much beloved homeland, which apparently is quite safe now!
Has he not rather overstayed his blagged student visa.
so Hains been quite active down the Valley…as well as looking Radioactive on camera.
This jerk is an MP.. This means thousands of ‘people’ voted for him.. If this is the only reason it validates my escape..
There is a message from David Taylor (Labour Party Spin Doctor) which says “He is there supporting families at the request of the police”, which appears on his twitter log as 9 hours old. Then there is a message from Peter Hain himself which says “Up at mine site now. Scores of rescue workers toiling away absolutely determined to find 3 miners”, which appears on his twitter log as 7 hours old. The timings of these messages suggest that the Labour Party specifically engineered his appearance at least 2 hours beforehand and had already concocted a spin that he was attending in response to a request from the emergency services. Strange. Kissing babies is a rather cute pastime of politicians, but chasing ambulances rather distasteful.
http://twitter.com/#!/David_Taylor
Is he camped out there?
Nice one +10
Another of Guido’s posts to bear in mind the next time he wishes to lectire anyone on good taste.
I found the publicity shy peter hain at the disaster zone pretty sickening. It was bad enough that 4 miners were missing the town did not need a labour politician hogging said cameras showing off his bad tan. To make matters even worse, the extremely boring carwash jones turned up too. i’m sure it was no coincidence whatsoever that whenever the cameras were rolling hain was in the frame.
I too found Hain’s presence self-serving and vainglorious. First, there was a line-up of police, mine rescue people and firemen with Hain peering over their shoulders looking totally out of place in his city clothing. Then ITV deferred to him by allowing him to rabbit on about the mine’s safety review, quoting the inspectors. Why not go direct to them for the info, not this pillock?
My wife, who knows little about Hain, asked “why is that man tanned so oddly?”
If there is to be a ‘fund’, please remember the Aberfan Disaster Fund which was stolen by George Thomas – the then Speaker and the Labour Party – it was used to clear away the ‘tips’ that were the cause of the disaster.
Never let a politician, particularly Peter Hain anywhere near a public fund.