TORIES were under pressure today to sack a senior spokesman linked to "insults" about hostage Ken Bigley's family, the Hillsborough disaster and Liverpudlians in general.
Tory MP Boris Johnson, party spokesman on culture and sport, is also the editor of the magazine The Spectator which today carried a controversial opinion column.
In it, the magazine says that many Liverpudlians saw themselves whenever possible as victims and resented their victim status.
"Yet at the same time they wallow in it. Part of this flawed psychological state is that they cannot accept that they might have made any contribution to their misfortunes, but seek rather to blame someone else for it, thereby deepening their sense of shared tribal grievance against the rest of society," says the magazine.
It goes on to suggest that it is nonsense to claim that Tony Blair has Ken Bigley's blood on his hands, adding that Mr Bigley went to work in Iraq, one of the most dangerous areas on the planet, against the advice of the Foreign Office.
It says that the "misjudgement" of Ken Bigley is choosing to work in Iraq did not lessen the horror and injustice of his death: "But they should, without lessening our sympathy for him and his family, temper the outpouring of sentimentality in which many have engaged for him."
It also criticises Liverpool football supporters over the Hillsborough disaster 15 years ago.
It suggests that Liverpool to this day failed to acknowledge the part played by "drunken fans" at the back of the crowd.
"It is outrageous, it is inaccurate, it is bigoted, and it is the responsibility of a shadow minister for culture.
"He should immediately apologise for these disgraceful comments about Liverpool and the Hillsborough tragedy, and the implied insult to Ken Bigley's family. To single out Liverpudlians as being somehow psychologically flawed is absolutely outrageous," stormed Mr Kilfoyle.
He went on to criticise the inaccuracy over the number of deaths at Hillsborough, claiming that The Spectator was not only prejudiced but too lazy to check the facts. Mr Kilfoyle pointed out that the Taylor Report into the tragedy had exonerated the fans.
Boris Johnson, who is Tory MP for Henley, said this afternoon: "We certainly did not mean to offend anybody in Liverpool. The Spectator loves Liverpool.
"The point of the leader (opinion column) was to criticise the slight culture of mawkishness and sentimentality in this country which one associates with the death of the Princess of Wales," said the MP.
Today the Conservative Party said the article was entirely a matter for The Spectator: "It does not reflect Conservative Party policy," he said.
Should Boris Johnson resign over the magazine article? Have your say.
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I just read the original Spectator article, much more balanced than your summary implies. What it says is true. Read it for yourselves.
absoloutly disgusted , simple as that .
A very lazy piece of journalism. If they were trying to write a balanced, well thought out and researched article then they have failed.
There wouldn't be any chance of him being beheaded. He makes Wayne Rooney look like Tom Cruise.
Once again the jealousy of people against Scousers is amazing.
The leader was not only inaccurate but cruel to Bigley's family. For the so called over the top response in Liverpool, was I watching and reading about some other story when the media wrote and spoke about the quiet and dignified response of Liverpool to the Bigley story?
i find the comments made by CHAS,to be both ignorant and with out basis i too read the artical and totally disagreed with its conclusion and as a liverpudlian who was also at Hillsbourough on that day and a professional firefighter i believe i iam more in a position to make a judgement on the subject rather than CHAS or BORIS JOHNSTON,may i say to these mis informed souls to take alittle time out and read the TAYLOR report...
I've read the article in the Spectator.
I don't see any need for Johnson's sacking.
I interpreted it as a comment on way the media report such atrocities as Bigley's murder.
Theses comments are nasty vile AND WRONG, just because we hurt and because we are a strong community in Liverpool we are now getting attacked by people who have never lived in the real world (Boris Johnson)
The point it makes is perhaps ruined by its generalisation of Liverpudlians and its reference to Hillsborough. But the essence that we must all be prepared to accept the consequences of our actions is a valid one.
Choosing to go to work in Iraq is a big decision. Even if you go with the most laudable motives it would be wrong to do so with out weighing up the downside: Kidnap and all the subsequent horrors are a known risk. The government's reaction to kidnap again is a known fact. Most people would probably think that this alone would preclude Iraq as somewhere they wanted to work. Others, like Ken, believed the risks were worth taking. But that was his decision and the dreadful consequences stem solely from his decision. The only people with blood on their hands are the murderous bastards who kidnapped him.
Blaming Blair is an easy way to get some crumb of comfort, but is entirely unjustified. There is lots of things to attack Blair about, but this is not one of them.
Just lame, just lazy. Whatever flaws Scousers had it seems to me they got over themselves about 10 years ago and are now - and about time - doing a Glasgow and Manchester. Wherever Bigley had have come from I think his home town or city would have reacted just as sensitively (barring London).
I think Chas and all those other morons should take a little time out and read ALL the reports about Hillsborough and look to were blame was apportioned.Liverpool is a city which cares,is that wrong?But hey,I suppose it would be different if it was Manchester.Get off your moralistic high horse and see the facts and not the fiction.
There are some people on this planet that are simply so arrogant, so bigoted that it makes you ashamed to be a Brit', or a fellow member of the human race for that matter. Obviously, dear ol' Boris has had a hard life, a real worker, no silver spoon's been in his mouth. Please allow me to insert one though Boris - it might prevent further garbage coming out of your rather overly large facial orifice. I hear there are tickets available for the first space flight. Can I buy one for you - one way!
Joey, if you're such a proud scouser, why live in Orlando?
Just read the article and there's nothing wrong with it. The knee-jerk catawauling just further re-inforces the stereotype being commented on.
Out of touch & out of favour - may the wilderness prove long & bitter for the tory toffs.
Get the out of my country please.
Johnson is right!
I'm afraid that The Spectator article only emulates the thoughts of many, who, see Liverpool and its people as acquiring some sort of exceptional status. We all need to stand back occasionaly and keep events in perspective of their effect on all the citizens of the United Kingdom.
I agree with the comments made by Bosis Johnson.
I too, am totaly sick of the wallowing in sentimentality which is so prevelant in the British Isles today.
Ken Bigley. Diana, Princess of Wales, and bunches of flowers, (still wrapped in celophane)deposited by the roadsides. being my most hated forms of expressed sentimentality at the moment.
Boris Johnson should not resign.
What he writes about a large proportion of 'scousers' is spot on. As for blaming tony blair, for what? Not bowing and scraping to sadist, for not humiliating great britain, for being strong in the face of terrorism.
Wake up to yourselves 'scousers' and get real.
I was against the invasion of Iraq but now that we are in it,yes australia too, we should not submit to sadistic thugs.
peter truffet your a stupid fool who has no idea what your talking about this country is better off with people like you buggering off to infest Australia
next time you send a comment please try to do a bit of research
Thirty miles from greatness.....
didnt know anfield was that far from you!
Boris for Prime Minister! At least he uses public transport and his own bicycle, rather than the present "Two Jags" crowd. I do find the comments about Hillsborough wrong, and an apology from him, as Editor of The Spectator, should be made if those comments have been printed. However, the facts about Ken Bigley are correct, he went to Iraq of his own choice.
Johnson will lose all credibility for any future opinions he puts forward if he bows to political pressure and the bleeding heart brigade, and aplogises. It takes my breath away that groups with their heads in the sand blame Blair for something carried out by cold blooded fanatics, an excellent example of the 'victim mentality' Johnson is referring to. They play directly into the hands of the terrorists.
Absolutely! Anyone so tunnel-visioned as Boris Johnson in his attack against Liverpudlians should not be trusted to have any kind of authority as an MP. His public apology in Liverpool would only be a direct result of his fear in regards of his endangered position as Tory MP, and not as one of a man who has erred and aware of it. In The Spectator's column, there was only one 'psychological flaw', but it was not the scousers'.