Sisters at War: Moore resigns while Tonge clings to power Oct 2001

Editorial by Damon Silk: Jo Moore was forced to resign over inflammatory comments about 9/11 "It is now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury" and this was seized on by Jenny Tonge MP who demanded her resignation. However 3 years later over comments far more inflammatory Tonge refused to resign and clung to her MP's position in order to cash in on the £160,000 she would pull in over the two years before she retires.

Who's the woman on the left? The one sitting next to Stephen Byers, The Transport Secretary.

Why, she's Jo Moore, a Labour spin doctor who works on behalf of the government. And she's a 'special adviser' to Stephen Byers.

She's a fairly typical, left-wing, ambitious, self-serving, "feminist type" - well into her career, furthering her cause, pushing forward her agenda. And what, one may wonder, was she doing while some 3,000 Americans were dying, almost before our very eyes, in the recent terrorist attacks in the USA?

Was she sitting like a stone, frozen by the news, her mouth hanging open in disbelief, stunned with shock, like the rest of the world, as the information continued to pour in?

Oh no. This emotionally-deficient woman - this typical feminist - was frantically emailing her colleagues pointing out how useful this catastrophe was going to be for her political masters.

One of this woman's first thoughts was how to make political mileage out of this catastrophe - this FRIGHTENING catastrophe, which, apart from the sheer death toll, had awful implications with regard to war, and to possible further terrorist attacks, perhaps in other cities, that might well have been imminent. 

Who knew what else was going to happen next on that dark and shocking day?

And yet, what arose in this woman's mind, was the desire to 'use' this tragedy to help her cronies bury any forthcoming news that simply might not be helpful to them - if widely discussed. Just think of what was going on in the hearts and minds of most other people on that day. Aren't you all horrified?

Well, maybe this event will help some of you to open your eyes a little further, because this is an example of real feminist thinking at work.

Ms Moore is exactly the type of woman who pushes forward the feminist agenda and who rises high up the ladder in the Labour Party. 

Anyway, here is what Jeremy Paxman said on BBC's Newsnight. (To Americans, his words may sound tame, but to those who know Mr Paxman's usual manner, he was clearly very angry.) 

Anyone who has had any dealings with this government will be scandalised by the revelation that one of its ministerial advisers tried to exploit the tragedy of September 11th to the party's advantage. Imagine the government's mortification at it being made public that within an hour, a single hour, of the World Trade Centre catastrophe, at least one spin doctor was advising that now was the time to slip out potentially embarrassing announcements. Everyone recalls where they were when they heard [of the attacks]. This was an event that was so awful, so awesome, so horrific, that it's no exaggeration to talk of a "state of collective, global shock".

But there was an exception.

Within minutes, at the Department of Transport, an email was being drafted, about how to take advantage of the catastrophe. Jo Moore is a spin doctor personally loyal to the Transport Secretary, Stephen Byers. She's paid by the taxpayer.

Her boss has 'form' when it comes to slipping out controversial announcements hoping that no-one will notice. [i.e. he's done it before] In 1999 he released both the results of the DTI investigation into Geoffrey Robinson [a Labour politician who was under investigation for wrongdoing] and also the funding plans for a controversial Turkish Dam project - three days before Christmas!

The media [simply] ate their turkey and shrugged. But this [situation] is callousness and manipulation of another order! 

And here's Tony Wright, Labour MP. (Yes, a LABOUR MP!)

This is not an error of judgement. This is not a failure of that kind. This is a failure that goes to the heart of how people think about their role in the government and in the political system!

The above paragraph is worth reading again. 

Tony Wright is revealing the reality about those who are 'in power' - the governing 'elite'. These people are truly out ONLY to serve THEMSELVES. They will distort, deceive and corrupt, in order to feather their own nests, further their aims, and keep themselves in power.

But, do we really want such people - those who, for example, care so greatly about 'burying' information - to be the ones running the country? And to have such powers?

Do we really want people who display such coldness and uncaring in the face of such tragedy to be our lawmakers, and our policy implementers? Do we really want such people to remain at the centres of influence? No, we don't. But this is what we've got!

And in Ms Moore's particular case, there is definitely something more to it all. 

After all, it seems that it was actually a 'colleague' of Ms Moore's who was so appalled at her emotional insensitivity, that he, or she, actually leaked the email to the press! And yet, Ms Moore has been doing well in her career. She 'advises' government ministers. She is an 'acceptable' person to her government and to the politicians. She is listened to. Her employers are mostly happy with her performance at her job. And there are many others like her. Well, has she now apologised?

According to the Independent she apologised neither for sending the e-mail in the first place nor for its content, only for any offence that resulted. Well, whether she has apologised appropriately or not, the point is that some aspect of a normal human's emotional system was, clearly, completely unavailable to her at the time in question. It was highly deficient. Presumably, it also didn't even make her aware of how the recipients of her email might think of her.

But this is absolutely TYPICAL of feminists! Such women do not have the capacity to experience what most people take for granted.

And so, for example, they do not have any emotional impediment to placing thoughts about advantaging themselves and their personal careers into the very forefronts of their minds while others may be being burned to death, huge buildings may be collapsing, and further terrorist attacks may well be imminent across the rest of the world. 

These women are some of the most selfish people on the planet. They are emotionally-deficient. They are not normal. They care only for themselves. And they willfully damage others.

But they are not only to be found trying to further their careers in Parliament and in politics by continually pushing wimmin's issues (e.g. Blair's Babes who, most pundits agree, did little except moan about their own conditions of employment) they are also the ones typically running domestic violence units and Women's Studies courses. They are the ones who like to keep publicising distorted facts and figures in order to demonise men. They are the ones who are constantly baying for even more disempowerment of the male gender. 

Ms Moore's email is just one example of the way in which such women think and act.

Well, should Ms Moore resign? Yes, of course she should.

Surely, no-one having such a deep-seated and  callous disregard for those horrendous events of September 11th should be in such a powerful position of influence - and particularly someone who was so quick and eager to profit from them.

Further, this woman clearly viewed this tragedy as a means whereby she could perpetrate some kind of deception - on the public! The public which she is supposed to be serving!

And, finally, look at her email again.

What was her state of mind as she wrote it?

"Councillors' expenses?"

She was actually making a joke!

While the planes were crashing into the buildings killing thousands of people, and with some of these even jumping out from a hundred storeys high - a sight which will haunt AH for many years to come - and while the lives of many thousands more were being shattered and broken, and while passengers within those planes were being blasted to bits as they were purposefully crashed, this woman was actually put into a HUMOROUS MOOD and was making jokes!

It seems that there is complete agreement, across the board, that Jo Moore should resign. 

Here are some quotes from BBC's Question Time.

Tim Collins Conservative MP - "All governments have always indulged in news management ... [but] actually, I think that the 'human' reaction in this [incident] is what is so astonishing to me. At a time when those of us who knew what was happening in America ... were just stood, or sitting, astonished, in front of television sets watching the sheer horror of all those people dying, the fact that ANYBODY, within 45 minutes of that happening, could actually be thinking, "Now, how could I get a bit of political advantage out of this," well, I just find it astonishing on a human level. [loudest applause of the evening]"

Gerald Kaufman Labour Peer "I believe that the public has got the right to expect certain standards ... I've got nothing against this woman, Jo Moore, I don't know if I've even met her. ...[but] I think that Jo Moore should go [resign] [applause]. I do not believe that it is appropriate, that somebody who said that, whose REFLEX reaction should say such things, should stay around. ... The culture in politics is [certainly] to deal with public relations, and that is all part of the rough game of politics. But this was different. This was about how a human being reacted to an unspeakable atrocity"

Jenny Tonge Lib Dem MP "It makes me feel quite sick that this happened - but also what makes me feel quite sick is that I'm not particularly surprised. Having now been in politics for several years, it does not surprise me. This sort of spin, and politicisation of the civil service even, is going on all the time."

David Dimbleby "Do you think she should go?"

Jenny Tonge "I think she should go ... For the last 20 years things have been getting worse and worse, and politics has just become a matter of presentation to get the maximum number of votes."

Rosie Boycott Journalist "... Yes, I do think that this is shocking, and that there should now be a line drawn in the sand, and I think that Jo Moore should certainly go. She should go without a doubt"

Simon Heffer Daily Mail "In my trade we are famed for having very hard hearts, and being very cynical, but, I must say, this took even my breath away. It really was devastatingly insensitive, ... 

Taken from Angryharry.com