tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12845739.post8295904162769948651..comments2023-11-03T15:48:35.688+00:00Comments on Paul Linford: The top 10 acts of political altruism?Paul Linfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01977920120772282561noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12845739.post-19498573290293411732007-10-29T21:55:00.000+00:002007-10-29T21:55:00.000+00:00John Major's refusal to play the race card in 1997...John Major's refusal to play the race card in 1997, despite the prospect of electoral obliteration and pressure from within his own party. His parliamentary reproof of Nicholas Budgen provoked spluttering outrage from Boris Johnson and other commentators on the right. But Major, better than any leader of any party in our history, knew multicultural Britain and was not prepared to betray it for Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12845739.post-20951611363717716582007-10-29T16:59:00.000+00:002007-10-29T16:59:00.000+00:00Altruism is always the hardest to identify, especi...Altruism is always the hardest to identify, especially in politics, after all, one mans altruism is another mans weakness!<BR/><BR/>A few possible nominations though- Lord Halifax declining to be considered as an alternative to Churchill in 40- he might well have got the Prime Ministership, but it would have been the wrong thing for the country.<BR/><BR/>Rab Butler, for his refusal to bring down Hopi Senhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11587527530575412302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12845739.post-19125647449344027282007-10-29T13:07:00.000+00:002007-10-29T13:07:00.000+00:00Surely the biggest act of altruism was when Camero...Surely the biggest act of altruism was when Cameron refuses to refer to Brown as a scottish one eyed, gargoyle, jew loving, gay, impotent, bottler who no one can understand. <BR/>The public need to be taught that Brown is perfrming terribly at PMQs. Everone in the know knows this Only the ignorant and uneducated are too stupid or ill to see this. He has no knowledge of PMQ etiquite. The public Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12845739.post-24825251012990886542007-10-27T10:20:00.000+01:002007-10-27T10:20:00.000+01:00There's a very obvious one everyone has missed - N...There's a very obvious one everyone has missed - Neville Chamberlain in 1940.<BR/><BR/>Chamberlain could have tried to continue as Prime Minister even after THAT vote in 1940 (he still had a majority of 80-odd and neither of the alternatives to him were acceptable to the House of Commons as a whole) and even after resigning, could have elected to sulk on the back benches like Heath and nurse his The Half-Blood Welshmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05072936624444891100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12845739.post-52609763029623250592007-10-27T10:03:00.000+01:002007-10-27T10:03:00.000+01:00Judging by the repies so far, I think RJ is well o...Judging by the repies so far, I think RJ is well on the way to bein voted Britain's all-time most altruistic politician!<BR/><BR/>I agree with David about the 1970 pre-election budget. What was even more self-sacrificial about that from Jenkins' point of view is that he must have known that had Labour won that election, he would have been Prime Minister inside three years. <BR/><BR/>I disagree Paul Linfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01977920120772282561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12845739.post-6961013338441564282007-10-27T08:30:00.000+01:002007-10-27T08:30:00.000+01:00PaulI'd go back to Thomas Wentworth in 1641; obscu...Paul<BR/>I'd go back to Thomas Wentworth in 1641; obscure, I know, but stay with me. As Earl of Strafford, he had come to be seen as representative of a monarchy which was bitterly resented and insurrection was in the air in the preCivil War atmosphere. Parliament decided it wanted Wentowrth gone and passed a 'Bill of Attainder' to expedite this. The King hesitated before signing the death skipperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02632351344359303404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12845739.post-49128022969926964262007-10-26T20:23:00.000+01:002007-10-26T20:23:00.000+01:00Peel splitting the Tories over the Corn Laws? Bit ...Peel splitting the Tories over the Corn Laws? Bit of an old one granted!JRD168https://www.blogger.com/profile/11623002999736612354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12845739.post-65457143167717587972007-10-26T20:03:00.000+01:002007-10-26T20:03:00.000+01:00Roy Jenkins (again) not reflating the economy to h...Roy Jenkins (again) not reflating the economy to help Labour win in 1970, resulting in Labour losing but giving the Heath government a stable inheritance. (which it proceded to piss away, but that's another story)<BR/><BR/>Edward Heath sacking Enoch Powell in 1968, alienating the racist working class vote but sending a signal that racism was unacceptable.<BR/><BR/>Clement Attlee going into the Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com