Racist madness: another politician pipes up

We've seen a couple of silly remarks taking an axe to people's reputations of late - politicians who don't particularly harbour any racist inclinations but have said something distinctly ill-advised. Bringing up old slave plantation slang terms? Arguing that the black sector of the population can 'go home'? Fair to say that neither of those were wise moves.

Step forward, Philip Lardner, Tory candidate for the Westminster constituency of North Ayrshire and Arran. He's obviously - as The Kinks would put it - a dedicated follower of fashion, and evidently felt so left out of this dubious-statement-making parade that he decided to spout some silly racist nonsense of his own. The major difference being: his outburst doesn't seem like a spur-of-the-moment thoughtless comment. His outburst just seems ... well ... a bit mad, all in all.

According to Lardner, the predictions of one Enoch Powell - that mildly controversial 'rivers of blood' stuff, if memory serves Westmonster well - have:

" ... in a small way come true".

Sticking up for Enoch? A bit of a tough stance to defend, really, hence the party suspension that Mr. Lardner has been slapped on the wrist with. A party suspension, by the way, that was probably also spurred on by Lardner's outspoken admiration for former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith. Lest we forget Smith's views on racial harmony: