Tory councillor tells racist joke in race discrimination hearing

Sometimes the headline just says it all, doesn't it?

Yes ... in a move roughly about as tactful as wheeling out some 'Uranus' puns during a Challenger eulogy, Kent Tory councillor Ken Bamber has really put his foot in it. And then his other foot. Then his torso, arms, neck and head. And possibly his glasses.

What exactly did Mr. Bamber do, then? Well, during a racial discrimination hearing for a local Medway Council employee, Ken thought it would be a jolly old laugh to recite one of his favourite Irish jokes. In front of the union boss. Whose parents came from Ireland. We've said it before and we'll say it again: wah-wah-wah-waaahhhh ...

Want to hear Ken's hilarious gut-buster? Us neither, really, but in the interests of setting the context, here's the joke he told:

"A man walks into a Dublin bar and sees a friend sitting with an empty glass. 'Paddy - can I buy you another?', he asks. Paddy looks up and says: 'Now what would I be wanting with another empty glass?'"

Less Tommy Cooper and more Mini Cooper, we're sure you'll agree. As would Brian Kelly, the union boss in question who wasn't particuarly impressed by the doddering Tory's conduct:

"I couldn't believe my ears - we were in the midst of a racial discrimination hearing. If there's ever a more inappropriate time to start telling racist jokes that would have been it. This man was directly responsible for deciding whether the employee in question had a racial discrimination claim and he was telling racist jokes himself. I am proud of my Irish heritage and family and I felt deeply offended."

Let's just hope that - once Ken's inevitable punishment has been doled out - Medway council can move on from this. After all, it's not as if they've had other scandals in the past, is it? Like another Conservative councillor claiming that parents on benefits should be 'sterilised'?

Oh.

Written by C J Davies on 3 Jun 2008 12:00 AM. Permalink