Brown shirts anyone? How sad is it that Blair's New Labour is so weak, so feeble, so unsure of themselves that they have to resort to using five thugs to grab an 82 year old man and remove him from their party conference after he yelled out "nonsense" in response to Jack Straw's defense of the Iraq invasion? These are sad times indeed when democracy is so distorted that freedom of speech is grounds for such treatment in the US and UK.
Walter Wolfgang, a party member for 57 years, was bundled out of the conference hall by stewards after shouting "nonsense" as Mr Straw, the Foreign Secretary, defended Britain's role in Iraq. He was later stopped under anti-terrorist powers as he tried to re-enter the hall.What a coward and a bully. Just like his mate in the White House.
Mr Wolfgang fled Nazi Germany as a teenager for the freedom of Britain. He said: "I shouted out 'nonsense'. That's all I said. Then these two toughies came round and wanted to manhandle me out. 'I said: 'Do you want me to leave? I will leave, you don't need to manhandle me.'
Mr Blair also blocked a motion for the conference to pay tribute to Robin Cook, the cabinet minister who resigned over the war and died in August. Yesterday's protest was muted by Labour's standards, but the over-reaction by conference stewards backfired and turned into a public relations disaster for the party.
When the Prime Minister was asked by a journalist whether he would apologise to Mr Wolfgang, he did not comment.
