DISGRACED Tory MP Ben Bradley once wrote that he doesn’t think Scots should be trusted with “big jobs like saying foreign words”.
Bradley’s post from 2010, which has been uncovered from the now-deleted blog by the Political Scrapbook website, criticises football pundit Alan Hansen’s accent.
It says: “My highlight so far is Alan Hansen talking about ‘Pujol,’ who definately (sic) isn’t playing. Scottish people should not be trusted to with (sic) big jobs like saying foreign words!”
Bradley’s ironically incoherent and mis-spelt attack on Hansen’s pronunciation is, however, probably one of the least controversial posts on his old blog. Another comment called for unemployed people to be sterilised, while others ridiculed public sector workers and supported police brutality.
On Wednesday night, SNP social justice spokesman at Westminster, Neil Gray, wrote to Theresa May, urging her to remove Bradley from his post as the Tory vice-chairman for youth, in which part of his job is to update the party’s image in an attempt to attract younger people to the party.
In a blog post from 2011, Bradley, MP for Mansfield since last June, encouraged police brutality when writing about the London riots, which began after the death of a man shot by police.
Bradley wrote: “We need to come down hard on these morons before somebody gets killed! If we have any sense as a nation we’ll stay home tonight and make it easy for the police to find the ones hanging around town centres with their faces covered. For once I think police brutality should be encouraged!”
That post only came to light after Bradley had to apologise for comments made on the website in 2012 in which he said men who are out of work should have vasectomies. In another he said “public sector workers are lost in their own fantasy land” and should quit if unhappy about pay.
Bradley has apologised for all the remarks, saying the language he used was “inappropriate” and that his outlook on life had changed since marriage and fatherhood.
No 10 has backed him, saying he would not be removed from his position.
A spokesman said that his apology had been the “right thing to do”, and insisted that Bradley’s views had changed since he made the comments.
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