United Kingdom

T_i_B

(14,800 posts) Sat Jan 20, 2018, 05:18 AM Jan 2018

Tory MP Ben Bradley under fire for urging jobless to have vasectomies

One of the few Tories to win a seat off Labour at the last election, whose views seem to have been formed after drinking 14 pints of Fosters then reading the Daily Express. Eugenics seems to be increasingly fashionable with right wingers like Ben Bradley and Toby Young, which is a major cause of concern.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/16/ben-bradley-under-fire-for-blogpost-urging-jobless-people-to-have-vasectomies

A Conservative MP who has been appointed as a party vice-chairman once suggested that unemployed people should opt for free vasectomies rather than continuing to have children they could not afford to support.

In a blogpost, Ben Bradley claimed that the country would be soon “drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters” if workless families had four or five children while others limited themselves to one or two.

Bradley, who unexpectedly defeated Labour’s Sir Alan Meale last year to become the Tory MP for Mansfield, made the comments in 2012 in support of a government policy for a benefit cap.

The 28-year-old, who was promoted to Conservative vice-chair representing young people in Theresa May’s new year reshuffle, apologised for the inappropriate post and said he had since matured.

11 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Tory MP Ben Bradley under fire for urging jobless to have vasectomies (Original Post) T_i_B Jan 2018 OP

Sounds more UKIP .. but ToRies don't surprise me either. I suppose if he had been talking to lunasun Jan 2018 #1

Swift's satire is far too subtle for Tory chancers. T_i_B Jan 2018 #2

It's a shame that Bradley's dad didn't have this option available. n/t Denzil_DC Jan 2018 #3

More from Bradley's greatest hits: Denzil_DC Jan 2018 #4

Begs a few questions T_i_B Jan 2018 #5

I think there may be something in common there.. LeftishBrit Jan 2018 #6

Mansfield appears to have been targeted by the Conservatives T_i_B Jan 2018 #7

Interesting LeftishBrit Jan 2018 #8

Jeremy Corbyn Demands Apology And Damages From Tory Vice Chairman Ben Bradley T_i_B Feb 2018 #9

Bradley apologises unreservedly, makes substantial donation to Corbyn's chosen charities muriel_volestrangler Feb 2018 #10

Ben Bradley has resigned as Conservative Party Vice Chair T_i_B Jul 2018 #11

lunasun

(21,646 posts)

1. Sounds more UKIP .. but ToRies don't surprise me either. I suppose if he had been talking to

Reply to T_i_B (Original post)

Sat Jan 20, 2018, 05:25 AM

Jan 2018

or about the Irish he would have seriously had a proposal for them too

T_i_B

(14,800 posts)

2. Swift's satire is far too subtle for Tory chancers.

Reply to lunasun (Reply #1)

Sat Jan 20, 2018, 05:34 AM

Jan 2018

And UKIP types are more likely to join the Tories right now as they are in power and putting into practice UKIP's terrible policies.

Denzil_DC

(7,942 posts)

3. It's a shame that Bradley's dad didn't have this option available. n/t

Reply to T_i_B (Original post)

Sat Jan 20, 2018, 09:16 AM

Jan 2018

Denzil_DC

(7,942 posts)

4. More from Bradley's greatest hits:

Reply to T_i_B (Original post)

Sat Jan 20, 2018, 09:52 AM

Jan 2018

Disgraced Tory MP said Scots can't be trusted with 'big jobs like saying foreign words'

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.

http://www.thenational.scot/news/15867789.Disgraced_Tory_MP_said_Scots_can_t_be_trusted_with__big_jobs_like_saying_foreign_words_/

On the since-deleted blog, Bradley opined that "public sector workers are lost in their own fantasy land" and should quit their jobs if they weren't happy with the pay.

The "police brutality" mentioned above relates the the 2011 London riots, when he 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!"

He was on a roll:

Today, BuzzFeed News unearthed a deleted tweet from August 2011 in which Bradley celebrated a decision by David Cameron to allow police to deploy water cannon to bring rioters under control.

"The water cannons are coming," Bradley told his followers, under a picture of a water cannon spraying protesters in Ireland.

"I'll be in front of the news tonight watching police play 'Splat the Chav,'" he continued.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexspence/the-tory-mp-who-backed-vasectomies-for-the-jobless-wanted

T_i_B

(14,800 posts)

5. Begs a few questions

Reply to Denzil_DC (Reply #4)

Sat Jan 20, 2018, 10:50 AM

Jan 2018

Like what on earth were Mansfield Conservatives thinking when they selected this idiot? It's not difficult to see another Jared O'Mara type situation playing out in Mansfield.

And then Theresa May compounded the problem by making him a vice chairman of the Conservative party. Now I know that Theresa May has a very poor track record with appointments but again, what on earth was she thinking?

LeftishBrit

(41,303 posts)

6. I think there may be something in common there..

Reply to T_i_B (Reply #5)

Sun Jan 21, 2018, 03:58 PM

Jan 2018

Probably neither the Sheffield Hallam Labour party nor the Mansfield Conservative party actually expected to win the seats, so they didn't put that much care into selecting their candidates.

Thought that doesn't explain Mayhem's appointments. I think she just wants to attract young people back to the Tories, so chose a comparatively young MP - but that is no excuse.

T_i_B

(14,800 posts)

7. Mansfield appears to have been targeted by the Conservatives

Reply to LeftishBrit (Reply #6)

Sun Jan 21, 2018, 04:55 PM

Jan 2018

Very much like North East Derbyshire where I live. The Tories heavily outspent a rather moribund Labour campaign here and appear to have done the same in Mansfield, spurred on by the EU referendum result and demographic changes moving the area away from Labour.

By contrast, Momentum gave strong backing to O'Mara and heavily targeted Sheffield Hallam. If you want to make a Corbyn fanboy squirm, ask them why they targeted Sheffield Hallam so heavily and neglected the neighbouring seat of North East Derbyshire that was being targeted in a big way by the Conservatives.

I should also add that I can't blame Mansfield voters too much for Ben Bradley. The Conservative election campaign was so heavily focused on Theresa May that people probably thought that she was the local candidate!

LeftishBrit

(41,303 posts)

8. Interesting

Reply to T_i_B (Reply #7)

Tue Jan 23, 2018, 06:59 AM

Jan 2018

It may then be not due to considering the seats as not worth bothering about, but to the increasing tendency of people to vote for the party leader, rather than the MP. Our politics is getting more and more like American politics in certain ways.

T_i_B

(14,800 posts)

9. Jeremy Corbyn Demands Apology And Damages From Tory Vice Chairman Ben Bradley

Reply to T_i_B (Original post)

Sat Feb 24, 2018, 08:05 AM

Feb 2018

Ben Bradley getting himself into trouble yet again

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/jeremy-corbyn-demands-apology-and-damages-from-tory-vice-chairman-ben-bradley-over-communist-spy-slur-twitter-charity_uk_5a8d4b02e4b00a30a250fc16

Jeremy Corbyn is demanding an apology and donation to charity from a Tory MP who falsely claimed he had “sold British secrets to communist spies”, HuffPost has learned.

Lawyers acting for the Labour leader have written to Bradley, a Tory party vice chairman, to insist that he tweets the apology to all his followers.

Although the tweet has been deleted, their letter sent to Bradley points out the spy allegation is damaging and potentially harmful, and must not be repeated.

The four legal demands are that Bradley:

- confirms in writing that the defamatory statement will not be repeated in any form
- tweets an apology and asks followers to retweet it
- makes a donation to a charity of Jeremy Corbyn’s choice in lieu of damages
- and pays Jeremy Corbyn’s legal costs.

muriel_volestrangler

(102,483 posts)

10. Bradley apologises unreservedly, makes substantial donation to Corbyn's chosen charities

Reply to T_i_B (Reply #9)

Sat Feb 24, 2018, 12:09 PM

Feb 2018

Conservative Party Vice Chair Ben Bradley has apologised unreservedly for a libellous tweet about Jeremy Corbyn, pledged to never repeat the claims in any form, agreed to make a substantial donation to charities of the Labour Leader’s choosing and meet his legal costs.

Jeremy will be splitting the funds between a homeless charity and a foodbank in Mr Bradley’s constituency of Mansfield.

Mr Bradley’s apology, which he will also tweet and ask followers to retweet, says:

“On 19 February 2018 I made a seriously defamatory statement on my Twitter account, ‘Ben Bradley MP (@bbradleymp)’, about Jeremy Corbyn, alleging he sold British secrets to communist spies. I have since deleted the defamatory tweet. I have agreed to pay an undisclosed substantial sum of money to a charity of his choice, and I will also pay his legal costs.

“I fully accept that my statement was wholly untrue and false. I accept that I caused distress and upset to Jeremy Corbyn by my untrue and false allegations, suggesting he had betrayed his country by collaborating with foreign spies.

“I am very sorry for publishing this untrue and false statement and I have no hesitation in offering my unreserved and unconditional apology to Jeremy Corbyn for the distress I have caused him.”

https://labour.org.uk/press/senior-tory-apologises-libellous-tweet-jeremy-corbyn/

T_i_B

(14,800 posts)

11. Ben Bradley has resigned as Conservative Party Vice Chair

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Reply #10)

Tue Jul 10, 2018, 12:46 PM

Jul 2018

He has resigned over the Chequers plan.

Like some of the other Tory flouncers, he really should have been pushed sooner.

Reply to this discussion