Talk:Gerald Kaufman
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A note (for posterity) on "the longest suicide note in history": several web sites attribute this to Greg Knight (presumably the former Tory minister, now MP for East Yorks). None gives an attribution, and they may have got it from a common source. Several more reliable sites (Grauniad, Daily Telegraph, various speeches in the Commons) attribute it to Kaufman, but nobody seems to have a firm source for when and where he said or wrote it. Columbia World of Quotations [1] attributes it to Kaufman, citing Denis Healey's autobiography. Kaufman himself referred to it in a May 1997 speech to the Commons [2], when he said that "someone described the Labour election manifesto as the longest suicide note in history." The phrase has been applied to other documents, including Jeffrey Bernard's column in the Spectator, and (most recently) Iraq's dossier on its weapons of mass destruction. --rbrwr
It should be noted that Kaufman endorsed that "suicide note", and, indeed, was elected on it.
A common theory is that Kaufman's wing of the party sensed a big defeat and decided to let the manifesto go through in such a way so they would be able to shed many of the policies later. Also a manifesto is not written by every single member of the party - frequently in many parties it is brought to the meeting that has to formally approve it only a few hours before it is due to go the press.
- I've just been listening to Christopher Lee's "This Sceptred Isle" (the Radio 4 series) - regarding the 1983 Labour manifesto, Robert Powell reads from a a book or memoir attributed to a Robert Blake (presumably Robert Blake, Baron Blake and "The Conservative Party from Peel to Major"). In this extract Blake attributes the quote to Peter Shore, but I've not found any evidence to support this suggestion. IVoteTurkey 13:12, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)
[edit] labour party
The article claims "At one point the Labour party expelled a number of Muslim members. A later Labour party enquiry found that these disenfranchisements were unconstitutional. [1] " and gives a reference for this. I am an officer of the Labour Party in the area and have made some enquiries about this and I am afraid that despite what Kingsley Purdam writes it does not appear to be true that the expulsions of local members was found to be unconstitutional. What actually happened was that a wealthy person, hoping to influence the voting in the selection procedure, paid the membership subscriptions of various people from the Pakistani community. As far as can be ascertained most of these people (who command of the English Language was weak) did not know that they were party members although cards were issued to them. They did not object when they were "expelled" because as far as they were aware they had never joined.
[edit] Personal Life
The section that says he is unmarried, likes cats and wears colourful clothes is not referenced and might be trying to insinuate something. Possible vandalism? 82.163.111.221 (talk) 23:57, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
As far as I know, all three points are accurate. Any insinuation is surely in the eye of the beholder. Widmerpool (talk) 06:41, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
