Tonge Wagging

‘IT is a sad fact of British life that Michael Howard’s chances of becoming Prime Minister are diminished by the fact that he is Jewish.

Dr Jenny Tonge

There are plenty of reasons not to vote for the 62-year-old architect of the poll tax – but being Jewish is not one of them.

However, a poll for the Jewish Chronicle (republished in this morning’s Guardian) finds that 18% of those questioned think a Jewish PM less acceptable than a member of any other faith.

A similar number think that Jews have too much influence, 20% disagreed that Jewish people make a positive contribution to the political, social and cultural life of the country, and 15% thought that the scale of the Nazi Holocaust had been exaggerated.

We don’t know if Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Tonge was one of the 1,007 people questioned for the poll, but she is hardly the Jewish Chronicle’s pin-up MP at the moment.

Dr Tonge has been summoned by her party whip after she told a meeting of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign on Wednesday that she would think of becoming a suicide bomber if she lived in the Palestinian territories.

‘Many, many people criticise,’ she said, ‘many, many people say it just another form of terrorism, but I can understand and I am a fairly emotional person and I am a mother and a grandmother.

‘I think if I had to live in that situation, and I say this advisedly, I might just consider becoming one myself. And that is a terrible thing to say.’

For once, we can all agree on that last bit.’

Posted: 23rd, January 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink