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Have Tory MPs learned nothing of the consequences of casual rudeness? Have Tory MPs learned nothing of the consequences of casual rudeness?
(2 days later)
As a metaphor for the Tory line on disability, it was heroic: a Conservative MP, almost seven foot tall, appears to berate a man with one leg. A fairytale, you say? A spoof? An early start to the pantomime season, with guest appearances from Keith Chegwin as Workfare and Christopher Biggins as The Debt?As a metaphor for the Tory line on disability, it was heroic: a Conservative MP, almost seven foot tall, appears to berate a man with one leg. A fairytale, you say? A spoof? An early start to the pantomime season, with guest appearances from Keith Chegwin as Workfare and Christopher Biggins as The Debt?
The story is this. On 7 October Mark McGuigan, a former heroin addict with one leg, was begging near Westminster tube station. Many stories on the blight (not plight) of beggars drift around these days; tales of Mayfair residents being revolted by the sight of them and pleading for sympathy, as if the existence of a W1 shanty town was a misery primarily theirs, make me laugh in the cold political wind. (We have had the undeserving poor. Now we contemplate the deserving rich).The story is this. On 7 October Mark McGuigan, a former heroin addict with one leg, was begging near Westminster tube station. Many stories on the blight (not plight) of beggars drift around these days; tales of Mayfair residents being revolted by the sight of them and pleading for sympathy, as if the existence of a W1 shanty town was a misery primarily theirs, make me laugh in the cold political wind. (We have had the undeserving poor. Now we contemplate the deserving rich).
And then came Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, with swish of cape and puff of smoke. (Lord Mandelson would have done it better, but the audience can only take what it is given). And Kawczynski, perhaps dimly – the Spectator called him "the stupidest MP in the present House of Commons, arguably the stupidest ever" – remembered the call sign of Tory conference just past: "hardworking". And so he sang the Young Tory song. "Find some work. I have struggled too," he was apparently heard to say. He has now issued a statement saying he doesn't recall his precise phrasing, but "he [McGuigan] asked me for money so I asked him what he was doing to find a job". And then came Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, with swish of cape and puff of smoke. (Lord Mandelson would have done it better, but the audience can only take what it is given). And Kawczynski perhaps dimly remembered the call sign of Tory conference just past: "hardworking". And so he sang the Young Tory song. "Find some work. I have struggled too," he was apparently heard to say. He has now issued a statement saying he doesn't recall his precise phrasing, but "he [McGuigan] asked me for money so I asked him what he was doing to find a job".
Have Conservative MPs learned nothing of the consequences of casual public rudeness, even in the service of public altruism? (See the parable of Andrew Mitchell, although in that instance the police behaved rather worse than McGuigan did, and the thing on the pavement was a only bicycle.)Have Conservative MPs learned nothing of the consequences of casual public rudeness, even in the service of public altruism? (See the parable of Andrew Mitchell, although in that instance the police behaved rather worse than McGuigan did, and the thing on the pavement was a only bicycle.)
McGuigan merely spilled to the passing Daily Mail. (Here appearing as Buttons). "My parents were alcoholics, my brothers were burglars, my sisters were on the drink at an early age," he said. "My mother had six kids to look after, and I was the youngest. We didn't have a bath, we had an outside toilet. I was placed into care at the age of 10 but it was almost the best thing that happened to me because suddenly there was food everywhere."McGuigan merely spilled to the passing Daily Mail. (Here appearing as Buttons). "My parents were alcoholics, my brothers were burglars, my sisters were on the drink at an early age," he said. "My mother had six kids to look after, and I was the youngest. We didn't have a bath, we had an outside toilet. I was placed into care at the age of 10 but it was almost the best thing that happened to me because suddenly there was food everywhere."
That he should end up outside parliament on the pavement, and not inside on a bench, should surprise no one beyond those who share Kawczynski's Nietzschean belief in the power of the individual to overcome anything. Kawczynski obviously regards himself as hard-working rather than blessed, and his outside interests – he has acted as a consultant for the mining company Tigris Financial when not acting for the people of Shrewsbury and Atcham – does partially bear this out. Three thousand pounds for a day's work in Mayfair, and not a penny of it to Mr McGuigan? Kawczynski must be truly gifted.That he should end up outside parliament on the pavement, and not inside on a bench, should surprise no one beyond those who share Kawczynski's Nietzschean belief in the power of the individual to overcome anything. Kawczynski obviously regards himself as hard-working rather than blessed, and his outside interests – he has acted as a consultant for the mining company Tigris Financial when not acting for the people of Shrewsbury and Atcham – does partially bear this out. Three thousand pounds for a day's work in Mayfair, and not a penny of it to Mr McGuigan? Kawczynski must be truly gifted.
But what could he have offered McGuigan, as he soared above him? Get a job may be his headline, but has the Tory government done anything to give this dream some flesh? The Tory strategy for 2015 is to set the "hardworking" poor against the non-working poor, and leave the citizens of Mayfair happily out of it; this does not sit with practicalities.But what could he have offered McGuigan, as he soared above him? Get a job may be his headline, but has the Tory government done anything to give this dream some flesh? The Tory strategy for 2015 is to set the "hardworking" poor against the non-working poor, and leave the citizens of Mayfair happily out of it; this does not sit with practicalities.
Instead, they exhale the fug of rhetoric and cut; focus groups believe that 70% of disabled people receiving benefits claim fraudulently, although the true figure is less than 1%. The Remploy factories, designed to give disabled people work, are closing and will be replaced by a scheme so useless that Disability Rights UK called it "a non-work programme". As health secretary Jeremy Hunt declares war on loneliness, the government reduces mobility payments, ensuring that the disabled will get a good deal lonelier. All this leaves McGuigan on a pavement, and Kawczynski somewhere else.Instead, they exhale the fug of rhetoric and cut; focus groups believe that 70% of disabled people receiving benefits claim fraudulently, although the true figure is less than 1%. The Remploy factories, designed to give disabled people work, are closing and will be replaced by a scheme so useless that Disability Rights UK called it "a non-work programme". As health secretary Jeremy Hunt declares war on loneliness, the government reduces mobility payments, ensuring that the disabled will get a good deal lonelier. All this leaves McGuigan on a pavement, and Kawczynski somewhere else.
• The article was amended on 24 October 2013. The original incorrectly stated that "the Spectator called him 'the stupidest MP in the present House of Commons, arguably the stupidest ever'". This description was in fact made in a comment thread below a Spectator article that discussed Mr Kawczynski. We apologise for the error.
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