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Serious stupidity and a lot of point-scoring

by Shane Greer / 19 May 2011 17:22

It seems inevitable that Ken Clarke will eventually say something stupid. And the only thing more sure than that is that someone will try and score points off it, says Shane Greer

There are only three things in life which are certain:

Taxes
Death
Ken Clarke will say really stupid things given the opportunity

There’s no doubt that Ken Clarke brings a certain value to the table for the Conservatives, otherwise Cameron wouldn’t have him around. And while it’s quite reasonable to question Cameron’s judgement in bringing such a walking liability to the front bench, I can’t help but feel that the attacks on Clarke for his rape comments are a bit over the top. Does anyone really believe that he considers certain acts of rape to not be ‘serious’? Of course not. And yet the attacks mounted against him seek to suggest that does in fact consider some rapes to be less than serious.

This latest Clarke debacle is symbolic of one of the biggest problems which exists in politics today - the willingness of political enemies to put reason and reasonableness to one side in an attempt to score some points. And all sides of the political dividing lines are guilty.

Clarke said something stupid. Really stupid. And he should rightly be taken to task for it. But surely we can take him to task for saying something stupid without having to attribute points of view to him which he clearly doesn’t hold.

Tags: Ken Clarke

Comments

Luke Maystaff / May 23 2011 6:29pm

So a 16 year old schoolgirl is a rapist if she sleeps with a 15-year consenting boy? Technically and legally yes, but no-one in their right mind would call that 'serious rape'. Wasn't that really what Ken was driving at? And isn't that exactly what we all understood him to mean, media circus notwithstanding?