Gary Glitter in his heyday enjoying a joke with political rival Margaret Thatcher
The Labour party has apologised for “getting it wrong” after revelations that the party was led for much of the 1970s by notorious paedophile Gary Glitter.
A spokesman admitted Labour was “naive” over its links with Glitter, but insisted that paedophilia was now almost totally eradicated from the party, and had only ever been a “minority interest”.
After losing the 1970 general election, Labour famously decided to widen its appeal by seeking new members from the entertainment industry, and figures such as Glitter quickly rose to positions of importance. The present-day party’s insistence that child molestation was not widespread is perhaps questionable, given the presence in the shadow cabinet of Jimmy Savile, Stuart Hall, and the “Child Catcher” out of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
This unfortunate change of direction was quickly abandoned, and only now is being dug up by right-wing newspapers keen to derail Labour’s election chances. The serialisation in the Daily Mail of Labour’s long-forgotten 1974 electoral manifesto: “I like boys” is likely to cause considerable embarrassment on the hustings.
Labour was eventually forced out of power in 1979 after the devastating effects of the minors’ strike.
You must be logged in to post a comment.