Barnet Conservatives, sexism and misogyny

Yesterday I saw the following tweet from Louise Burfitt-Dons

Ed Miliband wants YOU to pay for his spin doctors. http://t.co/vRC1BAVxfZ #StopTheMilitax pic.twitter.com/ar11PMogjq
— Louise4London (@louise4london) September 7, 2013

As the Tories at the GLA have a state sponsored spin doctor, I immediately asked Louise if she supported this arrangement. I then decided to look at what she had to say on other issues. 

Louise is hoping to stand for the Conservative Party as a Euro MP candidate. You can read all about her views, they are quite interesting here http://www.louise4london.com/, I found her views on the role of feminism and women in the Conservative Party most interesting - http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2013/05/louise.html.  As I read this article, I was intrigued to speculate as to what Louise might think of her Tory colleagues in the London Borough of Barnet Capitaville. Louise might be rather surprised to find that Barnet is a hotbed of sexism and misogyny. Last year we had then senior Tory Brian Coleman call female members of the public "two old hags" during a council meeting. Coleman was not reprimanded, in fact most of his male colleagues chuckled at this sexist comment. Later in the year, Coleman beat up local businesswoman Helen Michael. He was not censured by the local party. The affair became so embarrassing that the national party stepped in and suspended his membership. Coleman subsequently pleaded guilty to the assault. Not a single word of apology from the local Conservatives to Ms Michael has been spoken. The sexism is not just limited to senior levels. Local Tory blogger Daniel Hope (a former Tory Councillor, deselected from Brunswick Park ward for his inability to work with Councillor Tambourides) left a highly sexist and patronising comment on Twitter

Is Psychic Babs going to bake some “We love illegal immigrant” cupcakes for her loyal @BarnetAlliance followers? https://t.co/LfJnGFzP6s
— The Barnet Bugle Ltd (@barnetbugle) August 30, 2013

The "Psychic Babs" he refers to is Barbara Horn-Jacobson. Barbara is the media spokesperson for the Barnet Alliance for Public Services. Barbara is a well qualified professional project manager. Hope seeks to belittle her and patronise her in such a sexist manner as he clearly lacks the wit or intelligence to actually have a counter argument to her criticisms of the local Conservative group policies. Like many sexist trolls on the internet, if a woman makes a sensible argument, Hope responds with sexist insults, belittling the intended victim, in a manner designed purely to intimidate them into shutting up.

It will not come as much of a surprise that both Coleman and his old mate Hope have worked together to gang up on poor unsuspecting locals, spreading all manner of inaccurate gossip and distortions, here is one such example, where they have monstered the North Finchley town team (a group including many community minded local people, with no political affiliation).

@MyNorthFinchley @barnetbugle This organisation has become Labour front organisation even using its official twitter account to congrat PPC
— Brian Coleman (@BrianTotteridge) September 5, 2013

In her article Louise says

The majority of conservative voters who happen to be women tend to be pragmatic, realistic, family-friendly, perspicacious, and - if you consider putting the needs of their husbands, children or dependent relatives ahead of their own gratification and ego if and when the time calls for it – super smart. In this way the MAHM The group Mothers at Home Matter, which wants the Government to tax families on the basis of household, rather than the individual, have a strong point. They need support.

This is a fine aspiration, but while Barnet male chauvenist Tories such as Coleman and Hope continue their playground level insults, surely no sensible female Tory would consider voting for them. Helen Michael, who Brian Coleman assaulted is a highly intelligent business woman, as well as a mother of two. If the Barnet Tories had an ounce of common sense, they would have listened to her views on parking in 2011, when she first started campaigning. Instead they followed Coleman, who to the best of my knowledge has never run a business and has little experience of working in the private sector. As a result the Barnet Tories lost a potentially massive vote winning asset.

Louise is spot on with her analysis. The Tory Party needs successful women to engage with them, support them and work for them. To do this, they will have to cast out the trolls and treat women with respect. Whilst Coleman was eventually booted out (following his conviction), there has been no action or apology from the party for the his misogynistic behaviour. There have been no tweets from Barnet Tories disassociating themselves from Daniel Hope and his sexist and patronising comments. Much as I disagree with many aspects of Conservative philosophy, I cannot imagine that it is good for democracy for the largest political party in the country to be such a hostile environment for successful women. In Barnet, it is worth pointing out that perhaps the most highly respected Conservative Councillor is Kate Salinger. She is recognised as having integrity and being honest and trustworthy. She makes a good case for why the Conservatives should listen to Louise. I would suggest that if Louise wants to succeed in her mission, she would do well to have a behind closed doors meeting with some of her dinosaur colleagues in Barnet and let them know why they need to start living in the 21st Century.