Jenny Tonge has some cheek. It was bad enough that she stated that she would consider becoming a suicide bomber if she were a PLO Arab. But to make matters worse, she is completely unrepentant.
Dr Tonge, who has already announced she is standing down as the MP for Richmond Park, south-west London, at the next election, said she did not regret her remarks.
“I was just trying to say how, having seen the violence, humiliation and provocation Palestinians live under every day, and have done now for decades, I could understand, I was trying to understand, where they come from,” she said.
“If I had been a mother and a grandmother in Palestine living for decades in that situation, I donít know, I may very well have become one myself.”
Her attitude is reflected in the obnoxious email that I received from her office, in response to a strongly-worded email that I sent to her:
Dear friend
The sheer volume of emails we have received means that, regretfully, we cannot respond to you individually as we would have wished.
To the many who wrote in support, thank you. Your support and good wishes are hugely appreciated.
To the fewer who wrote in rage, despair or sorrow, particularly any of our constituents who have a right to expect a personal response: Please remember that to understand is not to condone. The cause of peace in the Middle East, upon which all our futures depend, has been put back on the agenda.
Thank you for writing.
Serena Hennessy, Head of Office to Dr Jenny Tonge
The good news is that Tonge has been sacked from the party’s front-bench.
Good riddance.
