The Miranda Grell incident earlier this year really made one wonder whether the mentality and character of those who desire leadership oughtn’t to disqualify them from leading us. Here’s another nudge to consider this.
A Tory parliamentary candidate who bombarded his Liberal Democrat rival with hate mail and vandalised the party’s Watford headquarters was facing jail today after admitting more than 70 offences of criminal damage and harassment.
Ian Oakley, 31, of West Drayton, northwest London, admitted mounting a two-year hate campaign against Sal Brinton, who he considered his main rival to defeat the sitting Labour MP.
Oakley admitted making silent phone calls to her home and sending lesbian magazines and letters addressed to “Sal Bitchton” to her workplace.
The candidate, who resigned from the Conservative Party after his activities were discovered, also slashed tyres and wrecked shutters at the party’s local offices.
His campaign of harassment was motivated by a “desire to change the political landscape in Watford” after he was chosen to be Tory candidate in 2006, St Albans Magistrates Court heard.
It’s amazing how gay-baiting always seems to be a core component of these campaigns of smearing and harassment. In both recent examples, the victim was a LibDem, though they can hardly complain since they famously rejuvenated the practice in Bermondsey in 1983.
