General Gordon does a Churchill (Winston's enraged grandson: 'you aren't fit to lick his boots')

The Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | December 15, 2008 | Glen Owen

[Stoat]

Gordon Brown invoked the wartime spirit of Winston Churchill yesterday when he made a surprise pre-Christmas trip to the Afghanistan front line just hours after bombs killed four British troops in the area.

He was flown to the top of Roshan Tower post, situated in the thick of the Helmand fighting zone – and, in so doing, out-machoed his predecessor Tony Blair, who never left the safety of a fortified British base.

(edit)

Downing Street aides claimed that no British Prime Minister had been as close to a major front line since Winston Churchill in the Second World War.

(edit)

But the comparison to Winston Churchill prompted a ferocious response from Tory MP Nicholas Soames, Churchill’s grandson.
 

‘He is not fit to lick my grandfather’s boots,’ said Mr Soames. ‘One is a party hack and the other is our greatest-ever national leader.
 

‘My grandfather led a charge at the Battle of Omdurman; Brown didn’t even have the courage to call a General Election.’

 

Mr Brown invited more comparisons when he addressed troops at Bastion, paying tribute to their ‘service beyond the call of duty’.
 

He went on: ‘As Churchill said, courage is the greatest quality of all, because it is on courage that all else depends.’

 

[marktwain]

Thank you for your prompt response.

[norton]

And thanks for the prompt apology to Stoat (your #7).

Oops...didn't post one yet?

[originalbuckeye]

Shall we start a countdown on January 20th? I suspect it (if he actually goes) will be later rather than sooner.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Who are you, his boyfriend or something?

[SevenofNine]

I post once on UK Daily mail long long time ago

There was article that Gordie Brown was critzing the Queen for her ladies in waiting going to Wal Mart of UK because curtain were falling apart they got good deal on curtain LOL!

OH LORDY LOL! I remember that article

[dirtymac]

Obama has already been compared to Lincoln; and only after they realized that his prior comparison to idiot FDR was not helpful. He will continue to be compared to all great people until everyone finally realizes that he has not done anything and he is just an empty suit. Soon we will most likely see images of him with a halo or climbing down off of a cross.

[dirtymac]

I have read with interest your communications with others in this thread and I must agree with Stoat that your first line of discourse is to attack on a personal level instead of on the merits of the discussion. That is not what is normally found here in Freeperland nor is it appriciated. My conclusion is that you are new here and a recent transplant from DU and are here only to disrupt the discourse herein. I believe and suggest that you need to return to your roots where your type is truly respected for your level of discourse. You will not find it here.

[maine-iac7]

Winston WHO?

Last summer, after I read that Winston Churchill was going to be eliminated from British school textbooks (after all, the muzzies hate any reference to him) = I was in correspondence with The Honorable Nicholas Soames, member of Parliament.

In response to my lamentations on the above outrage, he wrote me: “Thank you very much for the extremely generous and welcome support you sent me about my grandfather.

It is always a source of immense satisfaction that so many of your fellow countrymen cherish his memory and I can assure you that we, his family, are deeply grateful.

Thank you again very much.

With warm best wishes.

Nicholas Soames”

Of course, the same elimination/degrading of our history's heroes has been taking place in our textbooks for the past 30 years.

Wonder not why people vote the way they do today. They are ignorant of our yesterday-heroes who so valiantly won the freedoms we enjoy today...and the masses swallow the empty rhetoric of empty suits who never, one day in their lives, did one thing in defense of our country and freedoms.

[maine-iac7]

per my post # 28

“Outrage as Churchill dropped from England’s history syllabus”

http://media.www.theclariononline.com/media/storage/paper353/news/2007/05/31/FromTheWire/Outrage.As.Churchill.Dropped.From.Englands.History.Syllabus-2923410.shtml

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

To be fair, I have noticed this level of idiotic discourse is entirely appreciated when applied to (but by no means limited to) the following topics:

A) Muslims
B) Right-wing (as opposed to left-wing) rags and other trash sources like the Daily Mail
C) Foreign types
D) People who are not Conservatives etc.

Now I’m willing to admit, I’ve probably been more of a douche in this thread towards Stoat than he deserved (for which I do apologise), but lets not get carried away with ourselves that this forum is a towering collosus of intellectual debate and reasoning compared to just about every other forum on the web. I am a Conservative, but I have no time for the ‘Al Murray’ wing of Conservative opinion or thought, which is illustrated by the likes of the Daily Mail, and which is most definitely not treated with the same deserved level of contempt that would be reserved for left-wing crackpottery...

[maine-iac7]

BTW, the Honorable Nicolas Soames has his detractors = Besides accusing him of not being PC, they list his voting record as proof of his being on the wrong side of the political fence.

Some examples:

voted AGAINST ID cards

” ‘very strongly FOR the Iraq War

” very strongly AGAINST the hunting ban

” AGAINST equal gay rights

Oh, and “Occasionally rebels against their party in Parliament”

Sounds like granddaddy would be proud?

[maine-iac7]

Not one member of parliamnet has served in the armed forces, what does that tell you?

Well, for "ONE", Churchill's grandson, the Honorable Nicholas Soames, MP, served in the 11th Hussars in West Germany and Britain. He is currently the Honorary Colonel of the Bristol University Officer Training Corps.

So we might assume other MP's have also served...maybe not on the battlefront as there was a window of time when many were of age for such service, there was no battlefront.

However, they were in the military, 'battle ready'.

[MadMitch]

Ben Wallace was in the Scots Guards

[MadMitch]

Eric Joyce was in the Black Watch.

[Mercia]

I dislike the PM as much as the next man, and dont think that he is going to win the next general election, or possibly be a part of it. However...

It is still a brave photo op to take, and credit to the man for taking the time out (even if there was an ulterior motive) to speak to troops in the firing line. Grudging respect for this.

It was a cheap shot to try and compare him to Churchill, and its clearly not going to stick. He would have won far more respect if he just let other people make up their own minds about him rather than telling us how we should perceive him.

So respect for the act, not so much for the typical Labour spin.

[DryFly]

In 1899, he was only 25 or so. And yet, he had done so much by that time, and seen so much, that even at such a young age he had the experience to make such a comment. Born only a decade after the Civil War, and he died about the same time Malcolm X was killed. What a span of time in which to live. The Battle of Omdurman was the last great cavalry charge in military history, and he was part of it. What a tremendous leader. Too bad there is no one like him alive today.

[GOPJ]

Was Hillary there ducking bullets?

[manc]

trying to get his poll numbers up , , maybe he should realise that him and his party have really damaged the UK and many of us have had enough and got out now because of it

[manc]

he’s compared to JFK and he’s not even taken office yet

[manc]

he said Shows the calibre of the average Daily Mail reader stopped reading after that. there are a few in England who are elitist because of what paper they see people reading. It's usually from the champagne socialists who are so far up their own arse they'll never see the sun. Of course they think the guardian and the BBC is gospel wouldn't even reply mate to those kind. I remember another poster not too long ago who came out with similar comment and after reading their past posts it then seemed they were only on here to troll. Must be slow over at their far left loon sites.