Talk:Karl Andrew Mennear
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page. | ||
| Stub | This article has been rated as Stub-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ] | ||
 |
This article has been automatically assessed as Stub-Class by WikiProject Biography because it uses a stub template.
|
[edit] Karl Andrew Mennear
Mennear would seem to have the ideal background for Cameron's reshaping of the Conservative Party- though he went to a state school his father was both involved with a public school and taught handicapped children. His brother joined Sky TV from university. Though describing himself as Euroskeptic he has an attractive Belgian wife, and as a BP lobbyist he is not unfamiliar with practical politics. He has always been against ID cards. Also, the area he grew up in, Whitley Bay, is a Labour marginal on Tyneside- the area lauded by Cameron for urban regeneration. He does have a weakness for Mr. Blobby videos- but what other passion prevented him from becoming a compassionate Conservative?
The reasons for his defeat in Finchley may be various but several seem to stand out. The events following his outburst on 'flying pigs' were most curious, as I've stated in the article. However, it is possible that the Conservative Party focus on a Jewish minority in the constituency as key was mistaken. The anti-war Liberals in neighbouring Hornsey overturned a Labour majority of ten thousand, and one additional factor may have been the presence of Jo Moore- of the September 11 email shame- as a leading Labour activist in the area.
The flying pig poster can be seen as a trap, and it is difficult to explain why Mennear would comment before it was officially released, especially given the history between the parties after 'demon eyes'. If it was a trap, it was set by Alasdair Campbell- and at this point it is worth noting that Alan Campbell, the Labour MP for marginal Tynemouth, was a teacher at Mennear's high school- the pair were part of the school's Macbeth cast (Mennear and Campbell's headmaster at Whitley Bay was 'Spin' Dwyer!). Also, the theme 'The Day the Tory Sums Add Up' is more opaque when you are aware that Stephen Byers, Jo Moore's boss and who was a Labour councillor in charge of education in North Tyneside when Mennear was at school, had made a notorious radio gaffe when failing to multiply seven by eight. Perhaps, as a Camden councillor, Mennear wasn't best placed to comment on the pig poster, despite the supposed religious slur.
Another mystery is why Mennear sought a confrontation with Stonewall a few months before the election. The supposed issue, the Heath, must have been recurrent in Camden politics before he became candidate for Finchley, and he can hardly have hoped for a positive response from a lobby group- he could have approached George Michael had money been the issue- or, apparently, his chairman at BP, Lord Browne. Labour's most notorious spinmaster, Mandelson, is homosexual, and perhaps Mennear hoped, unwisely, for a Tatchell effect in North London- but then why not attack Labour, rather than a lobby group? It's more normal to attempt to have a televised debate with your opponent to try to close a gap in the polls and Mennear's photoshoot could be seen as a more low-budget version of Major's response to Blair's refusal to debate him- which was to debate himself. The condom packet could, at a stretch, be a stand-in for Rudi Vis, his Labour opponent- or perhaps he just had to get sex out of the voters minds somehow after his defeat by the glamorous Glenda Jackson in 2001, who had not 'surrendered', despite his catchy slogan.
I've mentioned the packet, the other celebrity on show. I'm still curious- where did it come from? Was it a Conservative prop, as when Thatcher had London littered so that she could be seen tidying it up? Was it supplied by the newspaper? It surely can't have been an actual item of litter....? Alasdair Campbell may have been accused of sexing-up dossiers, and even wrote pornography at one stage in his career, but has never posed alfresco with other people's used sex aids. It could have been an over-clever use of the media- the last ruling on ID cards in England- a case won by the police- is referred to as Willcock v Muckle. More squalidly, when Mennear was studying for his 'O' levels 'Spin' accepted the transfer of an extremely disturbed child into his year, with prominent scars from a suicide attempt- and who then masturbated in the classrooms. Perhaps the packet was a symbol of a deep-buried distaste with Labour-run schools used as substitute lunatic asylums.
Mennear is not to stand for Finchley again- and the Labour Party have moved their Press Offices to his home constituency of Tynemouth, as if they had anticipated the awkwardness of his campaign. It seems a shame that he never stood against Alan Campbell, having debated him at school. Also, he has been antagonised by a Labour Methodist preacher, and is being sniped at by another Labour Camden councillor, Theo Blackwell. When the Brazilian electrician de Menezes was killed by police at Stockwell, Mennear could perhaps be excused for hesitating at the prospect of yet more spin for his presumed antagonist, Mandelson. Joe 90 used to hide his WIN code book in his school case- if it's any help.Anecdota 16:29, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
