What is the point of Hazel Blears?

23/03/2009
By Yvonne Ridley

It’s a question I’ve often asked myself but her ineffective initiatives and weak sound-bites have largely been so insignificant that most of us choose to ignore her.

Her Westminster life began to take off when she joined a group of largely other dodgy-looking boilers who were given the unlikely soubriquet of Blair’s Babes.

Some of my decidedly politically incorrect mates in the media called them Blair’s Brown Baggers, but let’s not go down that road.

It seems that Ms Blears chief occupation is to spend tax-payers time and money on initiatives that basically go nowhere. A prime example is the forum she launched in May 2007 grandly called ‘The Empowerment Action Plan: Making Empowerment A Reality In Every Community’.

And so the Rt. Hon. Hazel Blears MP, Secretary of State, Department for Communities & Local Government, enthusiastically revealed how her scheme would give people greater control over their communities on a wide range of issues from tackling litter and fly-tipping, to challenging anti-social behaviour, dog poo and improving playgrounds and parks.

Let’s be brutally frank, it did not work well. Hazel Blears has largely done bugger all in terms of empowering communities. We now have a serious escalation of binge drinking among aggressive, vomiting youths who cause aggro and nuisance in most of our towns.

Gun crime, knife crime and anti social oiks are on the increase, while real community needs like the village post offices and youth centres are becoming as rare as hens teeth.

And now there's loads of discarded plastic bags full of dog poo - well that worked well, didn't it?

As I said before, Ms Blears has been so insignificant in the grand scheme of things that I’ve chosen to ignore her silly initiatives and sound bites. She’s nothing more than a willing slave and loyal poppet for the remnants of New Labour.

The comparatively tiny budget given to her department generally reflects that view elsewhere in government circles.

However, she has finally managed to rattle my cage and here’s why.

I was standing on the Rafah Border with members of the Viva Palestina convoy and scores of well-wishers who wanted to witness the final steps of our 5,000 mile journey from London to Gaza and I spotted Dr Daud Abdullah.

He's one of the most significant and respect figures in Britain's Muslim community and has many titles, as well as being the deputy general Secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain.

Delighted to see him turn up t o show his solidarity on such a grand, historic occasion we began chatting while waiting for the gates to open.

He filled me in on local events, which included a demand by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government calling for the Muslim Council of Britain, to sack Dr Abdullah.

She had bleated that he was one of 90 Muslim leaders from around the world who had signed a public declaration of support for Hamas, the democratically elected government of Gaza.

A spokeswoman for her department justified her call by saying: "We are concerned that the statement calls for direct support for acts of violence in the Middle East and beyond. We are also aware that a senior member of the MCB may have been a signatory to this statement. If it is proven that the individual concerned had been a signatory, we would expect the MCB to ask him to resign and to confirm its opposition to acts of violent extremism."

This was a gross exaggeration for a start of what the 90 signed up to.

That the MCB even had to discuss the issue is an outrage itself and makes you wonder what is the point of belonging to such an organisation - something I pointed out to Dr Abdullah who simply responded with one of his engaging smiles.

Had the MCB any backbone in the first place, the Secretary General would have sent Hazel Blear’s letter by return post and told her to shove it where the sun don’t shine.

Dr Abdullah stands head and shoulders among the ditherers and self-important little men in the MCB. He is hugely respected across the world and gives the MCB the little bit of credibility it needs in order to be taken seriously.

After two weeks of shaking, quaking and some feckless fool calling for his resignation, the MCB leadership finally found some bottle and responded to Hazel Blears with this statement: “We will make clear to the Government that as far as the MCB is concerned we utterly condemn the targeting or killing of soldiers anywhere in the world. But the MCB will not be dictated to by Hazel Blears. We do not take orders from Ms Blears. She is mistaken if she thinks the MCB will dismiss people at her say-so."

It will be interesting to see what her masters tell her to do next, but I’d like to throw in my view for what it’s worth - woman to woman, since I know she will read this.

“You Hazel, have empowered me, but not in the way you expect.

“Take it from me girl, stick to your litter picking initiatives and stay out of matters that you know nothing about.

“I have just come from Gaza - a place from where you could learn a great deal about community initiatives. A place where the democratically elected government would be swept into power if there was a snap election tomorrow.

“I, like milllions of ordinary people across the world support the Palestinian peoples’ right to vote for whoever they want in their elections therefore I support their right to vote for Hamas.

“Having seen what Hamas has achieved on the ground, I have no qualms in signing any document which supports Hamas.

“And believing fully in international law, I support their right in defending themselves against attacks - the fourth largest army in the world which is tooled up by the British Government has no qualms about killing and maiming the women and children of Gaza.

“What I do not support Hazel are the evil actions of Gaza’s neighbours Israel who deployed banned weapons in Gaza on a civilian population during a 22-day war. We now know,20from the mouths of the soldiers who served in the Israeli military, what most of us already suspected, that war crimes have been committed.

“Hazel, do you really endorse, support and give your unconditional loyalty to a country which deploys its weapons on women and children? Do you really support Israel’s bombing of UN buildings, mosques and schools in the war?

“You really are a very silly, silly woman - something which has not been lost on the editor of the Mo’ Urban Dictionary who, no doubt had you in mind, when he listed the verb to ‘blear’ (actually it’s spelled bleargh).

“But its definition is obviously inspired by the actions of your Rt Hon self - it says: “An exclamation used to emphasize the state of being ready to shoot yo urself in the ass twice out of boredom and the complete lack of motivation to complete any work”. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bleargh

“Oh, and another thing - from a Muslim woman to a Westminster woman: No one cares what you think about the MCB or its members, least of all Dr Daud Abdullah.”

Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I will resist the temptation to write to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown urging him to sack Hazel Blears for her unconditional support of the Israeli child killers and war criminals.

But what I will do is recommend that he invites the Mayor of Gaza, Rafiq Mikki, to London to tell us exactly how he has brought crime down in Gaza 80% since Hamas took over in The Strip? How recycling in Gaza, where nothing is wasted because of the medieval siege, has turned the city into a world-beater in environmental terms.

There are no unruly, drunken kids hanging around street corners in Gaza and the only ASBO that should be issued is on the obnoxious neighbours in Israel.

In fact better still, perhaps Gordon Brown should send his Secretary of State, Department for Communities & Local Government to Gaza on a fact finding tour to see for herself real community empowerment.

She can hitch a lift on one of our Viva Palestina ships which will be sailing in a flotilla to Gaza in a few months time.

* Yvonne Ridley is a journalist, author and co-founder of Viva Palestina and Stop Gaza Slaughter as well as being a founder member of Women in Journalism, Stop The War and the RESPECT Party. Her website is www.yvonneridley.org