Another One Bites The Dust

Labour was today forced to suspend another candidate after it emerged he had posted explicit and offensive messages online. John Cowan, who was fighting for a seat in South East Cambridgeshire, boasted about his seedy life on internet forums. 

A Labour Party spokesman said: 'The allegations that came to light after nominations closed are totally unacceptable and well below what the party expects of our candidates. 'The general secretary of the Labour Party has suspended the candidate from the Labour Party and we are taking action to ensure he is never again a Labour candidate. 'The Labour Party's relevant committees will be asked to consider whether he should be expelled from the Labour Party.'

The would-be MP is the latest Labour candidate to see their dreams of working in Parliament scuppered by controversial comments they have made online. Earlier in the campaign, Stuart MacLennan, 24, was dumped after admitting posting a string of deeply offensive comments on Twitter.

Another one of our prospective MPs has been sacked unceremoniously by the Parliamentary Labour Party, and rightly so. The account shown above is not the full story, and it all begs the question... "What is known about our standing MPs when they are selected"? While some people are trying to figure out who would be best suited to run our country, and yes, who would have the moral and ethical judgement needed, we have someone like this who has somehow slipped under the radar. This man wouldn't know decency or honour if he fell over it!

I, for one, cannot believe that the selectors didn't know the kind of man they were putting forward. That being the case, then the Parliamentary Labour Party have a lot to answer for. Is this the tip of an iceberg? Will the ramblings of the internet's many social networking sites be the undoing of any more, either now, or even after they have been elected? I fear it will happen. I am not concerned that these people are caught and fired, but I am worried that this shows a culture of what is going on, and condoned by the silence of the appropriate parties.

Our country needs honourable men and women to stand up for decency and humanity. This kind of person's lifestyle is at odds with any move towards a better society. All political parties should take note, and take a lot more care in who they endorse. After all, they are all going to make it easier for us, the ordinary voter, to disown them and throw them out. Not before time!