This is a nomination for Bright Green Dick of the Year from Ryan Bestford. Ryan has kindly offered that if his nomination wins he will personally present Phil Woolas with a Golden Dick. He has not indicated who will pay for this statue. If you want to nominate someone (or offer a prize for the winner) email adamramsay @ gmail before midday on the 31st.

Phil Woolas, former MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth

Phil WoolasThe year 2010 saw battles. The fight for Proportional Representation (RIP my dream), student occupations, the on-going UKUncut demos and many others. But in this post I want to talk about the most noblest of battles. My hero, Phil Woolas MP with his campaign for the right to lie. Not your right to lie; it takes a special sort of MP to fight for the rights of the voters (or the right of asylum seekers to be judged as people with imperfect human minds, unable to recall with precision every detail of their lives).

No, Woolas’ battle was for the right of your elected representative to lie… to you…about the extremists in your neighbourhood supporting a political opponent. Innocent little ‘mistakes’ designed to encourage a democratic election?

While I was tempted to discuss Mr Woolas’ tabloidisation of the UKBA news feed, his hypocritical criticism of immigration lawyers using all possible legal avenues to protect their clients from human rights abuses/correct the mistakes of UKBA or just his inability to hold true to his values when the cameras were on him during the Gurkha farce, I have decided that Mr Woolas should be honoured as Dick of 2010 because he attacked the very nature of our democratic progress (with the added bonus of encouraging race hatred within his own constituency).

This year has been full of characters but, in my opinion, none more vile than Mr Woolas. When you cast your vote, I ask that you vote for this dick. After all, you won’t be able to vote for him for another three years so don’t miss this opportunity.

Phil Woolas is a classic example of a Labour MP; a person who placed power before principles; asked not what he can do for his voters, but how he can scare his voters into voting for him; a liar and a dick.

2nd nomination

we have had a second nomination in for Phil Woolas from Paris Gourtsoyannis:

Given the barrels of opprobrious ink that have been spilled since the coalition government was formed, we have Phil Woolas to thank for reminding us that the grass was not greener on the other side.

Woolas was the voice of Labour’s approach to immigration, and when he spoke it was often indistinguishable from the BNP. His tale provides a convenient shorthand for the last years of the New Labour government: the prickly, snarling media appearances; the inflated sense of little English bravado; the almost chemical addiction to the lowest forms of political and social discourse. The leaflets from his general election campaign, which he knew were full of lies when he approved them, bring into focus the image of modern Britain that Labour helped to paint: a monochrome landscape where neighbours are encouraged to fear one another, and where a unfamiliar face is the sign and signal of danger.

Today, we’re in an age of popular acceptance of Woolas’ message. The EDL has thousands of Facebook fans, business is left to speak out against the Tory immigration cap, and no one bats an eyelid when police swoop on ‘bogus students’ with little or no evidence, despite tacit acceptance of appalling college recruiting tactics in south Asia and across the developing world. Woolas himself may be slain, but this is the monument he erected. If Labour wins in Oldham East & Saddleworth on 12 January, we’ll be prostrating ourselves before it yet again.