This ignorant Tory councillor had better try justifying the deaths his party has caused

Too much for you? Too bad.

Too much for you? Too bad.

What follows should make you very angry: An ignorant Conservative councillor has attacked an opponent in the Labour Party for tweeting an entirely appropriate comparison between Iain Duncan Smith and Adolf Hitler.

Yes, Cllr Ashley Dearnley, leader of the Conservative group in Rochdale – it was perfectly appropriate for North Middleton Cllr Chris Furlong to tweet a picture of Hitler above one of Iain Duncan Smith and imply that the Conservatives may be responsible for the deaths of more disabled people than the Nazi leader – that is what the figures suggest.

Remember, the reference to the killing of 70,000 disabled people by Nazis is compared with only 81,040 people who died in only just over two years under Duncan Smith’s Conservative policies. We don’t have the full figures yet.

Mr Dearnley can’t say that Conservative Government policy has not led to any deaths because we have the case of Michael O’Sullivan to prove that it has.

Not only that, but north London coroner Mary Hassall’s report, blaming Tory policy for Mr O’Sullivan’s suicide, was filed in January 2014, meaning that the Tory Government’s protestations, throughout the summer, that there is no causal link between Mr Duncan Smith’s policies and the deaths of claimants, is proved to be a lie.

Cllr Dearnley, clearly ignorant of the hole into which his party has dug itself, is quoted as follows: “The remarks are appalling and are totally unacceptable. I would expect the Labour Party to withdraw his whip. If the new Labour leader has anything about him, he will make sure he is removed from the Labour party.”

It seems the matter has been referred for investigation by the Labour Party. This Writer would argue that, if Jeremy Corbyn has anything about him, he would celebrate Cllr Furlong’s forthrightness, highlight the support he has gained from disabled people and demand to know why the mainstream media have chosen to ignore this hugely important issue.

“I know if David Cameron heard that any of his councillors made remarks comparing people to Hitler, then David Cameron would make sure that they were removed from the Conservative party. If Corbyn has any mettle about him, he will ensure that this happens,” Cllr Dearnley continued. The rest of us don’t know that, though. We only see a man, whose policies have caused deaths, being rewarded for it.

Speaking to Rochdale Online, Councillor Furlong defended himself: “I posted the tweet because people are dying because of policies instigated by Iain Duncan Smith and the mainstream media is ignoring it. I have been campaigning on these issues for a while now but, for some reason, the mainstream media is choosing to ignore it.”

Join the club, Chris!

If the MSM really wanted to cover this, there are several possible issues to investigate:

  • The fact that in May 2014, I submitted a Freedom of Information Request on the number of incapacity benefit claimants who have died, and the Conservative Government has yet to honour that request with a full and honest answer. It claimed to have done so on August 27 but this was a lie.
  • The fact that part of the Tory Government’s failure to answer my FoI request means we do not know the full number of people who died after being found fit for work under the current government’s brutal regime. We know how many people who had been found fit for work died within two weeks of their claim ending (because they had been found fit for work) – but that is just a fraction of the total number of deaths. Mr O’Sullivan committed suicide six months later, but his death is still directly attributable to government policy. Mark Wood died of starvation, four months after being found fit for work – was the government any less guilty of causing his death?
  • The fact that the mortality rate in the work-related activity group of Employment and Support Allowance is three times the national average, yet these are people who are expected to be fit for work within a year. Attempts have been made to claim that they have conditions that make them more likely to die early, but this is irrelevant as they are pushed out to join the wider population (which has a far lower mortality rate) in any case. If they really do have more serious conditions, they should be in the support group. Right?
  • The fact that the death rates for all claimants of incapacity benefits do not tally with the death rates for Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance individually. It is to be expected that the number of claimants won’t tally because people have been migrated from the older benefit to the new, so they may have two claims within a particular year – but you can only die once, and you can only be on one benefit when it happens.
  • The fact that the medical test, taken as part of the work capability assessment for ESA, includes a question about whether the claimant has had suicidal thoughts in the past. If a claimant admits contemplating suicide, the next question is “Why haven’t you done it?” Is this not designed to push the claimant towards taking his/her own life, thus removing themselves from the benefit bill? It’s called chequebook euthanasia, and the Nazis were very fond of it.
  • The fact that, after visiting the Nazi extermination camp at Auschwitz, Iain Duncan Smith himself started using the phrase “Work makes you free” in direct imitation of the words written in German over the camp gates. Those words were, of course, a sick joke – just as Iain Duncan Smith words have been for an unknown number of incapacity benefits claimants. He has recently adapted the phrase, as part of a drive to get even more ill people off the benefit books into “Work makes you healthy” – for which there is no medical proof at all. In the light of this behaviour, it is impossible not to compare this man with Hitler.

The above examples are just off the top of this writer’s head. The Conservative Government, and flunkies like Cllr Dearnley, want to pretend that everything is working perfectly and there is no cause for alarm.

But then, as you can see, the Conservative Government is full of liars.

Thanks to the Same Difference blog for bringing this to our attention.

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18 Comments

  1. mili68 September 28, 2015 at 6:55 pm - Reply

    Tweeted @melissacade68

  2. HomerJS September 28, 2015 at 7:19 pm - Reply

    When will the press and the politicians realise that this is not exaggeration or hyperbole, this is just about a simple logical analysis and a very obvious comparison?

  3. Philippa Jane Brown September 28, 2015 at 7:21 pm - Reply

    Excellent article Mike, as always. I follow your activities very closely and am looking forward to the High Court case on November.
    I am disabled and do my bit of campaigning. I organise events through 38%s in my area.

    • Mike Sivier September 28, 2015 at 8:01 pm - Reply

      There might not be a court case, depending on what the DWP comes out with next.

  4. Nick September 28, 2015 at 7:30 pm - Reply

    many labour mp’s already have stated the deaths in the house of commons many sick and disabled have died in going through welfare reform but as to how they have died and by what circumstances that have led up to these deaths has still not been clearly identified
    The part listings of deaths of the sick and disabled are on the facebook page remember the dead and it would be prudent for a journalist to go through this list of the many that are posted to see how all these people have died in being found fit for work but then dying
    from any angle it is very suspicious to say the least and am sure many more deaths will follow
    https://www.facebook.com/ribbonsforwelfare?hc_location=stream

  5. lovejoy September 28, 2015 at 7:55 pm - Reply

    The mainstream media’s wall of silence on this is sickening. The guardian spent ten years trying to get Prince Charles letters published, but showed no interest in esa death statistics. But we must never forget it only took two journalists to bring down nixon. Keep fighting Mike.

    • Nick September 28, 2015 at 8:28 pm - Reply

      it will take probably take just 1 journalist to bring down IDS as that is normally the case but as to how or when you will never know and only time will tell

  6. Nick September 28, 2015 at 8:42 pm - Reply

    Iain Duncan Smith ‘should resign over disability benefit death figures’, says Jeremy Corbyn

    The DWP secretary previous denied the figures’ existence
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/iain-duncan-smith-should-resign-over-disability-benefit-death-figures-says-jeremy-corbyn-10475017.html

  7. Paul C. Dickie September 28, 2015 at 8:49 pm - Reply

    On Googling “Ashley Dearnley”, it seems he is not only a puffed up and pompous politician, but he s also an address – Ashley Dearnley Court,

    Still, he has much to be proud of, having risen to the lofty status of a Sub-postmaster.=, according to his registered “interests”, at http://bit.ly/1Jz0Fvk

    The paragraph headed “land” may also be of some interest.

    His name and political affiliation are a rich source of anagrams!

    • Mike Sivier September 28, 2015 at 10:20 pm - Reply

      I really don’t think anyone needs to go into this man’s background in any great detail. It’s a single issue and he’s being called out on it.

  8. John. September 28, 2015 at 9:25 pm - Reply

    Political corruption in the Western world, much like the banking and financial corruption backing and directing it, is rampant and pervasive, we’re heading for a very dark place.
    You only need listen to the puerile guff belched through pointed teeth, from the serial killers Obama and Cameron when talking about Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Iran, Russia etc. to realise that Western leaders are psychopaths who believe their own lies and fantasies and must think everyone else is utterly stupid.
    The duplicity and staggering hypocricy on open display in almost everything they splutter is suffocating, as is the lickspittle establishment media’s propaganda echo chamber. Of course the zombie masses slurp it all up and bray for more but there are surely people who can see through it all.
    Corporate sponsored totalitarian rule is already on the horizon, starting to come into sharp focus and getting closer by the day. No one seems willing or able to apply the brakes.

  9. Paul C. Dickie September 28, 2015 at 9:43 pm - Reply

    If one rearranges the letters of “Councillor Ashley Dearnley, Conservative”, among the many anagrams are:

    Heavy-laden corollary connives cruelties.
    Cynical cruelties over annoy slaveholder.
    Cravenly loony, evil charades on cruelties.
    Overly enslaved loony, anarchic cruelties.
    Anarchic evildoer enslaves loony cruelty.
    Loony evildoer enslaves anarchic cruelty.
    Slovenlier loony evades anarchic cruelty.
    Slovenly Evil one adores anarchic cruelty.
    Overcaution really lynched crass Evil one.

    • Mike Sivier September 28, 2015 at 10:21 pm - Reply

      As I indicated in response to your previous comment, I think this is overkill (albeit strangely interesting).

  10. che September 28, 2015 at 9:46 pm - Reply

    I agree whole heartedly with Councillor Furlong.
    I have been saying exactly the same thing myself, this government is the closest this country has had to the Nazi party.

  11. marcusdemowbray September 29, 2015 at 6:44 am - Reply

    The comparison with Nazi Germany is absolutely reasonable: for many years most Germans refused to believe that organised deaths were happening. They were in complete denial. It is exactly the same here, the historical parallels are many and clear to anyone with reasonable knowledge of the Hitler years, and in other evil dictatorships throughout history. People never want to believe that their country is capable of brutality.

  12. Jeffery Davies September 29, 2015 at 7:03 am - Reply

    Aktion t4

  13. Brian September 29, 2015 at 1:17 pm - Reply

    I have to agree with all the comments regarding the media’s sinister lack of coverage to these topics. But given that this reticence of publication is one controlled by money, power, and maybe fear of the tories, broadcasters & press moguls. It also occurs to me that there may be other ‘hidden’ issues here yet to come to light, that may not be ignored.

    The tories are clearly adept at employing strategic attacks, but less so when it comes to defense, as Mike’s provocations have proved. Perhaps, and only perhaps, a little lateral thinking is called for, maybe in the form of a crowd funding initiative on identifying the lynchpin of this conspiracy?

  14. Barry Davies October 2, 2015 at 3:42 pm - Reply

    Actually he has a point IDS is more like Herman Goering than Hitler.

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