Why Peter Tatchell is not such a big potato

I was looking forward to the Battle for Politics on Saturday. In particular I was looking forward to listening to Peter Tatchell, one of the panellists on a Question Time style forum that brought the conference to a close.

There was a time when I really didn't like Tatchell at all. His aggressive style of campaigning - which included "outing" (without their permission) six gay bishops - rankled and occasionally shocked me.

Don't get me wrong. I don't give a monkey's if someone is straight or gay and gay people should have the same rights as anyone else. I don't however like any issue being shoved down my throat in an "I'm right you're wrong" kind of way - and that was my first impression of Peter Tatchell, 20 or more years ago.

Gradually however I warmed to him and I saw him for he is - a passionate, articulate and highly committed campaigner who has sacrificed a great deal for his beliefs. Standing up to Mugabe's thugs in Zimbabwe was an incredibly brave thing to do. No-one can take that away from him, so credit where credit's due.

I was disappointed however when he supported Radio 1's decision (later reversed) to bleep the word "faggot" from the line ""you scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot" which appears in The Pogues' "A Fairytale of New York". Taking offence at a much-loved song, 20 years after it was first released, struck me as obsessive, poorly judged and, worse, humourless. It was also censorship.

On Saturday Tatchell disappointed me again, even though he was the most entertaining speaker on the panel. The others played their part but it was Tatchell we wanted to hear.

What a pity, then, that so much of what he said was complete bollocks.

Tatchell is now a member of the Green party and when I heard him talk about the "economic tyranny" under which we allegedly live and his support for the workers on strike at British Airways, I thought I had either fallen asleep and was dreaming or had gone back in time to a student union debate circa 1978.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does anyone really believe that the Greens are anything other than born again socialists with a new agenda to control people's lives in the name of "the environment"? It beggars belief that a civil liberties campaigner like Tatchell can get involved with this shower, but there you go. Stranger things have happened.

At one point, proving perhaps that he and the Greens make excellent bedfellows, he went beyond the pale and suggested that all the bankers who are of course solely responsible for the current financial mess (I paraphrase his remarks) should be sent to jail, even though (as one member of the audience quietly pointed out) there is no evidence that anyone did anything illegal.

You'd have to be Vladimir Putin to get away with it, but I wouldn't put anything past our new Green comrades.

I would still love to meet Tatchell because I'm sure he's great company and I enjoy a good argument. He would certainly be on my wish list for an X-Factor style dinner party where I would sit him between Margaret Thatcher (on one side) and Norman Tebbit (on the other).

Sadly, Tatchell may be a great civil rights campaigner (which is why I would ask him to dinner - he would have some great stories to tell) but he is no more credible a politician than the elderly comrade who stood up and with every word and gesture reminded us why communism and even socialism are so discredited in the UK.

For that contribution alone, I am truly grateful.

Update on Monday, March 22, 2010 by Simon Clark

During the final session (above) a number of groups - including The Free Society - were invited to make a short pitch to the audience which numbered around 200 people. I wasn't expecting to speak (I was given a couple of minutes' notice) so I kept it short and got a surprisingly warm round of applause despite mentioning Forest, smoking and the bully state. (Or was it because I mentioned Forest, smoking and the bully state?)

Other featured groups included No2ID, Academics for Academic Freedom, The Freedom Association and, best of all, an organisation I had never heard of before Saturday but whose name I shall never forget: Big Potatoes.

Visit their website HERE.