Britannist

Tower Hamlets council (in inner east London) said on 2.11.2006 that the symbol of the historic British figure of Guy Fawkes was to be banned from its official Bonfire on 5.11.2006 at Victoria Park in Hackney (also in east London).

The tradition in the UK is for a dummy of Guy Fawkes to be put on top of Bonfires held on the 5th November each year (or near to that time). Fireworks are then let off in celebration of the failure of the Gunpowder plot of Guy Fawkes to blow up the English Parliament in 1605 whilst King James 1 was in the building.

A Conservative councillor at Tower Hamlets, Tim Archer, said that the decision of the council was made for politically correct reasons. John Midgley of the Campaign Against Political Correctness agreed that the council was making a mistake in banning Guy Fawkes.

Officials at Tower Hamlets council said that Guy Fawkes would be replaced at the council Bonfire on 5.11.2006 with a Bengali (Bangladeshi) folk tale called ‘The Emperor and the Tiger” (the story of a Moghul leader who made people pay higher tax).

Tower Hamlets includes the constituencies of ‘Jim’ Fitzpatrick, the europhile Labour Government minister for London who is closing down post offices in accordance with EU orders, and of George Galloway, the pro-EU leftist anti-Iraq ‘war’ MP. Both are Scottish.

Ian Wilson, the well-paid council Chief Executive, not surprisingly, was supportive of his employer, Tower Hamlets Council. He said on ITV 1 London news at 6.01 pm on 3.11.2006 “The Bonfire night theme is different each year and I should think that putting a Guy Fawkes on top of the Bonfire will not be popular elsewhere.”

The ITV 1 London news claimed local MP George Galloway had said that Guy Fawkes was the only person to have entered the Commons with honest intentions.

Among the messages from callers to ITV 1 London’s 6 pm programme on 3.11.2006 were:

“Please keep Guy Fawkes as all our other English traditions are going up in smoke.”

“This is a sign English traditions are being given up for politically correct reasons.”

“What has a Bangladeshi/Bengali theme got to do with Bonfire Night?”

In response to a claim that Bonfire Night is anti-Roman Catholic (by celebrating the failure of the Roman Catholic Guy Fawkes to blow up the Protestant King James 1) Dave from Bethnal Green (part of Tower Hamlets) said “I am a Roman Catholic. My family celebrate Bonfire Night every year. How dare this council (Tower Hamlets) say that we can’t celebrate Guy Fawkes.”

Laura Midgley of the Campaign Against Political Correctness told ITV 1 London that the Guy Fawkes theme should be celebrated.

The Victoria Park Bonfire will cost Tower Hamlets residents £75, 000. A total of 20, 000 people were expected to attend and watch the performance of ‘The Emperor and the Tiger’ which the politically correct Tower Hamlets council has replaced Guy Fawkes with.

Tower Hamlets has 51 councillors representing 195, 000 people. Of those councillors, 31 are of Bengali (Bangladeshi) origin.

Local MP George Galloway is alleged to have said that the council’s decision to ditch Guy Fawkes was “unbelievable”.

“This political correctness by bureaucrats harms community relations and undermines our historic occasions and it is now time for common sense to prevail” John Midgley, head of the Campaign Against Political Correctness said.

Lazyguy

Hey, maybe next year they'll put the councillors on the bonfire!