Recently, in the UK, Lord Ahmed, the first British Pakistani Muslim peer to be appointed to the upper chamber, was suspended from the Labour Party over an interview he gave in Pakistan last year, in which he alleged a Jewish conspiracy to put him behind bars. Lord Ahmed had been given a three-month jail sentence for dangerous driving because he was sending and receiving text messages minutes before crashing into a stationary vehicle at Sheffield. One man was killed in that accident.
But in a television interview in Pakistan, Lord Ahmed said he might have been let off very lightly, and had been imprisoned only due to pressure from Jewish owners of newspapers and TV channels since he had supported the Palestinian cause in Gaza.
His claim has created a furore in the UK where anti-Semitic remarks are illegal - made more extreme by the fact that the Labour Party’s own leadership is of Jewish descent and the party also does not allow any room for anti-Semitism. Ed Miliband, the party leader, has already said anyone who makes these kinds of remarks has no place in Parliament or in the party.
Lord Ahmed, like many of us, would prefer to believe that there is a hidden agenda, rather than a straightforward punishment being awarded for a crime. If indeed he has alleged a ‘Jewish’ lobby is against him, he might be in the same sort of league of conspiracy theorists who claim that the 9/11 attack on the twin towers was a Jewish plot to malign the Muslim community. Incidentally, Lord Ahmed had in the past also been suspended from the party for allegedly offering a $10 billion bounty for the capture of US President Barack Obama. Later he denied these allegations, and after an investigation, his suspension from the party, at that time, was revoked. So will the same thing happen again?
While his alleged interview in Pakistan is being investigated, at present the danger is that many people will be willing to believe any canard if they respect the individual who is making the claim. That is why parliamentarians and those in positions of power are advised to be extra careful about what they say and do - especially those who belong to the minority community, as all Asians are in the UK. It for this reason particularly that Lord Ahmed’s words (if indeed they are found to be true) are surprising, given his background and the fact that he was even a trustee of the Joseph Interfaith Foundation meant to improve relations between the Jewish and Muslim community. He will now also have to resign from the post.
Perhaps he has only done what we all do - quick to resist any kind of blame - pushing it onto people, circumstances, and even karma. Most of us would be loathe to admit that we had genuinely blundered - as that would lead to an admission of guilt. Not only do we rarely admit that we had done anything wrong, we also try to whitewash the ‘crime’ by making it sound much more insignificant than it really is, as he seems to have done. Or is it difficult for politicians to admit a mistake because that would compromise their position?
The tragedy of course is that while Lord Ahmed now says he has ‘no recollection’ of ever giving that television interview - for many his suspension from the Labour Party might only serve to reinforce ‘suspicion’ that there is, exactly as he said, a prejudice against him. That is the reality of being a conspiracy theorist - you will see a conspiracy everywhere.
While there is widespread outrage over Lord Ahmed’s ‘misspeaking’ , other UK MPs have been in hot water as well. Last week an ‘honourable’ MP was caught in an unseemly fight in a bar at the House of Commons. This is the second time Labour MP Eric Joyce has been in a brawl, and now he has been prohibited from buying alcohol altogether. And then the week before was the sorry sight of Chris Huhne, a former Liberal Democrat MP and minister, being convicted to eight months in prison along with his wife for trying to hide his ‘speeding’ points.
So it has not exactly been a good week for British parliamentarians. Who do you think could be behind it? The French perhaps?
