What do you all think about the behaviour of one of our local MPs? Is he suitable material to be a Member of Parliament after recent revelations? I think the issue of Mr Betts being gay is a complete red herring and is being used by many to cover the more serious implications of his behaviour.

I am not homophobic and do not believe that a persons sexual preference(s) should have any bearing on their suitabilty to do a particular job. I do however believe that Mr Betts's behaviour has shown him to be a very poor judge of character and a complete fool to himself.

If he does not resign or is not deselected by the local labour party then I believe that the people will give him the boot at the next election.

Your thoughts?

I do however believe that Mr Betts's behaviour has shown him to be a very poor judge of character and a complete fool to himself.


Are you telling me you have never made a misjudgement or made a complete fool of yourself? Let those without sin cast the first stone I believe the saying goes.

Forgive me if I am wrong - but at the end of the day are we all not human and prone to HUGE bad judgements ourselves?

Do we wish to have perfect government representatives - because i do not believe that is possible. At the end of the day one MP is as bad/good as the rest.

I don't really know who this guy betts is nor do I take much notice of the hype people love to throw around.

my 2p worth

Moon Maiden

it's a complete non-story as far as i can tell..

What he does in his private life is his business. However, I do agree that now the knowledge is made public by the Daily Fail I have to agree that he has made a very bad judgement.

Unlike some of us in lesser jobs, his decisions affect all our lives and he gets paid very highly for this. His judgements and decisions on public morality carry very great weight. If he is found to be making poor judgements in his private life, surely that can be seen to affect how good a job he does for us the electorate?

How he learns from his mistake will show him to be the learned person we hold him out to be or the fool that others brand him.

The jury is out.

i think him making a slight mistake is a bit of an understatement :/

i mean FGS he took his "boyfriend/employee" round the house of commons and "showed him off" to fellow MP's :|

I really couldn't care less what Betts does. It his entirely his business and nobody elses. I never could understand why Clinton got so much heat over his problems with Monica, once again I think it's his business.

I had a mate who was a Policeman and he told me over 12 years ago that they were told by their Inspector at the time that if they found Mr Betts in any kind of compromising positions with another man they were told to look and walk the other way. So much for everybody being equal in the eyes of the law (I dont think so )

Originally posted by JonHarrison
What he does in his private life is his business. However, I do agree that now the knowledge is made public by the Daily Fail I have to agree that he has made a very bad judgement.

Unlike some of us in lesser jobs, his decisions affect all our lives and he gets paid very highly for this. His judgements and decisions on public morality carry very great weight. If he is found to be making poor judgements in his private life, surely that can be seen to affect how good a job he does for us the electorate?

How he learns from his mistake will show him to be the learned person we hold him out to be or the fool that others brand him.

The jury is out.
When it comes from the Daily Mail, if ever a paper was hateful towards anything that isn't Conservative with a capital C, then that paper is it. It has a murky past which includes using a forged Zinoviev letter to make it out that the Labour Party is in league with the Bolsheviks back in 1924. In 1934, it ran the headline "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" and told us that Britain needs a leader with the sense of purpose and direction as Hitler and Mussolini. Throughout the Thatcher and Major years, it defended the Tories through thick and thin. Its response at the time to 3.5 million unemployed, 15% interest rates, record repossessions, negative equity - all of which happened under the Tories - was to churn out a pack of lies and smears to attack Labour. It cares not a jot about ordinary people. That rag is a sick joke, just like it has been for over 100 years.

Originally posted by lazarus
I had a mate who was a Policeman and he told me over 12 years ago that they were told by their Inspector at the time that if they found Mr Betts in any kind of compromising positions with another man they were told to look and walk the other way. So much for everybody being equal in the eyes of the law (I dont think so )

Depends on whether he is comitting a crime or not as to whether that is true.

Gay sex between consenting adults in private is perfectly legal. In a public place might be a different matter....

Originally posted by RPG
i think him making a slight mistake is a bit of an understatement :/

i mean FGS he took his "boyfriend/employee" round the house of commons and "showed him off" to fellow MP's :|

Excuse me if I'm being thick but what is so terrible about that?

I've been out of the country and know nothing about the article or its contents.

However, I've found Clive Betts to be a hard-working, capable and competent MP. So if the article is about his private life then I have no interest in it.

wasn't there some issues about Betts abusing his position to influence the boyfriends work permit application? Its ages ago and he seemed to ride out (ironic) the storm but is it back in the media again?

It all sounds a bit like another more well known Sheffield MP! Didn't take him long to get back in the cabinet. Would you treat him the same way as you are suggesting treating Clive Betts?

Originally posted by Internetowl
wasn't there some issues about Betts abusing his position to influence the boyfriends work permit application? Its ages ago and he seemed to ride out (ironic) the storm but is it back in the media again?


Look at the dates on the first posting, this is just a bit of shot stirring methinks ;)

urmmm - lazaraus are you a 'dropped' boyfriend or 'just got an axe to grind'?

Originally posted by Hels
I've been out of the country and know nothing about the article or its contents.

However, I've found Clive Betts to be a hard-working, capable and competent MP. So if the article is about his private life then I have no interest in it.

You've not missed anything new Hels. This thread was started by Mo on 04-03-2003. For some unknown reason, lazarus has revived this old news story........18 months later. :huh:

Ah thanks Red, i've been caught out once or twice before when i've not checked the date of the original post :P

I wonder, would there be quite so much fuss if the boyfriend was a girlfriend? From what i understand, a lot of MP's 'employ' their wives/partners to help with all the admin etc it's nothing unusual or underhand. The amount of e-mails and letters alone would swamp an MP without office staff to help out.

The man was convicted of fiddling the visa for his boyfriend and lied to cover it up,then we have Plunkett another less than honest labour polititian from these parts.
Hey just goes to show you can lie and cheat but dont worry cus here in Sheffield you still get voted in by the people,talk about you get what you deserve.:confused:
Hell maybe you have to be bent to get elected here in this city,would explain a lot.:thumbsup:

Originally posted by royjames

Hell maybe you have to be bent to get elected here in this city,would explain a lot.:thumbsup:

I thought being bent was one of the qualifications for being a politician?!?

Originally posted by royjames
The man was convicted of fiddling the visa for his boyfriend

Convicted? Are you sure? :suspect:

Googled Clive Betts Scandal - got loads of hits...

The Scotsman - Top Stories - MP suspended over visa fraud: A LABOUR MP was yesterday suspended from the Commons for a week for his part in a bogus immigration application by a Brazilian former male escort he employed as a parliamentary assistant. Clive Betts apologised "unreservedly" to the Commons after being found guilty of two breaches of the MPs' code of conduct in his dealings with Jose Gasparo. [...] The MP, who "came out" as a homosexual as a result of the events, took the unprecedented step of asking Sir Philip to investigate the scandal after reports emerged in newspapers.

Yes, I suppose he might have to "come out" after all that, mightn't he?

You know, the British have the most INteresting political scandals. I mean, our representatives just fool around with pages. Theirs hire rentboys to be their "parliamentary assistants" and help them with their visa problems.

Posted by iain at July 18, 2003 12:09 AM

Originally posted by royjames
The man was convicted of fiddling the visa for his boyfriend and lied to cover it up,then we have Plunkett another less than honest labour polititian from these parts.


Was Clive Betts convicted of anything? Or is it just another lie by "another less than honest bnp polititian from these parts"? :confused:

Hah I was not the one who was suspended for visa fiddling,I was not the one who got suspended from the commons for his lies and deceit.
And I was not like plunkett and got involved with a married woman,still I am in the BNP, we try to have standards,maybe the rest ought to try to be the same ??:thumbsup:
New LABOUR = MORE LIES.

Originally posted by royjames
still I am in the BNP, we try to have standards

What standards to BNP members aspire to then, royjames?

Originally posted by royjames
Hah I was not the one who was suspended for visa fiddling,I was not the one who got suspended from the commons for his lies and deceit.
And I was not like plunkett and got involved with a married woman,still I am in the BNP, we try to have standards,maybe the rest ought to try to be the same ??:thumbsup:
New LABOUR = MORE LIES.

Just pointing out that although the Labour party seems to have its fair share of dishonest and lying politicians, other parties are just as bad or possibly even worse. Its easy enough for members of one dishonest party to criticise members of another party... but it does come across as rather hypocritical.

At least as far as I know, the leader of the Labour party doesn't have any criminal convictions unlike the leader of a certain other party. ;)

Originally posted by Patchy
[.

At least as far as I know, the leader of the Labour party doesn't have any criminal convictions unlike the leader of a certain other party. ;) [/B]


Well he ought to be convicted for the deaths of thousands of Iraqis,not to mention nearly a hundred british soldiers:thumbsup:

But to be absolutely clear, nobody has been convicted of anything - unlike your earlier statement claims.