The Nasty Party Rallies

Following one from the recent posts on Auschwitz, we see that Cameron's true colours come to the fore with his comments on the proposal to have Sixth Formers from every school visit the camp.

From The Guardian: 22/02/08

Cameron branded 'sick and ignorant' in Auschwitz row

David Cameron was branded "sick and ignorant" today and urged to apologise for describing school trips to Auschwitz as a headline-grabbing "gimmick".
The Tory leader sparked a major political row when he condemned educational visits to the concentration camp to teach pupils about the Holocaust.
Cameron told a Conservative "North West Conference" in Bolton that Gordon Brown's government was obsessed with gimmicks that "grabbed the headlines but amounted to nothing".
Number four on the list of 26 government gimmicks he cited was "trips to Auschwitz".
The schools secretary, Ed Balls, called on the Conservative leader to apologise.
"This is a truly disgraceful remark by David Cameron and he should apologise immediately for the offence he has caused," Balls said. "Anyone who has seen the horrors of Auschwitz at first hand knows what a life-changing experience it is."
Earlier this month, the government announced a £4.65m payment of funds to the Holocaust Educational Trust to extend their programme of sending two sixth-formers from every school and college in the country to Auschwitz to learn about the Holocaust.
Balls added: "To call the announcement I made … a 'gimmick' just beggars belief. In trying to make this issue into a matter of party politics, David Cameron has shown once again that he not only lacks judgement but also a basic sense of decency."
Government minister Jim Murphy, who has organised school trips to Auschwitz for more than 450 Scottish teenagers since 2004, also rounded on the Tory leader's comments.
He told guardian.co.uk: "I have organised trips from Scotland for to Auschwitz for Scottish teenagers for the past three years.
"They have a lasting impact and are a poignant and moving reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust. To describe it as a gimmick is sick, ignorant and an insult to those who have perished and those who still live today with the memories of the darkest moments in human history."
The Tory party claimed that schools would have to find £100 to fund every sixth-former's trip.
"We've never known a government that is so obsessed with short-term gimmicks, with top-down control, with endless meddling and interfering in every part of everyone's life," Cameron said."Yet we've also never known a government that is so incapable of even the most basic level of competence.
"We've had a gimmick for every week that Gordon Brown has been prime minister. It would be funny if it wasn't so serious."
But the Labour party insisted today that since it began taking schoolchildren to Auschwitz in 1998, at an average cost of £350 per pupil, the Holocaust Educational Trust has always asked schools to contribute £100 towards the cost of each trip.
Karen Pollock, the chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: "Since we have received government funding, we have been able to offer two students from every secondary and sixth-form college in the country, the opportunity to visit the former Nazi camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland.
"Often participants describe the experience as life-changing. We have already taken over 5000 students on this project and the renewed government funding announced this year will enable us to take over 15,000 pupils nationwide up to 2011."She added: "This is such a worthwhile project and we are very grateful for the government's support."
Henry Grunwald, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: "The Board of Deputies does not get involved in party politics but we are surprised and disappointed that David Cameron should in any way have used the word gimmick in connection with visits to Auschwitz.
"MPs of all parties have supported these visits and understand their importance and we are grateful to the government for having made funding available to enable two sixth formers from every secondary school to participate in them."
The Tories insisted that the party was a firm believer in the trips' education value.
A spokeswoman for David Cameron said: "We are not saying trips to Auschwitz are a gimmick. The government was trying to suggest in a press release earlier this month they were going to fund two children from every school. The problem is they said they would pay for it in full.
"But when you look at the analysis the schools have to pay £1.9m. So what exactly is the government paying for?"
The spokeswoman added that a Tory government would pay for the trip in full, without asking schools and colleges to contribute.
When pressed, she said this would be paid for from lottery funding.