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AN INQUIRY INTO a British Conservative MP organising a Nazi-themed stag party in France has found that he was “stupid and offensive” but is “not a bad man, still less a racist or anti-Semite’.
The internal inquiry by the Conservatives had been examining the case of Aidan Burley who was sacked as a ministerial aide in 2011 after he was pictured with a man wearing an SS uniform in the Alpine ski resort of Val Thoren in December 2011.
The party has today published its inquiry findings after the conclusion of legal proceedings in France.
It found that while Burley, an MP for Cannock Chase, “is not a bad man, still less a racist or anti-Semite” his actions were “unacceptable and offensive”.
Yesterday, a French court fined a British man, the party’s stag Mark Fournier, for wearing a Nazi uniform and insignia, which is outlawed in France.
A police tribunal in the French Alps town of Albertville upheld the prosecutor’s demand for a maximum fine of €1,500 and ordered Fournier to pay €1,000 in damages to the Association of Internal Deportees and Families, a civil complainant.
Burley acted as best man for Fournier, a close friend, and the report by the Conservatives found that he had purchased a Nazi uniform for the groom and that after the meal, Fournier’s brother gave a Nazi-themed toast.
According to BBC News, the report accepted that Burley had “found the toast deeply offensive” and had not been present for any Nazi-themed chants. He said that his choice of costume had been “inspired by the British comic association with aspects of the war”.
“He categorically denies that there was any political motivation whatsoever,” the report said. “We accept that there was no political motivation.”
Burley told his local newspaper, the Wolverhampton Express and Star, that he was not aware that a fancy dress outfit such as the one he purchased would be illegal in France and said it was “done in the spirit of mocking the Nazis” without any malicious intent or idealogical motive.
“I apologised then and I apologise again now for my role in it,” he said.
- additional reporting from AFP
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Why do posh people always want to dress up like Nazis.
Because they behave like them in some instances.
If you go to Greece, Ukraine etc… You can see people going beyond just dressing up . Golden dawn been a good example
It seems to be allowed to grow in Eastern Europe, it also seems to be given a platform, especially through football.
Unfortunately we only have to look across the pond to find what I fear is a new breed of white collar fascism, UKIP. That numpty Nigel Farage and his underlings seem to have an appeal, not with the usual far right thugs, but with a more educated part of English society. Only time and the upcoming elections will tell but it seems as UKIP could actually cause a stir here.
I genuinely hope I’m so far wrong I’m deluded.
I have been to Eastern Europe many times and never came across any offensive insignia or people been offensive, if it’s at the football matches then that’s a problem for the football authorities and the police to tackle, to suggest it is encouraged is not true, considering many of these countries suffered at the hands of the Nazis. I always find Eastern Europeans very peaceful people.
Of course If you weren’t white you may have noticed them even more
Should have dressed up as a roma gypsy and we wouldn’t be able to comment on him , as is the case in the previous article.Censorship is a bad thing.The journal should take note
How do you know I’m white?
@ ciaran
Have you ever experienced any football in Eastern Europe? I am lucky enough to have been to games in turkey, the Ukraine and Slovenia.
Turks weren’t as bad as their reputation makes them out to be-Galatasaray.
In the Ukraine( shaktar) it was mostly monkey chants at black players and was widely accepted by stewards and police alike.
In slovenia(Olympia Ljubljana) they were your regular straight armers, with white power tee shirts and tattoos to match.
So speaking from experience I would have to disagree with you completely.
Without going on all day I have also witnessed some pretty ugly anti semitism in Poland and Latvia.
Perhaps I have been in the wrong place at the wrong time or you need to open your eyes and see the bigger picture.
If ignored and not challenged these groups will rise and gain more and more momentum. “161″
Well my fiancé is polish and I think that gives me a better perspective of that country. The majority of polish people I have met in Poland feel a great hurt and sadness for what happened in there in Auschwitz and the other concentration camps. Not once have I even came close to hearing anything anti Semitic and I repeat polish people are a very peaceful people, so to open your eyes, it’s easy for you to cast there assertions
Behind a keyboard.
Their***
Written safely behind a keyboard :-)
Good debate:)
You can dress up as Chairman Mao, Stalin, Ghengis Khan, Pol Pot or George Bush but NEVER as Adolf Hitler – this is forbidden by the media controllers and the brainwashed who report any violators of this order.
Don’t forget Bin Laden, sure that’s only havin’ a laugh
Are people really going around dressing like these other tyrants or are you talking absurd shite? Take your meds , son.
You can dress up how you like but if you’re a public representative like an MP you’re obviously going to be subject to scrutiny.
But sure it sounds better to exaggerate the story into one about people dressing up as Nazis in general.
People’s right to dress up as Nazis: The human rights issue of our generation.
He is a bad man. What an overpaid idiot. MPs got a pay rise last year which is beyond belief
How incredibly stupid.
Surely the man who sold the fancy dress outfit is also a “bad man”.
And funny, I seem to recall a pay rise being proposed for MPs which was later rejected by all three party leaders.
The ‘don’t mention the war’ police are out on force as usual.
If they want to have a party, taking the piss out of the nazis – let them. I’ve no problem with it and those that do should be told where to get off.
He might not be a bad man but he’s not very bright, a person in his position should know better
Cameron looks like a gay guy about to start talking about fashion or something in that photo haha. Priceless photo choice, Journal! Haha
That public school, bicycle shed brigade, just can’t help themselves..
The UK is more and more obsessed with fascism – maybe because they’re becoming more xenophobic and isolationiat day by day.
Xenophobic? the English are tolerant as they get, considering their country has been colonised, that now they are now a minority in their own capital city, where English soldiers are publicly beheaded, where large parts of England resemble Pakistan complete with giant Mosques and hate filled preachers, where tens maybe hundreds of white native English girls have been groomed by foreigners and passed around like sexual meat to extended family members, at least one of whom has been killed and probably made into kebab meat, the unfortunate Charlene Downes, where they are predicted to become a minority in their own country by 2050. There is a lesson for us on this island but, I fear England will go to civil war before we will learn it.
Tolerance and apathy are the twin virtues of a dying society -Aristotle
So if you’re not a white christian you’re not English? Or did I interpret your rant incorrectly?
If migrants come to a country and continue to wear the same restrictive and anti social gender apartheid clothing that they wear in Pakistan, deliberately groom young native women and use them for sexual exploitation, agitate for a series of laws that originate in 7th Arabia, and protest violently over perceived slights to their beliefs, set up patrols of young men in certain parts of London like Tower Hamlets to enforce no alcohol, no gays etc, continue to speak in Urdu/Arabic or whatever and make no attempt to integrate, well common sense would dictate then that they are not English regardless of long they have been in England. Oh I have nt even factored the 700 old young men who are fighting in Syria now on behalf of the Jihadistas. I hope that clears things up for you.
Maybe he isn’t a bad person, a racist or anti- Semite but he’s definitely an eejit and bloody fool. Should such idiots hold position as MPs. I fear for his judgement skills.
Lol it’s funny looking at moon faces with pictures of Hitler and other Nazi symbols , when the Nazis viewed them as subhuman.
barely news worthy in england,shouldnt even make it over here
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