Has Ipswich ever had a more embarrassing MP?

 As you can never tell if Mr Hunt has taken any posted comments on board, I decided to email him and he replied- twice- but with his last email stating he would not be responding again.

In his email he did not  apologise for comparing the Ipswich Labour Party emblem (1924) with the North Korean Workers Party emblem ( 1950s) and it was obvious he could not understand any hurt that it would cause to Labour members and voters like myself whose father had fought in the Korean War.

Mr Hunt did admit he had sent messages to at least one local Tory with a previous attack on the Cambridge Labour Party for having a similar emblem to the North Korean WP, so he could not even be original in his attack on the Ipswich Labour Party. Best bit was he seemed to imply he just sent it to the local Tory Leader for interest, he was not asking him to use it to attack myself again. So he would take no responsibility for two local Tories using it to defend him/attack me! Make a mistake, you should own it! Best thing about when the Tory Leader used it, he left Mr Hunt’s name on the message. Not sure MI5 or MI6 will be calling to ask for his services.

Now I have received his replies, I feel now I can answer the points he made in his Facebook post/rant/attack.

He did not like my comment that he was playing to the ‘right-wing crowd’. His explanation was > I think I'm simply expressing the views shared by the vast majority of my constituents, We don't like it when people come here illegally and then when here commit  criminal damage and threaten members of staff.

How does he know what his constituents opinion is? He has blocked many on Facebook, does not answer on twitter and when I looked down the replies to his posts, many were from people outside Ipswich -  Kent, Essex, Mansfield, Felixstowe – so not sure he will know how many are from Ipswich.

He also used the line – when people come illegally – no mention that these people are refugees- some may be economic migrants but others will be fleeing war torn countries – interesting the same day, he was retweeting a Tory post that highlights that a refugee from North Korea was to stand as a candidate to be Tory Councillor in May – Did she come here illegally? Should he not just want to send her back to where she came from,  as many of the comments on his Facebook post seemed to wish?

His next paragraph was his bizarre attack on Ipswich Labour for our emblem being similar to the Workers party of North Korea, which I have already commented on.

In my original tweet that seemed to cause this rant – I said he would be better of spending time on Ipswich issues such as the Northern by-pass. This caused the local Tory Leader to tweet in a supposedly humorous way that did I not know that the by-pass had been shelved, Mr (student politics?) Hunt liked the tweet.

What was funny – in his Facebook post, Mr Hunt stated > As for your advice for activity on local issues Cllr Ross, perhaps you ought to give my Facebook page a follow or look at my website.

I took the advice of my MP and guess what? On his website, he declares > I will continue campaigning for a Northern Bypass to ease congestion through the middle of Ipswich.

Does he not know it has been shelved? Scrapped by the Tory run Suffolk County Council? Maybe he should have told me to take a look at his 'out of date' website?

In his letter to me he indicated that by reading my social media posts that he had decided I was defending and explaining away criminal behaviour. How wrong he is.

In fact, I expected my tweet on the subject to see criticism from the left as I stated that as I knew Napier Barracks well, having spent my 20th birthday there and operating from the camp as recently as 2009, that I doubted the arson was due to the state of the accommodation.

In later tweets, i did comment that how a COVID outbreak had been dealt with by the private security firm had been given as reason for the unrest. Again at no time giving this as an excuse for the criminal behaviour, what is probably more telling, that even when the COVID outbreak became common knowledge, Mr Hunt failed at any time in his post to mention COVID, as if that would dilute his message of dealing harshly with illegal immigrants.

Some of the comments on the post by Mr Hunt stated that they thought I wanted the camp closed and the asylum seekers/ human beings/immigrants- choose your own title - should be put up in hotels. Again I never mentioned anything like that, in fact it was the Tory MP and Tory Council leader for Folkestone who demanded that the camp is shut.

So do I still think Mr Hunt plays to the 'right-wing crowd'?

I am afraid the answer still has to be 'yes', when he commented on Millwall fans booing players for taking a knee in support of 'Black Lives Matter' - he defended the Miwall supporters, I expect he would say he was speaking on the behalf of his constituents, however a week later Ipswich played the first of two games at home permitted by a relaxation in lockdown rules. On a miserable (football wise) afternoon, when both teams took a knee, the vast majority of the crowd stood up and applauded in support of the players, i am not sure if Mr Hunt was in the Directors Box, could not see him as he may have been sat down and too far away to ear him booing!

If you want further evidence of why I think he craves the support of those on the right just look at some of the comments to his original post attacking me, some are disgusting, some outrageous, some sensible but very few are factual, however at no time does Mr Hunt comment or attempt to put the true facts.

Terms used, and quite often include > 'illegal immigrants' 'Send them back to where they came from' 'they only look after the scum who can't be bothered to work' and then 'they support anything or anyone who is not from the indigenous population' ( hate to see that person go on 'Who do you think you are? he might be in for a few shocks).

So if you read this Mr Hunt, I do believe you go after the Far right vote, your comments do not help build relationships between our many communities and in fact I find your comments embarrassing and would not expect them from any MP- Tory or Labour. At times you sound more like a UKIP candidate than a Tory MP.

As a son of a Korean veteran and former Labour Councilor, I found your comment comparing the Ipswich Labour logo to that of the North Korean Workers party disgusting. 

As a veteran and one who was proud to serve for over 24 years in the army, you remind me of those jingoistic MPs, stood up in Parliament, waving their union jacks as Tommy Atkins is sent off to war, but nowhere to found when he returns.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:

We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.

Don't mess about the cook- room slops, but prove it to our face

The widow's uniform is not the soldier-man's  disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' chuck him out, the brute!"

But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;