Angry Mob Attacks Labour Councillors

Back in July 2006 I first let slip that Linda and I have a small hide-away in Andalucia. In a subsequent blog post I feigned surprise at discovering that we were not alone in our dream holiday village: "You can imagine our surprise, therefore, when on our visit to Panaderia Borriquito this evening for suckling pig and chips and a bottle or two of Vino de Cómpeta we bumped into no fewer than four other Hackney Councillors and six former members of the Planning Subcommittee. What a coincidence!" I must confess that I let things go a little bit too far when I gloated about our summer retreat, referring to my readers as people who "...have to rot in Hackney on hot days amongst the zombies and the loonies."

I almost gave the game away that August when I wrote of an Enfield Tory Councillor: "What I must be careful not to mention is that the resigning councillor, Margaret Holt, has gone off to live in Spain. Ssshhhh...don't mention apartments in Cómpeta. The very thought that the Tory Party Brown Paper Envelope Ready Reckoner might contain the same entry as the Labour Party Brown Paper Envelope Ready Reckoner fills me with horror!" As people began to question the financial basis for our pied-à-terre, I was quick to explain that we were all completely innocent of any breaches of the rules: "I would like to make clear that, without exception, members of Hackney Council Labour Group are fine, upstanding members of the community. Not one of these persons has ever been involved in, or associated with, any offences including but not limited to property misdealings, cultural vandalism, misuse of land, abuse of grants, insobriety whilst on duty, misuse of assets, bribery, corruption, election fraud, misrepresentation, contract violation, issuing false claims, CV fraud, moonlighting, cheque fraud, nepotism or breaches of code of conduct. Nor are any associated in any way with any properties in the village of Cómpeta in Andalucia."

Linda and I sneaked off again for a quiet half-term in the Andalucian hammock last spring and again last summer. By this time we were convinced that everything had quietened down and questions about our presence in Cómpeta, along with the entirely coincidental presence of other members of Planning Subcommittees, had disappeared from the political agenda. This was a reasonable assumption, as it was still a year year before the Daily Telegraph was to spread its entirely false, muck-raking and vicious lies about Labour MPs and their allegedly fraudulent and otherwise excessive expenses claims. The Tories and LibDems were guilty as charged of course, but Labour MPs were framed for political purposes and were all entirely innocent of the trumped-up charges. Last month, mob rule became so prevelant that some wholly innocent victims were forced to "hand back" money that they didn't really owe.

Now I'm game for a laugh with the best of them. A little bit of innocent fiddling here and there is hardly the end of the world. And I understand how frustrated and angry many electors have become here in the UK at the alleged shenanigans of their elected representatives in Westminster. But nothing that Councillors and Planning Subcommittee members on holiday beanos in Spain have done could possibly have justified the dreadful events that have taken place in Cómpeta over the past week. No amount of alleged holiday home buying by allegedly loud-mouthed, arrogant and allegedly racist Brits who have allegedly acquired the keys to apartments in Cómpeta along with allegedly large sums of cash in allegedly brown envelopes can possibly justify the mob violence by local Spanish residents that has resulted in one man fighting for his life in hospital. That's one huge step beyond the pale.