A Tory MP took issue with Irvine Welsh over slaver statues and it didn’t end well

John Plunkett. Updated June 10th, 2020

It started when Conservative MP Simon Clarke suggested that taking down statues, of people like slave traders, presumably, ‘does not bring enlightenment’.

Our history is complex, as is inevitably the case for any nation state of at least 1,200 years. Re-writing parts of that history, or seeking to erase them because they are painful, or trying to impose today’s morality on people from a different era, does not bring enlightenment.

— Simon Clarke (@SimonClarkeMP) June 9, 2020

And he didn’t leave it there.

Rather, it represents an utterly ahistorical approach to the past, and all the lessons we can and should learn from it. There are certainly legitimate debates about what belongs in the public square and what in a museum, but these should be measured and democratic.

— Simon Clarke MP (@SimonClarkeMP) June 9, 2020

Which is when it was spotted by Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh who responded with typical brio.

Fuck off you twat. Should Germany have kept all the Nazi shit after WW2? They would have still been debating it now had obstructionists like you and Dundas won the day. Why should people put up with slaver trash? #TearThatShitDown https://t.co/ukLly3A1AE

— Irvine Welsh (@IrvineWelsh) June 9, 2020

Clarke, who is – Google, Google – Tory MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, thought he’d respond (he’s since deleted it but fortunately @StaffsVegan took a screenshot).

(via)

And it’s not the shutdown he thought it was, it really isn’t.

1. Auschwitz is in Poland. 2. Auschwitz is a memorial to the victims, not a statue of Hitler. 3. In Berlin, the bunker where Hitler hid out has been turned into a barely noticeable car park because they didn't want it to become a shrine to him.
We shouldn't be glorifying slavers https://t.co/yTUhYDfxUp

— Rhiannon Jones (@RhiannonEJones) June 9, 2020

Yes Auschwitz. Not statues of Hitler. 🤦🏻‍♀️

A harrowing and powerful museum telling the stories of victims. Not a bronze statue celebrating him as a local hero.

— Anna Turley (@annaturley) June 9, 2020

This is rather awkward – a Conservative member of parliament doesn't know what country #Auschwitz is in and think Germany insisted on keeping it as some form of self- therapy https://t.co/bWt6JoKcJC

— Will Black (@WillBlackWriter) June 9, 2020

Hi Simon, Auschwitz isn't in Germany any more, all that got sorted. https://t.co/2PqCekQMz4

— HENRY MORRIS (@mrhenrymorris) June 9, 2020

Here’s what Welsh said later.

Well I will draw my personal line under someone who organizes and profits from the violent abduction, transportation, imprisonment and rape of other human beings. So is that a fair starting point for the so called debate that is to be had? When do we begin this ‘debate?’ https://t.co/WM1ML2KDis

— Irvine Welsh (@IrvineWelsh) June 9, 2020

To conclude …

And there I was thinking Conservatives were against being publicly owned

— Rib Bourbon (@puns_n_roses) June 9, 2020

Source Images screengrabs BBC