He has been slagged a few times but a very good piece on the Mirror website by David Maddock regarding Jeremy Hunt and his tory pals.
Why Jeremy Hunt's ignorant comments about Hillsborough should send a cold shiver down the spine of every sports fan in Britain
By David Maddock 29/06/10
Who'd have thought it eh, the Conservatives getting into power and then immediately displaying a crass contempt for the people they claim to represent?
Jeremy Hunt â and letâs face it, you should never trust a politician called Jeremy â showed not just ignorance, incompetence, disregard and disrespect in his comments about the Hillsborough tragedy this week.
He showed the real, sinister thinking that he and his cocktail party chums retain behind their slick, smug smiles and soundbites. And what he revealed should send a cold shiver down the spine of every sports fan in Britain.
Hunt is the Charterhouse public school educated Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, who outrageously claimed, in an interview ostensibly about Englandâs departure from the World Cup, that the 96 lives lost at Hillsborough were the result of âhooliganismâ.
Those comments are not just wildly, ridiculously wrong, not just outrageously offensive and demeaning to the memory of the people who died. They are potentially deadly, because the thinking behind those comments places every single sports fan at risk.
What Hunt revealed with his comments is not just that he is unqualified to be the minister for sport â which his disgusting ignorance clearly illustrates - he also showed that he and his chums still see sports fans as violent, low-life hooligans who are solely to blame for their own problems.
It is the mentality of the Conservative Party under Thatcher, the mentality that condemns a huge section of our society to become an under-class, scorned and vilified by the ruling elite.
At Hillsborough, 96 people died because of the criminal actions of the police. That is not conjecture, it is fact. Yet no one has ever been brought to justice over the tragic loss of life.
Why? Because the Tory party believed at the time that the institutions couldnât possibly be to blame. They believed it was caused by hooligans. By scum.
They tried to pin it on the fans. Thatcherâs press secretary Bernard Ingram tried to spin it as the work of a âtanked up mobâ and tried to solicit the help of his tame media chums at The Sun.
The police tried to discredit supporters with made up stories and altered statements, falsified documents along with outrageous slurs. They tried to hide the truth. But it still came out.
Then they tried to cover it up in a morass of paperwork which was conveniently lost. They tried to drag it out so long that people forgot. They did everything to ensure that the truth wouldnât be revealed and the real culprits wouldnât be brought to justice.
And now, we find in the words of Hunt, that they still believe it. Deep down, they still see the innocent loss of life as the fault of the people who died. And they see all people who attend football matches as being hooligans who deserve what they get.
He tried to back-track of course, but it canât hide his true feelings. The sinister belief that sports fans are yobs who donât deserve justice. Who donât deserve the protection of law and the rights of the individual.
It is as though Thatcher is still here and still showing contempt to every single one of us. And that is why every single football fan, every single sports fan, must fear the words of Hunt.
They suggest another tragedy at a sports stadium could happen again. All the time justice for the 96 is ignored, all the time the criminals who hide beneath police uniforms who cost all those lives are not brought to court, it could happen again.
All the time the people in power hide behind their obscene belief that sports fans are an underclass who donât have any rights, there is a chance it could happen again. Hunt is a man with beliefs that could allow it to happen again.
He should resign. Right now. Instead, we are told he has the âfull confidenceâ of David Cameron, the equally smug Tory leader. So this conspiracy still goes right to the top.
If Cameron has any empathy for the people â and remember, millions and millions of us attend sports events â then he should sack Hunt and immediately announce the start of proceedings to provide justice for the 96 people who died at Hillsborough. He wonât though, because the mentality of Thatcher still clearly lurks within the Tory party elite.
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/david-maddock/Why-Jeremy-Hunt-s-ignorant-comments-about-the-Liverpool-fans-involved-in-the-Hillsborough-tragedy-should-send-a-cold-shiver-down-the-spine-of-every-sports-fan-in-Britain-David-Maddock-column-article501699.html