No sooner had the word been uttered than three burly gauleiter heavies moved in on the heckler who was sitting peacefully towards the back of the hall.   When a neighbour, a local party chairman, protested that the man was old and to be careful, they promptly set upon him, too.

Both were muscled out of the hall in full view of the press.

The helper three times attempted to call an MP friend who was in another meeting but the gauleiters threatened to confiscate his mobile phone, having already removed his security pass.

Eventually the MP came to his aid and the security pass was restored but when he attempted to use it the computer threw up a warning not to let him pass.

The police were called and the protestor, if calling out "Nonsense" can be said to be a protest, was detained under Blair's infamous anti-terrorism Act.

Can anybody be surprised that the Act was used in this way? Any but a naive fool - and Blair is far from that - must have known that the Act could not be selective.   Ordinary citizens who offend the New Labour party machine - including, perhaps, this writer - could similarly fall under the Act for dissent.

Realising that damage had been done to the image and that the carefully stage managed messages put over by selected speakers and ministers would not receive the "deserved" media attention, the Party put out a statement.  In it they said the man had been warned three times to be quiet before he was removed

As the media showed, this was another and customary Labour lie.  The "offender" uttered the one word, "nonsense" before being set upon by the thugs.   Lies come far too easily from this government, especially from the Prime Minister over Iraq.   Oddly enough, the subject of the Foreign Secretary's speech was...Iraq.

All this says a lot about the Blair New Labour party.   It is grossly intolerant and has forgotten the proud Labour and British tradition of free speech.   Gone are the days of not so many years ago when any politician worth his salt would stand and speak before an audience in the street and enjoy being heckled.

The last Tory PM, John Major readily addressed hostile street audiences and gave what he got.   Not this Prime Minister.

Blair speaks only to an invited and selected audience.  

As for the BBC, once again they showed themselves as being too conscious of government disapproval.   This headline news was dealt with in 30 seconds or so as an afterthought in the major 6pm news.   Very little of the above was reported.  No doubt the party machine had been threatening the BBC once again.   By the 10pm news the item had been moved to second rank after global warming.

ITV, in their 6.30 news, however, dealt with it in full, as lead item, together with interviews with the protestor.  The thugs refused to be interviewed.

No doubt, having shown their true allegience to New Labour and Blair, they will be offered safe seats at the next General Election.   So far there has been no signs of disciplinary action for their Nazi-ish behaviour which brought to mind old, faded films of Nazi rallies.

By 10.30pm the usually photo-opportunistic Blair had said nothing about the incident.   His silence speaks volumes.   He left it until the following morning to make that apology - long after the damage had been done to the image of his party.

Let this be a warning to the country.   Blair has no intention of resigning.  Instead he is gathering more and more dictatorial powers to himself and his supporters.  

Several hours later McCartney, party chairman, issued a grudging apology. oozing with insincerity.

(28/9/05)