When will David Cameron decide on Burley's fate, ask's MP Ian Austin
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Dudley North MP Ian Austin has written to David Cameron asking when he’ll decide what course of action he will take following Cannock Chase MP Aidan Burley’s involvement in a Nazi-themed stag party.
Austin wrote to the Prime Minister following reports that he will be deciding "personally" the action that will be taken after the party at which guests toasted the third Reich and chanted “Hitler, Hitler, Hitler". He has also written Baroness Warsi.
His letter spells out the various and contradictory explanations Burley provided.
Ian Austin said:
“Despite offering his constituents what he said was an “unreserved, wholehearted and full apology,” he’s still not come clean about his involvement and the extent of his organisation of this disgraceful event, and his contradictory accounts means it’s really important that the Conservative Party establishes the truth.
“David Cameron must take action that shows he believes this sort of behaviour and his failure to explain what happened and apologise properly is unacceptable.”
The text of Austin’s letter to David Cameron is as follows:
---------------------------
The Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
February 02, 2012
Dear Prime Minister,
I am writing following reports (Birmingham Post, February 2012, attached) that you will be deciding "personally" the action that will be taken as a result of Aidan Burley's participation in a Nazi-themed stag party at which guests toasted the third Reich and chanted “Hitler, Hitler, Hitler"
Despite offering his constituents what he claimed was an “unreserved, wholehearted and full apology,” he’s still not come clean about his involvement in the affair and hasn’t responded to claims that he hired the SS uniform worn by one of the guests.
He has left a series of questions about his participation unanswered and given that the Conservative Party's investigation has not yet concluded, I thought it might be helpful if I submitted the following information for consideration:
First, Mr Burley has offered a series of conflicting explanations.
· Initially, on 11 December, he tried to blame other guests, saying it was merely “inappropriate behaviour by some of the other guests” and two days later Justine Greening MP told me he had left when the behaviour occurred.
· Later that week, he admitted to the Jewish Chronicle that he hadn’t left, saying: “I wish I had left as soon as I had realised what was happening.”
· Incredibly, a week later, he told the Express and Star another version, saying: “I left the restaurant immediately when that inexcusable behaviour by other guests started.”
Second, Mr Burley has offered these conflicting and contradictory accounts despite the fact that the original Mail on Sunday Report said:
· after the dinner, the group visited a bar where “they continued drinking, and their chanting became more frequent and uninhibited. It was hard to believe that an MP did nothing to halt this offensive behaviour.”
· in the pub “some of the group, many of whom adopted thick German accents, chanted: ‘Mein Fuhrer! Mein Fuhrer! Mein Fuhrer!’, ‘Himmler! Himmler! Himmler!’ and ‘Eichmann! Eichmann! Eichmann!’”
· the MP failed to object or leave: “Mr Burley, who was standing a few feet away, was not seen to object to this or any other behaviour that evening.”
· earlier, during the dinner, the paper said Mr Burley “sipped wine as one of the party goaded a French waiter, asking: ‘You are from Germany? No, you must be from Austria, then?’ and ‘Are you insulting his Reich?’”
· the behaviour took place throughout the evening, not just at the end of the dinner, reporting that one of the guests was “at the centre of the party and was frequently addressed by the others as ‘Himmler!’” and “At various points through the evening members of the group were chanting, typically two or three of them.”
· Mr Burley was “in the background” as some of the guests “agreed to be photographed on the steps and, without prompting, did Nazi salutes.”
I have also written to the Conservative Party Chairman, Baroness Warsi in similar terms.
Hopefully your investigation will finally establish the facts and you will take action that shows you and the Conservative Party take his behaviour and failure to explain it seriously.
Yours ever
Ian Austin
MP for Dudley North
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