Another Reason Why I Won’t Be Voting ‘Conservative’ Next Time…

The War on Terror Photography gathers apace:

Conservative MP Andrew Pelling has said he was stopped and searched by police on suspicion of being a terrorist after taking photographs of a cycle path.

Thank god we have such dedicated protectors. Imagine someone taking photographs in the street, as if they lived in some sort of free society, or something!

Despite him showing his House of Commons pass to the officers, they insisted on searching him after they found him taking photos of a cycle path in his area.

He told police that he was taking photos to highlight a "long-neglected bicycle and pedestrian route", which had been of concern to his constituents and that he was intending on taking the photos to Parliament "to illustrate the dangers posed by the protracted maintenance works".

But the two officers insisted on searching him after they told him they thought he was taking photos of East Croydon train station.

They searched his bag, but after finding nothing of interest they sent the MP on his way.

So he had a perfectly legitimate reason to take photos (not that he should have needed one), he had pretty good evidence on him to prove he wasn’t up to no good, but he was still subjected to a search..?

Wow, he must be pretty ticked off at what has become of this country!

Well, not quite:

Mr Pelling said: "It is pleasing to see just how vigilant our police is (sic – hopefully a reporter’s transcription mistake, or the man is illiterate too..) at these times of heightened international political tension and the risk of terrorism here at home.

"I am glad my stop and search account as a white, middle-aged male shows that anyone can be suspected of, and questioned about, terrorism, regardless of race, creed or colour.

"This is another burden on the police when the key concern of combating knife killings is still an urgent call on local police resources."

Excuse me….? Did I just hear correctly?

This monumental cretin, a Conservative MP no less, is perfectly happy with being stopped and searched for taking a photo in a public place, because of some nebulous ‘terror alert’…?! Wouldn’t you think, as a Conservative MP, he’d be for freedom of movement and action, up to and including taking pictures? Does he possess a pair of testicles and a spine at all, or has he turned them over to Dave's little collective in exchage for a seat at the Big Boys table?

I wonder just what he does believe in? Thanks to ‘They Work For You’, we can find out:

How Andrew Pelling voted on key issues since 2001:

• Voted very strongly against a transparent Parliament.
• Voted strongly against introducing ID cards.
• Voted moderately against Labour's anti-terrorism laws.
• Voted very strongly for an investigation into the Iraq war.
• Voted very strongly for replacing Trident.

So, he’s keen to stop the public learning what PMs get up to, against ID cards (which is good, but then he seems unconcerned about living in a police state, so he might as well go the whole hog), only moderately against the useless Terror Laws introduced by NuLab, wants a costly sinecure for MPs to sit around talking all day to no avail and thinks we shouldn’t be able to defend ourselves.

I didn’t actually need another reason not to vote for Call-Me-Dave’s bunch, but now I’ve got one. Thanks, Andy.

But what have the police got to say for themselves?

A police spokeswoman said: "An officer stopped and searched a man's bag in Cherry Orchard Road on December 30, under section 44 of the Terrorism Act.

"The officer conducted a stop-and-search, taking into account the current terror threat, as he was taking pictures in the vicinity of a major transport hub."

‘Taking into account the current terror threat’…?

I didn’t think middle-aged, white MPs were a big danger – at least, in that sense….