Despite Labour's best efforts, Hannan Still Fails to Embarrass Cameron...

Reading about the latest "scandal" to hit the media about one Daniel Hannan, MEP, I have been wondering about the state of the left in this country a lot. It now seems that much of the left-wing seem to think that political figures can only be supported if they are utterly beyond reproach. Thusly no-one should back Enoch Powell because of his (admittedly extremely crass) views on immigration. Which is fine until, as the angry baby man suggests, you look at some of the heros of the left. You can berate Hannan as much as you like for his views on Powell. But if you see Castro as a hero and have a Che t-shirt in your closet, then you are wide open to the dual charges of being a hypocrite and a moron. After all, the actions of one Fidel Castro have done far more to destroy lives than the words of Enoch Powell. There we have it - the state of the left in Britain today. So lost in their own desperate rhetoric that they fail to see when they leave themselves wide open to the charge of hypocrisy.

However what is really interesting about this "story" is the timing of it. As Guido points out, this interview happened about a month ago. It has only been pushed to the top of the agenda after Hannan created controversy with his opinions on the NHS. It is almost as if the Labour party are now hunting for any sort of controversial comments from Hannan to highlight to the national media. Which does beg the question: "Don't the Labour party have anything better to do than to constantly highlight the comments of one Tory MEP who is on the fringes of his own party?"

The answer is clearly "no". Despite being in control of the whole country, the actions of the Labour party shows that they don't seem to have anything better to do that trawl the web for the wit and wisdom of Daniel Hannan. I can sort of see why. After all, it can be an effective way of slamming your political opponents. It is the Obama strategy towards Sarah Palin - the Obama campaign didn't have to attack John McCain. Instead, they could point to the comments and actions of his ludicrous Vice-Presidential pick, and use her as a weapon to bash him. Labour want to do the same with Cameron. Nothing is sticking to young Hug A Husky at the moment, so instead they seek a member of his party with non-mainstream views and try to use his comments to attack Young David. It worked for Obama; ergo, it should work for Brown and his Labour drones.

Except there is a key flaw with this strategy. Put simply, Hannan is no Sarah Palin. In three crucial ways.

Firstly, Hannan is an eloquent, intelligent man who can defend his own views, comments and actions. Palin - for whatever the reason - never seemed able to do that. Cameron doesn't have to defend Hannan because Hannan defends himself. Whereas during the last Presidential campaign McCain had to defend Palin time and time again, because she just didn't seem able to do it herself. Also, it is worth noting that Palin consistently managed to put her foot in her mouth. The Labour party is now having to go hunting for potentially embarrassing Hannan comments. Palin was the gift than just kept on giving for the Democrats. Not so young Mr Hannan for the Labour party.

The final flaw with the idea that Hannan can become some sort of Palin-esque albatross for Cameron is Hannan's position within the Tory party. He is an MEP on the fringes of the Conservative party. Cameron can very easily hold Hannan at arm's length, and dismiss any controversial Hannan comments as those of a fringe party member. McCain could have done the same thing with regard to Palin... if he hadn't made her his Vice-Presidential choice. You're only really going to be able to embarrass Cameron with a character close to his inner circle. And Hannan isn't anywhere near the dizzy heights of the Tory hierarchy occupied by Young David. It would be like trying to embarrass Tony Blair in 1997 with the comments of Tony Benn. Blair would have shrugged his shoulders and said "nothing to do with me, guv." Just as Cameron did with Hannan's comments on the NHS.

Maybe the Labour party can find someone to use to consistently embarrass Cameron. Unfortunately for them, they are flogging a dead horse with Hannan. He isn't the one.