| Notes |
"Since the YBF's inception in 2003, six other Tory frontbench spokesmen, including the shadow education secretary, Michael Gove, and the shadow arts minister, Ed Vaizey, have addressed YBF events. Former ministers John Redwood and David Davis have spoken at YBF weekend retreats. The group's president, Daniel Hannan, a Conservative MEP, caused outrage last year when he described the NHS to a US television network as a 60-year old mistake.
Writing openly on his own website, Blaney, a Kent-based solicitor, has argued that "humiliation or psychological interrogation techniques are, in my view, not a problem … Waterboarding doesn't do the prisoner any permanent physical harm although he may be reluctant to shower or use a flannel again in the future when/if he is freed."
In October last year, when Greenpeace activists scaled the Palace of Westminster to protest against climate change policy, he called on police to "next time shoot them down … start with water cannon and if that doesn't work, maybe crank it up a level or two".
Last month, the YBF's executive director, London barrister Matthew Richardson, told a major conference of conservative activists in Washington DC that the NHS is "the biggest waste of money in the UK" and in the same speech, he also described global warming as "a scam".
Shortly after the Guardian asked Blaney and the Conservative party to comment on his views, the blog on which they were openly posted was placed behind password protection.
Blaney has stressed the distinction between his personal views and the position of the YBF, which he has said is a broad church open to anyone who believes in the freedom of the individual. He has said that taking students to a firing range was an opportunity for them to experience another culture and that waterboarding is not torture under US law.
It is understood that he considers his remarks calling for police to shoot down green protestors as humour, while on healthcare he has said the NHS should provide free care for those who cannot afford insurance, while everyone else should be privately insured."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/06/tory-madrasa-young-britons-foundation |