Conservative MEP Roger Helmer has today announced that he is quitting his seat in the European Parliament at the end of this year. Citing disillusionment with the direction of the party, Brussels is set to lose one of its most off message sons.
To commemorate his passing, Scrapbook thought a countdown of his top “so right wing that we thought he was joking” moments was in order.
Women share blame for rape: Backing Kenneth Clarke’s controversial rape comments, Helmer took it upon himself to distinguish between “stranger” and “date” rape: “In the first case (“stranger rape”), the blame is squarely on the perpetrator and does not attach to the victim, in the second case (“Date rape”) the victim surely shares a part of the responsibility, if only for establishing reasonable expectations in her boyfriend’s mind.”
Everyone speeds, why shouldn’t I?: Deciding that he operates above the law, Helmer commenting on speed limits claimed, “No matter how fast you are going, you get people passing you.” It was later revealed that Helmer had recently been caught speeding with his Jaguar – driving at 38 mph in a 30 mph zone. Tut tut.
“Dumb” seal cubs “deserve” to die: Back in 2006, Helmer thrust himself into controversy with an unsympathetic email to a 17 year-old animal rights campaigner. In the email, Helmer told the teenager that, he thinks “it’s mawkish, sentimental and unhelpful to adopt a Bambi attitude to animals.” Before telling the teen “save your concerns for people rather than them.”
Climate change is a total lie: Wading into the debate on climate change, Helmer labelled it the “Great Climate Myth”. Going onto criticise wind farms, he suggested he spoke for all people who were “hopping mad at the imposition of useless, ugly, ideologically-motivated industrial-scale structures close to their homes and villages.”
Psychiatrists should “turn” homosexuals straight: Posting on Twitter: “Why is it OK for a surgeon to perform a sex change operation, but not OK for a psychiatrist to try to ‘turn’ a consenting homosexual.” Thankfully Helmer’s attempt at philosophical thought challenged nobody and angered everybody.
Gay marriage wrong on all counts: Taking the classic approach before delivering an offensive remark, Helmer painted himself as a liberal, tolerant of homosexuality, with gay friends no less. Before clearing the way for his outdated views on gay marriage. Stating that he was, “opposed to the concept of homosexual “marriage”, on both semantic and social policy grounds.”
Homophobia is propaganda and a myth: Not happy with one set of offensive comments, in the same blog post, Helmer called homophobia a “political agenda”: “I have yet to meet anyone who has an irrational fear of homosexuals, or of homosexuality. So to the extent that the word has any meaning at all, it describes something which simply does not exist.”
Shoot rioters and arsonists on sight: As Scrapbook revealed at the time, in the midst of August’s riots, Helmer shocked the blogosphere, left and right alike, when he posted on Twitter suggesting arsonists and looters should be shot on sight. Helmer later rejected the opportunity to back away from these comments, stating that if rubber bullets didn’t work, “tougher measures were called for.”
Badger cull will reduce price of shaving brushes: Referring to opponents as “po-faced manic bunny huggers”, mustachioed Helmer said that the Government’s controversial cadger cull would be a good idea because it would bring down the “exorbitant” cost of shaving brushes.
Helmer certainly did it his way.
Tales of Silvio Berlusconi’s womanising and “bunga bunga parties” are manifold. But it was hitherto unknown that The Great Seducer was given to asking foreign leaders for celebrities’ personal contact details.
