Heh Mister Tangerine Man...

When the cabinet next meets they will notice that the room is rather darker than usual as Peter Hain's luminous glow no longer illuminates the room. Of all the cabinet Hain was the one I most thoroughly detested both for his smarmy manner and his repellent support for terrorism. He was a prominent member of the IRA front group "Troops Out" for many years, a fact which should have disqualified him from a position in any civilised party. This transcript of an interview about his support for Sinn Fein/ IRA, gives an indication of the man's sheer sliminess.

Jeremy Vine: Well we are joined by Peter Hain himself, the new Northern Ireland Secretary from Belfast. So there we are, you have this history of anti Unionist views going back more than thirty years.

Peter Hain: It's been fascinating watching all those pictures of me with a lot more hair Jeremy, and looking very young. And we've all got things we've said, twenty, thirty years ago, indeed the whole world has changed since then.....

Jeremy Vine: But you say, we have all got these views that we've expressed, plainly we haven't. Not only that, we can't find anywhere where you've renounced these views.

Peter Hain: As I say, the whole world has changed. You know when - some of the quotes you got back twenty, thirty years ago, Nelson Mandela was in prison in South Africa......

Jeremy Vine: But you keep saying these quotes are twenty, thirty years ago. Some are more recent than that. In 1998 you said the imposition of partition was, and remains unjust and undemocratic. Now is that still your view.

Peter Hain: Jeremy, you can quiz me as long as you like on the history of Northern Ireland. What I find interesting is people here, in Northern Ireland as I am at the moment, are looking forward not backwards......

Jeremy Vine: I will ask you, I will ask you where the talks are going but I just want to get back to this very simple thing - you say it's changed everything. And I'm asking, has it changed your views. Do you renounce those views.

Peter Hain: Jeremy, you can keep quizzing me about the past, about things that were said thirty years ago when bombs were going off, when there was an impasse and all sorts of different avenues were being explored, and I'm happy to have an academic discussion about that......

etc, etc. Public life is greatly enriched by Hain's resignation in disgrace.