IT was reported in last week’s Guardian that a party organised by Warrington Young Labour chairman Josh Booth took place in Rylands Recreation club to celebrate the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party.

Mr Booth is reported as saying that ‘it was a fun night with guests including councillors who wanted to learn more about the man Jeremy Corbyn’.

People who weren’t there may be thinking that Mr Corbyn has been criticised by his opponents for appearing to have links to the IRA.

He appeared on Radio Ulster recently where he was asked five times to condemn the actions of the IRA, which of course included the bombing of Warrington.

His answer: “I condemn all bombing, it is not a good idea, and it is terrible what happened.”

He was asked again: “Do you condemn what the IRA did?”

Stephen Nolan, from Radio Ulster, asked him repeatedly to condemn the IRA.

Corbyn replied: “Look can we take this thing forward rather than backward?”

We have our own Colin Parry, whose 12-year-old son Tim and Johnathan Ball, who was just three years old, were killed by the IRA with many others injured when they bombed Warrington back in 1993.

He stated his reaction to Corbyn’s interview on Ulster Radio.

He said: “When I saw the nature of the interview, it didn’t surprise me.

“I think he (Corbyn) saw an equivalence between the British Government’s armed force and Republican terrorists which I think anyone with a balanced view in Northern Ireland could hardly agree with.”

One can only think what the feelings were of Mr Parry, the family of Jonathan Ball and families of all those 50 other people who were injured and were close to being blown to smithereens on that dreadful day when they read last week in the Guardian about the ‘party’ initiated by Josh Booth to ‘celebrate’ the election of Mr Corbyn as leader of the Labour party.

A EDWARDS
Fearnhead

 

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