Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman has attacked the Liberal Democrats, branding Chief Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander a "ginger rodent".

Ms Harman - a former equalities minister - made the comments at the Scottish Labour conference, in Oban.

She also accused the UK government of carrying out a programme of "genetic modification" to transform Lib Dems into Conservatives.

The Lib Dems condemned the "highly personal" attack.

In her speech, Ms Harman said many people who voted Lib Dem in May "believed that they were a progressive anti-Tory party".

She said they "woke up to see Nick Clegg with David Cameron in the rose garden of Number 10".

The deputy Labour leader said there was "incredulity" at seeing Mr Alexander, the MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, becoming "the front-man for the Tory cuts".

"Now, many of us in the Labour Party are conservationists - and we all love the red squirrel," Ms Harman said.
Danny Alexander Danny Alexander is a Lib Dem MP in the north of Scotland

"But there is one ginger rodent which we never want to see again - Danny Alexander."

Ms Harman went on to attack Mr Alexander's other party colleagues north of the border, telling delegates: "There's something deeply unnatural that's happened in Scotland.

"Without asking anyone in Scotland, the government has been carrying out a programme of genetic modification - political genetic modification.

"This mutation has contaminated every Lib Dem councillor, it's affected every Lib Dem MP and Lib Dem MSP.

"They've all mutated into something alien to Scotland - Tories."

Ms Harman said: "There's only one thing left to do - these political mutants must be got rid of next May at the ballot box."

She insisted Labour had learned the lessons of its general election defeat.

Ms Harman said the Scottish Parliament election will send a signal to the UK government - "it is the beginning of the end".

Scottish Liberal Democrat election chairman, George Lyon, said: "There are no depths to which the Labour Party will not stoop.

"They aren't fit to be in opposition, let alone in government."

(There's a vid):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... s-11658228

What a stupid bitch

Sounds like she's got the LibDems summed up about right.

Oh there's no doubt the Lib Dems are the Tories human shield (as someone said on TV recently), but it's worth remembering how Labour themselves 'mutated' into the Tories, and subsequently became too stupid to survive

I agree with Adidan. The Liberals will probably get decimated at the next Scottish local elections. The Tories will not benefit. I can see the Liberal vote in scotland being split between the SNP and Labour with a significant number staying at home. The Liberal leadership have lurched to the right, leapfrogging over New Labour, and the party are not going to follow. I hate the fact that all the parties have moved to the right and are all right wing parties now.

Harman says sorry for 'ginger rodent' jibe

Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman was forced to apologise today for branding a senior coalition minister a "ginger rodent".

Harman admitted she had been "wrong" to use the description about Liberal Democrat chief treasury secretary Danny Alexander in a speech.

A statement issued by Labour said: "Harriet Harman has today apologised for her comment about Danny Alexander and says it was wrong."

The jibe was the most personal of a number aimed at political opponents in Harman's address to the Scottish Labour Party conference in Oban.

"Many of us in the Labour party are conservationists and we all love the red squirrel," she said.

"But there's one ginger rodent we never want to see in the highlands of Scotland – Danny Alexander."

The joke about Alexander, the MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, was greeted with laughter in the hall. However, it backfired as Harman found herself accused of insulting all Scotland's redheads.

George Lyon, Scottish Liberal Democrat election chair, said: "There are no depths to which Labour will not stoop. They aren't fit to be in opposition, let alone in government."

The SNP also hit out at the Labour deputy leader over her "childish abuse" of Alexander. Nationalist MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville said the high number of redheads in Scotland meant the "silly remark isn't anti-Danny or anti-Lib Dem, it's anti-Scottish".

Ms Somerville, herself a redhead, said: "It's a gaffe that is overshadowing what Iain Gray thinks should be his big day. Coming from the doyenne of po-faced political correctness, these remarks show she and Labour have lost the plot since losing the election."

On the social networking site Twitter, Alexander said: "I am proud to be ginger and rodents do valuable work cleaning up mess others leave behind. Red squirrel deserves to survive, unlike Labour."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010 ... ger-rodent

Nice to see the ex "equalities" minister and champion of non discrimination picking out a minority group to abuse. Tw@t.

Having ginger hair does constitute being in a minority, it means you have ginger hair.

Yes but does anyone actually treat gingers badly, just because they are ginger? I do not know many but I have never treated them any differently.

Yes. Mostly silly little children in the play ground.

I have a friend with absolutely gorgeous long flowing almost strawberry hair who has related stories of growing up ginger...

Yes probably stupid thoughtless kids. I personally have never had a problem with gingers. I do have thing for female redheads. Though nothing that a lie down will not cure.

Yes but kids pick on each other for all sorts of reasons.

only a ginger can call another ginger ginger....

And yes a lot of ginger people get picked on for just being ginger, and there is prejudice that ginger people are lazy, not hardworking...

Picking on someone because they are ginger is the lazy answer. Is there something else that they cannot pick on?

ginger ppl are not normal. all of them.

I have a 17 stone ginger male friend

and some of you may remember of that pretty redhead girl I posted on this forum a while back

Absolutely. I literally have no one to vote for any more. I am disenfranchised by the continuing lurch to the right.