Iain Dale and other Bracknell candidates should be judged on policies, not slurs

Bracknell Conservative primary candidate Iain Dale is the subject of a horrible, homophobic slur in the Daily Mail today. I am not going to link to the Mail or reproduce it here. You can read the details in a post that Iain has done today if you wish.

The thing I wanted to comment on though is Iain's fear that he expresses in his post a couple of times that by highlighting this he is damaging his chances in Bracknell. I really, really hope he is wrong about that.

I should make it clear that I am not supporting any particular Conservative's candidacy here in Bracknell and whoever is selected as candidate for the Conservative party I will be vigorously campaigning against them and for our excellent Lib Dem candidate Ray Earwicker.

However I hope that these slurs do not have an adverse effect on Iain's attempt to get selected. As with all the other candidates, people should judge them on their ability as a candidate and how they perform at the hustings here in Bracknell on the 17th October.

Frankly, I am gobsmacked that a newspaper in 2009 can get away with hateful smears like this and I hope that Iain's complaint (and I suspect his won't be the only one) to the Press Complaints Commission is upheld.

There is some other blogosphere reaction to this here and here.