The Chief Whip erases mention of Jimmy Savile from his website
Yesterday, segments of the media shared an image of a poster taken from the website of the new Chief Whip of the House of Commons, Sir George Young.
The text on the website read as follows:
The Youngs promote cycling by rail
On 1982, along with Jimmy Saville [sic], the Youngs featured on a British Rail poster promoting the transport of bicycles by rail.
Sir George had made a critical speech in the House, having found British Rail restrictive and at times unhelpful to cyclists.
Putting his bicycle in the guards van felt like invading someone’s private space. When they responded with some improvements, BR invited Sir George to help with their publicity.
(Some of these posters were still up at stations in Ealing during the 1983 General Election campaign. Ingeniously, Sir George’s opponents argued that British Rail’s publicity programme should be added to Sir George’s election expenses. They didn’t get very far, as Sir George’s name was not on the poster.)
Sir George, who takes over from Andrew Mitchell, isn’t typical of David Cameron’s PR obsessed colleagues but plainly one of them has been at work. This morning it’s gone.
“The Bicycling Baronet,” like many others, may no longer wish to be associated with the vile paedophile Jimmy Savile but here we preserve it for posterity.
Visit The Rt. Hon. Sir George Young Bt MP’s now amended website at: http://www.sirgeorgeyoung.org.uk