A sordid affair made worse by playing to mob
JIM McMAHON, leader of Oldham Council, sounded genuinely shocked. ‘ In recent days we’ve seen a horrendous “trial by social media” with intimidation, abuse and harassment on a scale that has cast a terrible shadow,’ he said. ‘ I am urging people on all sides of this debate to please now take stock, show some restraint and calm.’
Too late. The time to take stock was several days ago, when folk like McMahon were too busy adding their own amendments to the criminal justice system to consider much of anything.
That the fury around the return of Ched Evans has now mutated to such an extent that it is suggested the daughter of an Oldham Athletic director was threatened with rape if Evans was employed, shows the inherent danger when leaders become followers.
McMahon, and his fellow politicians, had the opportunity to stand foursquare behind the tenets of crime, punishment and rehabilitation, but chose easy populism instead. So now here we are. Ched Evans will not join Oldham after all, so the battle is won; but at what cost? Who will be thrown to the mob next, whose sentence will be morally adjusted on release, to satisfy the public whim?
At a time when McMahon could have taken stock, he instead sniffed the air and told the world: ‘I don’t believe Mr Evans would be a suitable role model and ambassador for the town, or for the long term reputation of the club.’
He does, however, believe in rehabilitation. He must, because he said so in the second paragraph of yesterday’s statement, and it is not as if a principle like that would just be tossed in, another empty slogan to appease the masses.
It says something for Britain’s political class when one of the more rounded evaluations came from Harry Redknapp, manager of Queens Park Rangers. ‘I think it’s about getting a second chance,’ Redknapp said yesterday. ‘People go to prison, unfortunately a lot of them come out and somewhere along the line you’ve got to make a go of your life. What does he do? If he goes and works in a supermarket people are going to say “we’ve got a rapist working in the supermarket”.
‘Somewhere he’s got to work, whether that’s in football or elsewhere. He can’t just not be allowed to carry on with his life.’
That ‘ unfortunately’ would suggest Redknapp is not a natural bleeding-heart liberal. Even he can see that society risks painting itself into a corner over Evans, though.
Still, McMahon’s initial stance no doubt got him applause in all the right places, as did the statements by David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Shadow Minister for Sport Clive Efford. Cameron was still pontificating on Evans yesterday in stark contrast to his views on Prince Andrew and allegations of underage sex slaves. Asked for his reaction to that story, the Prime Minister refused to comment. Why should he? It isn’t as if the fifth in line to the throne is a role model. It’s not as if he’s something very important, like Oldham Athletic’s No 9.