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Leading BBC anchor says Britain should not have said sorry to Irish over the famine

Jeremy Paxman says former British PM should not have apologized

By
BERNIE MALONE,
IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Friday, February 24, 2012, 8:09 AM
Updated Friday, February 24, 2012, 9:21 AM

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Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Paxman
Photo by BBC


A prominent BBC presenter, Jeremy Paxman, has accused former British Prime Minister Tony Blair of "moral vacuousness" for his apology over Britain’s lack of help during the Irish famine.

During an interview with the Radio Times Magazine, the BBC 2 Newsnight host lashed out at Blair over the comments he made in a 1997 statement concerning the Great Hunger.

"You should apologize for things that you have done, that you recognise that perhaps you shouldn't have done or regret," Paxman said.

"But apologising for things that your great, great, great, great-grandfather or grandmother did, seems to me a complete exercise in moral vacuousness."

In 1997, Blair issued a statement to mark the 150 anniversary of the famine.

"The Famine was a defining event in the history of Ireland and of Britain. It has left deep scars.

"That one million people should have died in what was then part of the richest and most powerful nation in the world is something that still causes pain as we reflect on it today.

"Those who governed in London at the time failed their people through standing by while a crop failure turned into a massive human tragedy. We must not forget such a dreadful event."

Michael Blanch, chairman of the Committee for the Commemoration of the Irish Famine Victims told the BBC that Paxman was in “denial”  if he thought the apology was inappropriate.

"If Mr Paxman was making similar comments in certain European countries denying what happened during World War II, he would be incarcerated," he said.

He added: "this is not about individuals. As a state and as a government at the time of the famine, there was wrong and there was neglect. An apology was long overdue."

​
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42 Comments

15 - 42 | See all comments

seanomelb | Feb 29, 2012, 07:59 PM EST
humor

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Madeliene | Feb 28, 2012, 04:04 PM EST
Awoken32- best post!

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seanomelb | Feb 27, 2012, 06:14 PM EST
My! My! the anti Irish brigade are vocal today spewing their hate speech and passing it off as facts.What a shallow lot.It must make their skin crawl to see Sinn fein as the 2nd. most popular party and Adams as the most popular politician(46%).Maybe they should blog on the "Belfast Newsletter"where i'm sure they would have plenty of support from their orange friends.

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RedBranch | Feb 27, 2012, 04:27 PM EST
Falls, no big secret about Fr.JC, although the agreement between the British and the South to farm him off to Donegal or wherever was descipable. Is there really that much, other than inaction, coming out of the Irish Govt. during those years?

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FallsRNat | Feb 27, 2012, 02:52 PM EST
RedBranch - i cannot comment much on Claudy & like the rest of us will have to wait until the full investigation takes place, however, speaking to a couple of ex provies here, it looks like the son of 1 of the bombers is going to identify a priest as a PIRA member responsible for scouting targets for PIRA, what they will do is throw enough dirt at others to confuse their own culpability in their murderous actions, the ombudsman's report doesn't contain much as the British memos from willie Whitelaw weren't released to her, like Finucane & enquiries into Bloody Friday, Kingsmill, Teebane & the Lynch govts procuring of weapons for the Provies are in the pipeline, i'm afraid its going to lead to some damaging revelations about the involvement at high political levels in SI which will rock Nationalists to the core.

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FallsRNat | Feb 27, 2012, 02:42 PM EST
Ireland North - will the Irish Americans practice what they preach, when the NI are sent back to the UK by returning to Ireland & giving the US back to the Red Indians who are the rightful heirs

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IrelandNorth | Feb 27, 2012, 07:47 AM EST
ciaradexy! The land on which the [bogside]bunnies were thumping was owned by absentee English landlords who were rackrenting their dispossed native-Irish peasant farmers. So were the rivers with the little fishies you talked about, protected by armed gamekeepers. But then, they could've gone to Burdocks for a fish 'n' chips with money they didn't have. You don't get this because your generation is historically illiterate after a revisionist education (like your English friends downunder) and censored press/media. The oh so square older Irish-Americans doo get it, because they're in the USA due to their ancestors being forced out. The wrathful God of the Old/Hebrew Testament speaks of punishing children of sinners to the 3rd. and 4th. generations - known in Tibet as karma. There is such a thing as retrospective atonement or restitution, which Mr. Pa[c]man obviously doesn't appreciate. Ireland as a whole was a enforced part of the UK then. And the British Government were me[a]nt to govern. It wasn't just a case of selfish laizzes-faire economics. It was incompetent colonialism/imperialism.

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seanomelb | Feb 26, 2012, 05:41 PM EST
redbranch I own a copy of the police ombudsman report on the lcaudy bombing it makes interesting reading and its full of "he said she said".

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RedBranch | Feb 26, 2012, 04:48 PM EST
Falls, thanks for the stream of consciousness reply, looking forward to your Claudy predictions. Sean keep reading up on Jean McConville, her background blows the myth that Belfast was strictly sectarian and she was not alone...

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FallsRNat | Feb 26, 2012, 02:57 PM EST
Redbranch - why ask such a nonsensical question, youse should know your history, me & Dec agreed that it was nothing personal if we met on the streets, he knew that I wouldn't hestiate for a second, I guess though that if anything had happened, well you know inter-republican rivalry, the stickies would probably had taken revenge, as i said nothing personal, until the irish blood is spilt. PIRA stated that Wee Gallagher had been blown up by the BA as they had made the PIRA 'bomb' active, they are just about to fess up to the Claudy bomb & sell out the catholic church as well, I'm still here in the Falls, where are you, was this the same Mitchell McLaughlin that stated with a clear conscience that Marty didn't carry a SMG on Bloody Sunday, oh which are truth & which are lies

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seanomelb | Feb 25, 2012, 06:20 PM EST
Falls you are dumb the fact that McConville was or was not a spy cannot be proven.Your maudling story that she was shot by the IRA for cradling a dying British soldier was proven false by your mates the RIC and O'Loan stated that in her "opinion" she was not a spy.Mitchell Mc Laughlin from Sinn Fein stated she was a spy and he obviously knows something. You also stated (incorrectly) she was a protestant and that was another reason why she was shot.If you cannot accept the possibilty she was a spy you are nort an honest poster.I know you love to post a pro British view as it fits with your conscience for having joined the British army. I suggest you return to your village for I fear it has lost its idiot.

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RedBranch | Feb 25, 2012, 04:45 PM EST
Blair; - Always quick to apologise for things he was not involved with. Falls how are you still alive considering your previous career choice?

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FallsRNat | Feb 25, 2012, 03:46 PM EST
seano - you still haven't answered the question about Mrs McConville, youse hard behind pathetic comments about my time in the BA, so what i volunteered that right at the start along with my families involvent in the IRB & RA, I want a straight answer & proof that she was a british spy, is that too much to ask, i grew up with a provie who was second best man at my wedding, he doesn't think she was, maybe we're have to wait another 38 yrs before PIRA finally admit their error, just as Wee George Gallagher's parents have finally been told the truth this week, simply put you & PIRA are the only revisionists of history & try to protect the past 46 years of lies, the truth will out in the end.

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bunkerhill | Feb 25, 2012, 01:20 PM EST
I would like the Irish to realize that the "famine" was actually genocide. I think Tony Blair was absolutely right in apologizing but it was not the fault of the English Commoners. It all started with Henry VIII, the head chopper and before this maniac lit into Ireland he killed approx 76,000 English commoners who would not recognize him as the Head of the Church. I have no idea why English commoners defend their "nobility" as the commoners live in the smallest space of any European country. The concept on which the USA is founded "All men are created equal," actually came from Ireland. This man is a commoner and not an equal or free man.

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CitizenWhy | Feb 25, 2012, 09:56 AM EST
Governments exists through time, and all their laws (unless changed) and deeds are inherited from head of government to another. Blair, as head of the British government, was apologizing for the actions of the British government. And the violations of human rights by the British government in regard to Ireland, occurred quite recently, not merely in the remote past. To claim that Blair was only apologizing for ancestors is specious. Why doesn't this BBC "presenter" complain that Blair enforced laws passed by ancestors in the 1950s? ... Perhaps this man's star is waning, and he wanted to get some publicity for himself.

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