Parachutes aren't big enough for Cyril

I like political debate. I like to listen to it, to write about it and to take part in it. I was recently involved in a conversation about Cyril Smith. I also like Cyril. I met him a couple of years ago and I was able to tell him that I had heard him speak many times and I had never heard anything that I didn't agree with. I didn't mention that I had only heard him three or four times, but he had spoken at length so there was a lot with which I could disagree.

Anyway, back to the recent debate. It was a Labour party activist who told me that he didn't like Cyril, probably because he had been "parachuted in" to claim the Rochdale seat for the Liberals. I knew that Cyril had a strong Rochdale accent. I knew he had been involved in local politics before becoming an MP. However, even though I have followed politics for many years, I didn't know if he had moved away from Rochdale for a short time. I went home and looked on the internet and saw no reference to any parachutes. I saw the same activist yesterday and I was able to tell him that they didn't make parachutes big enough for Cyril. He accepted it without a second thought.

The moral of this story is don't believe everything you hear even if it is said with conviction.

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