Council loses the plot over Guy Fawkes

02 November 2006

Guy Fawkes

A MAJOR row over political correctness exploded this week as it emerged Tower Hamlets council has organised a Bonfire Night party without either a Guy or a bonfire.

Instead, Town Hall bureaucrats have sanctioned a £75,000 fire show in Victoria Park on Sunday retelling a Bengali folk tale about an emperor and his tax collectors.

Tories and anti-PC campaigners said the decision was 'political correctness gone mad'.

They said the council was airbrushing from history one of Britain's most important episodes and ignoring a tradition cherished by generations of children.

However, Town Hall officials dismissed those suggestions saying: "We did Guy Fawkes last year."

The council has decided to move away from traditional Bonfire Night celebrations by picking a different 'theme' for November 5 each year to draw the crowds.

Last year, 23,000 people flocked to Victoria Park to watch a huge model of the Houses of Parliament burn down to mark the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot.

But for this year, the council wanted to do something to please the Bengali community.

Entitled the 'Emperor and the Tiger', Sunday's extravaganza will tell the story of the 'Moghul Emperor, the Wise Man and the Guardian of the Jungle'.

A mock Bengal Tiger will pace a giant catwalk as fire lights up a 'forest' to the sound of Bangla drummers and dancers.

"The greedy Emperor wants his taxes, and the people must pay," says the publicity for the event.

Liz Pugh, producer for Manchester-based arts outfit Walk the Plank, which has been commissioned to run the show, said the 'theme' was the council's idea.

"They came to us last summer and commissioned a piece of work involving the Bengali community," Ms Pugh said.

"They wanted us to build a show around the Bengal tiger and a Bengali Folk Tale and turn that into a fire show."

Asked whether the council had included scope for a bonfire or a Guy, she said: "No. "We did the Guy Fawkes theme last year and this year we wanted to do something different, but just as big."

John Midgley, spokesman for the Campaign Against Political Correctness, said the council's decision would 'explode in their faces'.

He added: "There's a time and a place for everything and November 5 is for Bonfire Night.

"It's time for common sense and for people to tell bureaucrats that politically correct actions like these undermine our historic occasions and harm community relations."

Blackwall's Tory councillor Tim Archer said he would attend the event, but added: "Bonfire night is a celebration of our rich history and it would appear it's being air-brushed out with some sort of attempt to be politically correct."

Elsewhere in Britain, millions will commemorate the events of November 5, 1605, when Roman Catholic Guido Fawkes failed blow up Protestant James I in the Houses of Parliament.

Fawkes, voted among the 100 greatest ever Britons in BBC poll, was executed and the Scottish king later demanded his crime be marked with an annual sermon.

This sparked the traditional Bonfire Night celebrations which include the burning of a 'Guy' effigy and the recital of a famous poem:

"Remember, remember the fifth of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason why gunpowder, treason

Should ever be forgot".

Tower Hamlets council insisted they had not forgotten the Gunpowder Plot, but that the authority's tradition was to pick a different theme each year.

"This differentiates our celebrations from other boroughs and our events are proving to be extremely popular," a spokeswoman said.

"Our sole aim is to stage an exciting event - on the traditional Fireworks Night - that will attract the interest of as many people as possible.

"Since introducing the themed events four years ago, visitor numbers have increased from 3,000 to a massive 23,000 people at last year's event."

"Let's judge the event by how much people enjoy themselves on the night," she said.