T-shirts on sale at the Brighton Centre celebrating the “death” of Margaret Thatcher have been condemned as “inappropriate”.
Shirts bearing the slogan, “A generation of trade unionists will dance on Thatchers[SIC] grave”, were being sold from a stall in the Brighton Centre as part of the TUC conference yesterday.
But following criticism the stall removed them from sale.
Baroness Thatcher, who suffers from dementia, has suffered deteriorating health in recent years and was too ill to join the Queen for a Golden Jubilee lunch in May.
Hove MP Mike Weatherley condemned those responsible for selling the T-shirts, which bear a picture of a tombstone with the former Prime Minister’s name on, as “sick in the head”.
He said: “I have no doubt that any decent and sensible trade union member would be sickened at the idea of wishing for an elderly lady to die.
You’d have to have something wrong in the head to make those sorts of statements.”
Brighton and Hove City Council disassociated itself from the merchandise – sold within the council owned building.
A spokeswoman said the council would not routinely vet every item sold at the Brighton Centre during private events and would only intervene if it received a complaint or if items were illegal.
The spokesman said: “The TUC hired the Brighton Centre for a private event and we do not ask about every itemthey are selling.
“We have spoken to the TUC who have confirmed the T-shirts have been taken off sale.”
A spokesman for the TUC said: “The T-shirts are no longer on sale.
“They were not officialmerchandise. We have a lot of exhibitors and they were being sold by one of the stalls.”
TUC chairman Brendan Barber condemned the shirts as “completely inappropriate.”
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