THE worst kind of joke is the one that backfires on the teller, as Guernsey’s Deputy Chief Minister discovered last week.

Bernard Flouquet made two mistakes in his failed attempt to lighten the mood at a press conference called to inform the media about work at the island’s airport. Not only did he tell the joke badly, but it was not particularly funny and did not relate to the subject in hand. There are plenty of airport/aircraft/pilot gags he could have chosen from, but no, he had to go topical.

What was funny, though, was the reaction of the civil servant seated next to him. He had obviously heard it before and his demeanour, as he realised what Deputy Flouquet was about to say, was a picture. First he squirmed, then his features contorted, until finally he covered his face with a hand.

That was a true comedy moment – almost, but not quite, as hilarious as our very own Chief Minister Frank Walker’s embarrassing press conference at the height of the Haut de la Garenne child abuse inquiry. On that occasion, before the world’s media, civil servants provided the laughs as they hastily packed away the toys so that interloper Senator Stuart Syvret couldn’t play with them.

It is no crime to tell a bad joke; many comedians have made fortunes doing so. Deputy Flouquet’s mistake was to tell a joke that was deemed to be ‘un-PC’ – not politically correct.

It contained a racist undertone in the reference to the golliwog which once famously adorned marmalade and jam jars. What he did not do was directly call the next president of the United States a golliwog or use any direct racist insult.

The joke was probably one of the many jokes flying around the internet highways in the wake of Barack Obama’s election. I have received and laughed at several, as most people have, before forwarding. None I have received would be deemed offensive, and I suspect that even the subject himself, as someone who has exhibited a rather dry sense of humour, would chuckle at them.

Being the subject of jokes is par for the course in public life. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then don’t ever consider a career in politics. Politicians, kings and queens have been lampooned in all societies since man discovered his sense of humour. By its nature, ever since the early days of the radical press in 18th-century England, British political satire has been cruel, personal but very amusing.

Deputy Flouquet will be regretting his attempt at mood-enhancing humour. He has learned the hard way: ‘Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone.’

Is it a resignation issue? Absolutely not. If Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi is still in power following his insensitive quip about Obama’s colour (and come to that the likes of Boris Johnson and other leading political figures with a habit of speaking before they think), then why should Deputy Flouquet resign?

He has learned the hard way that when a public figure tells a joke it must be politically correct and must not be offensive in any way to anyone on grounds of gender, race, culture, disability, age, religion or other identity groups.
Nigh on impossible, if you ask me.

Humour has changed as society has come to realise the injustice of discrimination on whatever grounds, and western democracies have legislated to protect the vulnerable.

In the 1960s and 70s television sitcoms such as Till Death Us Do Part and Love Your Neighbour, derogatory terms littered the script of every episode, because that was how people spoke. Those shows topped the ratings, yet today they are regarded as insulting and offensive, and rightly so.

There will always be comedians who push the boundaries of public taste, which is what art, drama and entertainment is about, but with the dominating and gagging culture of political correctness, they are on increasingly dangerous ground.

Take, for example, the furore still engulfing the BBC and its enfants terribles, Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross. What they did, and what the corporation condoned, was totally out order. It was juvenile and lewd. Amusing in the dorm after lights out, maybe, but not for public broadcast.

Ironically, the subject of their banal behaviour, Andrew Sachs, played the hapless waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers. At that time, his caricature was accused of ridiculing the Spanish people and led to complaints by the government of Spain to the BBC.

But that is what humour is all about: you can stick to the playground ‘knock-knock’ jokes or you can progress to adult cutting-edge comedy and risk causing offence in the process.

Political correctness ranks alongside elf ‘n’ safety in the charts of absurd stories – the same schools that ban the age-old game of conkers for fear of injury to the players, the ones that no longer celebrate Christmas in case a nativity play offends non-Christians. The ones that rewrite nursery rhymes, so instead of baa-baa black sheep, children sing of rainbow or happy sheep!

There are councils who ban the flying of the flag of St George on the English saint’s day for fear of igniting xenophobia, and others that advise staff not to refer to their coffee as white or black for fear of causing offence. Yet the very people such barmy bans are designed not to offend – ethnic and religious minorities – are among the first to speak out in defence of common sense and freedom of speech. It is only the real fanatics who place a fatwa on the perpetrator’s head.

Now that words once in everyday usage are regarded as racists slurs, what is to be done when retelling history for television or radio consumption? The politically correct lobby would have history actually rewritten, such as in the case of Guy Gibson’s dog, Nigger, in the story of the Dambusters raid in 1943.

The classic British movie is being remade, and as the black Labrador played a crucial part in the raid – his name being used to signify a successful breach of a dam – what are the producers supposed to do? In recent televised screenings of the original film, starring Richard Todd as Victoria Cross winner Gibson, the offending name is either bleeped out or dubbed. In the remake, the dog will be called Nixon.

Racism and discrimination are taboo in modern society, but rewriting history so as not to offend future generations is equally offensive. Tinkering with the facts, in the name of political correctness is a mockery of truth.