I have to thank Nick Ferrari and his team at LBC. At 7.00 am, I was listening to Nick's programme. He was discussing Lee Anderson's use of the F-word about migrants refusing to take up residence on the Bibby Stockholm barge. As we know, Mr Anderson uttered these edifying words:“If they don’t like barges then they should f*** off back to France,"
As I would have expected, the calls to Nick Ferrari were generally supportive of Anderson, but I decided to make a contribution by way of a text message. To my surprise, Nick Ferrari read it out on air. A surprise indeed, as mine was one of the few contributions that did not support 30p Lee's outburst. I said this:
"If any further proof were needed that the Tory party has changed into UKIP, 30p Lee's outburst proves it conclusively"
I have to admit, I was pleased with that, as all the other callers were giving Anderson fulsome praise, so I was glad to sound a note of dissent. And indeed, Anderson's remark is the type of comment I'd expect to hear from a UKIP, English Defence League or National Front member.
So - how has it been received in wider politics? Natasha Tsangarides of Freedom from Torture said: “Time and time again, we’re seeing Government ministers amping up the cruelty of their anti-refugee rhetoric to distract from their own catastrophic mismanagement of both the asylum system and of this country. The dehumanising and inflammatory language used by certain politicians is putting people seeking sanctuary in this country at real risk.”
Senior Tories, however, have rallied round their Vice Chairman. As the Independent says:
Justice secretary Alex Chalk defended his colleague Mr Anderson’s “f*** off back to France” comment – arguing that it was “salty” language but his point was “not unreasonable”.
Chalk told LBC that Anderson “expresses the righteous indignation of the British people” and said his “indignation is well placed”.
But what of the Prime Minister? Was he not shocked at this senior party official using an obscenity in public? Er... not quite. Downing Street endorsed Chalk's defence of Anderson, saying: “The justice secretary was speaking on behalf of the government. That is the response."Which leads me to the "double standards" and the "TTH" of the title. This whole disgraceful affair has shown yet again, how, according to this government, there is one rule for Tory MPs and another for the rest of us. Had a Labour or LibDem politician uttered this obscenity in public, the Prime Minister, cabinet and the whole Tory Party would have been simmering with outrage, calling for the miscreant to be hounded out of Parliament. No sign of that. Instead, we have seen what I call "TTH" - Typical Tory Hypocrisy.
What a shame that Keir Starmer is not leading the call for such measures to be taken against Mr Anderson. As "The National" says:
"Alison Thewliss, the SNP’s home affairs spokesperson, said: “Keir Starmer's silence on Lee Anderson’s despicable comments speaks volumes for the state of the Labour Party.It shouldn't be so difficult for Keir Starmer to call out this shameful and racist language. But as we have seen too often, Keir Starmer seems incapable of doing the right thing"
I don't want to get bogged down in the details of the Bibby Stockholm barge and its facilities. Tabloid journalist, Carol Malone was making a major issue of it (shouting like a fishwife - no disrespect to fishwives) on the Jeremy Vine TV programme this morning. Rather, I think I discern a wider issue emerging. From the Evening Standard:
"Labour MP Rupa Huq accused the Tories of “desperate gutter politics”, adding it “looks like they are trying to regain their reputation as the nasty party”.Rupa Huq's words could well be prescient. The number of calls to LBC and Jeremy Vine this morning showed that there is a bigoted, anti-migrant section of opinion out there, who really believe they are part of a majority in this country. This "lobby", if they deserve that term, range from people who want to stop "illegal" immigration to the extreme Right who want to expel all minorities from our shores. As the Tories will enter the next election with absolutely nothing to boast about, becoming the Nasty Party towards migrants might be worth their while. Instead of focussing on real issues, scapegoating may be seen as a way to attract votes - rather like during the Brexit campaign. In other words, the Conservative Party could become a sort of diluted National Front.
The next General Election campaign could be very nasty indeed.
Lee Anderson has expressed no remorse for his foul-mouthed outburst. The leading anti-fascist organisation, Hope not Hate, has issued this statement:
"Words have consequences. HOPE not hate has recorded a huge increase in far-right anti-migrant activity. When will the Government recognise their language matters?The Conservative Party is rapidly adopting dangerous and divisive tactics. This has to be challenged".
Agreed.
Lee Anderthal, as Private Eye calls him, has an inconsistent political career. For a long time, he was a member of the Labour Party and was elected as a councillor in 2015. He was suspended three years later by the local Labour Party after he had received a community protection warning from the council for using boulders to block members of the Traveller community from "setting up camp at a site in the area". Such hostile direct action against a minority group is scarcely consistent with Labour Party membership, but it does fit the current Tory government's xenophobic bigotry like a glove.
ReplyDeleteWhat working class Tories in government such as Anderson and Nadine Dorries fail to understand is that they are tolerated in government because they don't fit the usual rich toff image of senior Tories; they're there because the party hopes to gain slightly more credibility with working class voters, especially those in the so-called 'red wall' constituencies. I have little doubt that their colleagues with more privileged backgrounds snigger about them behind their backs - a point that I think is confirmed by Dorries' current lengthy sulk because she wasn't awarded a life peerage by the man she adored and loyally followed like a smitten puppy: ex-PM Johnson, of course.
As for Anderson's coarse language: while such words are now quite common in some TV dramas, there are still many people who find them offensive. I suspect Anderson thinks it makes sound like a plain-speaking man of the people, but there are many ordinary people who regard such swearing unnecessary, if not downright offensive. Something of an own goal there, I feel.
The knock-on effect of Anderson's foul-mouthed statement, following as it does similarly inflammatory statements by the likes of Patel and Braverman, is that it emboldens racists and gives their vile views more credibility. Last year, residents of a Kent coastal time picketed an RNLI station to stop a lifeboat launching to rescue people whose lives were in danger. I've no doubt that recurring rhetoric from government ministers helped to encourage such actions.
The danger is that they are letting a genie out of the bottle that they may find impossible to rein in if things get seriously out of hand. The more they keep mouthing off, the more likely such vigilante actions will spread, with the possibility of lethal consequences if organised racists feel they are getting 'a nod and a wink' for their views and actions from our government.
I agree that more privileged Tories will be sniggering about Anderson, Dorries and other Tories from working class backgrounds. The same type of Tory will be passing racist comments about Sunak, Braverman, Patel and other ethnic minority Tories.
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