inequality‘Evil men with racist views 
Spreading all across the land’ 

 
Brexit was responsible for the birth of this column, and with the possible exception of the creation of the welfare state, is the biggest event in UK politics post WW2. 

‘Vote leave’ sold Brexit to the electorate with the pretence of jam tomorrow; more trade and prosperity, and extra funding for entities such as the NHS. Aside from the slogan ‘an extra £350m a week for the NHS‘, most will remember the campaign leading up to the referendum for three words; ‘taking back control‘. 

Whilst people felt more comfortable pretending that this meant taking back control from Brussels, the less palatable truth that it was about immigration, taking back control of our borders.  

73% of those who are worried about immigration voted Leave. (1) 

Lord Ashcroft’s election day poll of 12,369 voters also discovered that 33% of leave voters said the main reason was that leaving ‘offered the best chance for the UK to regain control over immigration and its own borders.’. (2) 

According to The Economist, areas that saw increases of over 200% in foreign-born population between 2001 and 2014 saw a majority of voters back leave in 94% of cases. (3) 
 

‘73% of those who are worried about immigration voted Leave’

 
During the morning of the Brexit referendum day, Jo Cox, the Labour MP Batley and Spen, was murdered by Thomas Mair, a 52-year-old constituent who shouted ‘Britain first‘ as he attacked. Mair was a white supremacist, obsessed with Nazis and apartheid-era South Africa, with links to the US-based neo-Nazi group National Alliance. 

Post-Brexit there is data based evidence that shows attacks linked to extreme right-wing ideology are increasing.  

Official figures show that since March 2017, counter-terrorism police and the intelligence services have stopped 32 plots they assessed as aiming to cause mass casualties on British soil. Of these, 18 were Islamist related, and 12 were triggered by extreme right-wing terrorist ideology. The other two were linked to category known as left, anarchist or single-issue terrorism (LASIT). (4) 

In March this year, assistant commissioner Matt Jukes, head of counter-terrorism, said that 19 out of 20 children who were arrested in the previous 12-months for terrorism offences were linked to an extreme right-wing ideology. He also said that 41% of counter-terrorism arrests in 2021 were of extreme right-wing suspects. (4) 

Data for 2020 show that 89 white people were arrested on suspicion of terror offences, compared with 63 Asian suspects, 15 black suspects and 18 of other ethnicities. This is the third year in a row that the number of white terrorism suspects being arrested in Britain has outstripped those of Asian appearance. (5) All of this is post-Brexit. 

The Home Office has been taking a hard-line on immigration since 2012, when the then home secretary, Theresa May, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, said: ‘The aim is to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration.’ 

Subsequent home secretaries have continued this policy, one that has been a useful tool for the Tories. Firstly, it plays well with their hard-right MPs and the more racist in society. 

A more subliminal benefit is that immigration and immigrants make an ideal scapegoat and diversion for the chaos that has been government in the years after 2016. 
 

‘immigration and immigrants make an ideal scapegoat and diversion for the chaos that has been government in the years after 2016’

 
Extremist politicians over the years have been successful in exploiting ethnic minorities and immigrants. When times are difficult, and, or, their policies are failing they make an easy target. An ideal diversion that enables them to whip-up support from the masses. 

The government’s failure to maintain living standards and public infrastructure, from health to housing, can be disguised, and with the help of the right-wing press, migrants can be blamed as a constant drain on resources. 

Our previous home secretary, Priti Patel, came up with a form of ‘off-shoring’. The plan was to send them to Rwanda, who we had paid £120m to as part of the scheme. To date none have been sent there. 

The current home secretary, Suella Braverman, is so enamoured by the idea that, in a recent speech, she said, ‘I would love to have a front page of the Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, it’s my obsession.’ 

Jonathan Gullis, the Stoke MP, explained that the government’s policy of deporting people seeking asylum to Rwanda is ‘fantastic‘, ‘terrific‘ and a ‘deterrent‘. 

Jonathan how can it be a deterrent when the number of numbers of people crossing the Channel is increasing significantly? 

Data shows that C. 40,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year, the highest number since these figures began to be collected in 2018. In 2021, the total was 28,526 people, in 2020 it was 8,404. (6) 
 

‘a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, it’s my obsession’

 
As I wrote earlier, there are distinct benefits for the government with the migrant crisis. Their narrative is that we are under a migrant siege. The government is trying to stop this but they are being frustrated in their efforts by ‘activist’ lawyers, human rights law, tofu eaters, and the Labour opposition. Last week the Sunday Telegraph editor, Allister Heath, described the governments opponents as having ‘near total intellectual hegemony‘. 

The true problem is the broken immigration system. However, with all the political capital the migrants crisis provides the government it makes no political sense for them to fix it. Instead, they stoke up the fear of ‘more of these imaginary parasites’, pushing voters to support the only party that seems appalled by the threat. 

To keep the pot boiling the crisis can be escalated as is politically expedient, to a point that for many, no amount of immigrants is low enough. 

Brexit has not been the transformative event we were promised. With the pre-Brexit excuse that it was the fault of the EU’s free movement no longer valid the Conservatives are exposed. The self-made chaos in Dover has become their last hiding place. 

The right-wing press continues to add fuel to the fire with their incendiary commentary. Terms such as ‘hostile environment‘, ‘invasion‘, ‘swarm‘, ‘legitimate concerns’,illegal migrants‘, serve only to encourage extremists.  

Both the media and the government need to be careful about the language they use, as it is proven to encourage far-right terrorism.  

In October 2020, Braverman, then attorney general (‘AG’) for England and Wales, was briefed on how hate speech by senior politicians could lead to a terrorist risk. It followed an alleged terror plot against a law firm shortly after Priti Patel, then home secretary, had claimed that ‘activist lawyers‘ were frustrating the removal of failed asylum seekers. 

As a result, senior legal figures contacted the AG’s voicing their concerns that inflammatory political rhetoric inspired violence. Braverman met with government lawyers, the lord chancellor and lord chief justice to discuss this, and was sufficiently that she asked Patel to consider toning down her language. 
 

‘she asked Patel to consider toning down her language’

 
Now, as home secretary, she seems to have forgotten her concerns; firstly talked about an ‘invasion‘, then following it up by referring to ‘Albanian criminals‘ in parliament, which prompted Edi Rama, the Albanian PM, to accuse Braverman of using ‘purely xenophobic‘ words. 

One prominent barrister with knowledge of the discussions during October 2020, said: ‘At the very least, it was reckless. At worst, she knows it’s likely to instigate attacks. It’s either reckless or it’s deliberate and she’s got no concern for the consequences. The home secretary’s job is to ensure public safety, not to generate serious risk of harm to individuals.’ 

The day after Braverman used the word ‘invasion‘, prominent far-right figure Mark Collett – who has praised Adolf Hitler, been arrested for inciting racial hatred and has called refugees ‘cockroaches‘ – forwarded a message on Telegram from a fellow white supremacist that said: ‘What’s happening to our borders is an invasion and no amount of pearl clutching will change that.’ 

Collet, founder of far-right group Patriotic Alternative, stated in a Telegram post the day after firebombs were thrown at the Kent immigration centre: ‘This attack is the unfortunate result of living in a multicultural tyranny imposed by a globalist system that cares nothing for white people.’ 

‘Globalist’ is terms used to describe a person who advocates the interpretation or planning of economic and foreign policy in relation to events and developments throughout the world. The terms has been used to promote the antisemitic conspiracy that Jewish people do not have allegiance to their countries of origin, but to some worldwide order, E.G., a global economy or international political system that will enhance their control over the world’s banks, governments, and media. 

‘The idea of a Jewish Globalist was central to the core ideology of Nazism. Hitler often portrayed Jews as ‘international elements‘ who ‘conduct their business everywhere,’ posing a threat to all people who are ‘bounded to their soil, to the Fatherland.’ (7) 

Several broadcasters on the right-wing news channel GB News, including Nigel Farage and Dan Wootton, also used the term after Grant Shapps, who is Jewish, briefly replaced Braverman as home secretary last month. 

Far-right elements also attacked the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, after he rejected the language used by Braverman, with one accusing him on the right-wing Traditional Britain Group Telegram channel of ‘treason‘ and referring to his Jewish faith alongside an image of Pepe the Frog, the cartoon character adopted by the alt-right. 

Last week, former skills minister Andrea Jenkyns referred to immigration lawyers as ‘anti-British‘. In a letter to Braverman, Jenkyns wrote: ‘You were right to describe this as an invasion and many of my constituents thank you for your candour.’ 

Before concluding I thought it was useful to use data to put the ‘invasion‘ into context. 

It is estimated that globally there are 27.1m refugees, the UK, with a population of 67m is home to C.140,000, <1%.  

Despite government rhetoric the number of annual asylum seekers is not at all-time highs. According to the government’s own data, there were more than 84,000 applicants in 2002, compared to 63,000 in the 12-months to June this year. (8) 

Data from the Oxford Migration Observatory shows that 17 EU countries received larger numbers of asylum applications per capita last year than the UK. We received 8-asylum applicants for every 10,000 people across the country in 2020/21, compared to just under 23 for Germany and just under 18 in France. Cyprus received 153 applicants for every 10,000 people in the country, the highest among 32 European countries. 
 

‘Brexit came and went, but it hasn’t delivered  the ‘broad sunlit uplands‘ we were promised’

 
In addition, the number of migrants arriving by small boat is low compared with those granted through official schemes.  

75,764 visas were issued in the last year under the Hong Kong scheme for British nationals.  

In the last 9-months, 140,000 entered the UK through the Ukrainian scheme. 

Over the last year, 25% refugee entered the UK by small boats or lorries. 

So much for an ‘invasion’. 

What we are seeing is typical of far-right politicians; give the electorate a figure of hate. Previously it was the EU. Brexit came and went, but it hasn’t delivered  the ‘broad sunlit uplands‘ we were promised. 

Migrants are the next scapegoat. Victims of a series of Tory governments that have failed the country on all fronts; Brexit, the economy, Covid, failing infrastructure, NHS and social care in tatters. 

I don’t wish to paint older people as racists, but they tend to be less tolerant of immigrants than the young who have grown-up in a multi-cultural society. However, as the old are fond of reminding us, ‘we fought a war for you’. In turn let me remind them, ‘yes, you did, a war to stop the same racists you tolerate today.’ 

The truth is rarely comfortable! 

 

‘(And this is the flower of the partisan) 

Who died for freedom’ 

Notes: 

  1. https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/media/39149/bsa34_brexit_final.pdf 
  2. ‘How the United Kingdom voted on Thursday… and why – Lord Ashcroft Polls’. lordashcroftpolls.com.  
  3. https://www.economist.com/britain/2016/07/14/explaining-the-brexit-vote 
  4. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/16/terrorism-in-the-uk-the-rising-threat-of-far-right-extremists 
  5. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/terrorism-arrests-uk-white-ethnic-b1812288.html 
  6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-53734793 
  7. https://www.ajc.org/translatehate/globalist 
  8. https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/migrant-crisis-suella-braverman/ 

 
 
The second barrel from Philip this week as he devotes a column to immigration and racism. I suppose you know what’s coming when you read ‘I don’t want to paint older people as rascists, but…’ but in fact this has been a subject that has been interwoven with a column that first saw the light in the lead up to the Brexit referendum.

Philip has long believed that much of the leave vote was either overtly or covertly motivated by racism, and that the politics of this country bore more than a passing resemblance to that in Germany in the 30’s.

The fact that immigrants make a convenient punch bag for those with so much to disguise adds an even uglier tone, with Ms Braverman seemingly trying to top trump Ms Patel when it comes to whipping up a storm.

It’s a powerful column, but what was Philip thinking?:

‘Whilst racism is nothing new it was given fresh life post-Brexit. Immigration was a driver for many who voted “Leave”. Their success encouraged the pond life that had previously existed below the surface.

It is noticeable how quick the media are to dub an incident “terrorism” when it involves Muslim’s, yet with white extremists they are far more restrained. Perhaps the old saying, “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” is applicable?

Brexit has failed in just about every way conceivable, including immigration. This has forced its advocates to double-down.

This allied, to a series of Tory governments that have failed in just about every way conceivable, leads them to seek out scapegoats.

The data shows that there is no “invasion” other than in the minds of those who need it; the Tory’s and their fawning media supplicants. Both are populated by limited and deeply unpleasant people, some I would go as far as describing as “evil”. Incendiary language is used to cover-up their numerous shortcomings, and, like the bullies they are, they pick on those least able to defend themselves.

Many of the electorate have been let-down by austerity, Brexit, and levelling up. Despite this they go around with their eyes wide shut, believing the propaganda of the very people who have let them down.

Austerity is a one-sided class war, designed to benefit “friends” of the Tory’s. It’s justified by economists’ jargon, when that fails to do the trick dissenters can be silenced. Theresa May’s former right-hand man, Nick Timothy, rails in the Telegraph against the “weak policing” at our borders.

I have written and said many times that we are returning to the politics of the 1930’s and we are. The 1930’s began with the Wall St Crash, we had the GFC; outside of the US many countries, the UK included, practised austerity; isolationism was fashionable in the 1930’s we had Brexit. Fascism was fashionable in the 1930’s we have……

Lyrically, we return to this columns previous title with Heaven 17’s “We Don’t Need That Fascist Groove Thing.”

We finish with a complete departure, “Bella Ciao” the song of the Italian partisans, often said to be the most recognizable anti-fascist song worldwide. It was originally sung by Italian partisans (partigianos) who fought in the resistance movement during WWII. Because Mussolini’s Italy is widely regarded as the birthplace of fascist government, the song serves as a potent reminder of the resistance movements that grew alongside the political ideology. Enjoy!

 

@coldwarsteve
 

 

Philip Gilbert 2Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

Click on the link to see all Brexit Bulletins:

brexit fc





Leave a Reply