Some
will assume that politicians are interested in what they think and that is why
parties commission opinion polls but in reality they are not interested in what anyone
thinks but only in how they might vote. Politicians also kid themselves that what they
hear on the doorstep will translate into a vote.
If the Tories called on me and steered the conversation around to the Mayor of
London I would happily endorse their view that he is among the most malevolent
of individuals to have ever sullied British politics, and when Labour rings the
bell to tell me we have been taxed to near penury by Hunt and his predecessors
I would go further and say that not a single one of the current crew’s decisions makes any sense at all.
Both parties would go away happy and come the General Election
neither will get my vote - nor will that Tice fellow.
Which sort of brings me to last Friday afternoon. I was listening to Talk Radio
but not paying much attention because probably Vanessa Feltz was on and she has to
be the worst radio interviewer there has ever been and the programme cut to Rishi Sunak at his little lectern outside No. 10.
He did not at the time provoke any memorable sound bites in my mind except a very generalised “What a prat!”. It is 2024 Rishi not 2004 when your words may
have been a much needed warning. A bit late now. Where have you been since
October 7th?
The radio reverted to the studio where I was staggered to hear all the pundits
saying what a wonderful speech it was, Sunak’s “best ever” and just maybe it was. It wouldn’t be difficult.
Our unelected Prime Minister is worried about the way militant Islamists are
well on the way to taking over country and Parliament (as
one of them told me they would almost 30 years ago) but the only threat he can actually name is Nick
Griffin, one time Member of the European Parliament waving the flag of the
British National Party who is now 65 years old and who has disappeared from public view. Some threat!
But Griffin is apparently still a figurehead of the far right. Who the Hell are they anyway?
When did you last see one or many rampaging through the streets of London? (1993
if you are asking.)
I am prepared to believe that Nick Griffin is not a nice man. He is on the
record as being a Jew hater (and fined £2,300 for it in 1998) and
Mick Barnbrook
used to tell me (circa 2011/12) that Griffin was a small time crook who was on
the list of politicians he had reported to the police for alleged criminality.
18 of them ended up out of office and in some cases behind bars but despite
Mick’s evidence of financial irregularities he was never able to persuade the
police to investigate Griffin.
Mick and I postulated that the establishment needed a prominent
bogey-man in the
public eye to deflect opinion from their own criminality.
So now Sunak singles out Griffin as a bad man who he alleges supports George
Galloway MP; who denies ever having any contact with Griffin.
Perhaps Rishi Sunak should investigate Nick Griffin more thoroughly. He was
arrested in 2004 for allegedly stirring up racial hatred against Asians for
remarks he made in a BBC documentary. Then he claimed the arrest was a stunt by the
Labour Government to curry favour among Muslims. Would that ever happen? In his defence Griffin quoted the
Quran and a jury acquitted him of all charges. The Great British Public had spoken.
Sunak is suddenly worried about militant Islam as he jolly well should be but the only named
bad man is Griffin who said the same thing 20 and more years ago. (Griffin is
omitted from the official transcript of the speech, you need to go to
Youtube or similar.)
I suppose it explains why Suella Braverman was sacked. She knew what appeasement would lead to.
Fortunately the Talk Radio presenters appear to have come around to my initial
point of view. Sunak is a prat. One can’t even say “fine words and no action”
because some of his words are not particularly fine.