Guardian Fletter on the danger of the far right in British politics. Trouble ahead, trouble behind
Italy has a neo-fascist Prime Minister, Germany has seen the rise of Nazi-tribute politics and the French fascist Marine Le Pen considers to be a major force in politics. In the UK, while far right politics is far from absent from official political discourse, actual fascists have remained relatively marginal. Stand Up to Racism, Unite Against Fascism and others have a perpetual job to counter the at the moment splintered UK far and fascist right.
The Tamworth By-Election in particular suggested there could be trouble ahead
Labour’s two byelection victories are good news. Whatever reservations there may be about a Starmer government, the demise of the Tories is long overdue. That said, the Tamworth result also provided a warning. Parties of the far right – Reform UK, Ukip and Britain First – got a combined vote of over 9%. If a Labour government doesn’t address the issues this raises, something a lot worse could be on the rise.
The Gordon Family had owned the estate adjacent to Balmoral since James 111 gave it to them in 1482. For the last 175 years the estate has been leased to the Royal Family for shooting and hunting after an agreement with Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert. In 1998 the then owner John Gordon bumped up the cost of the lease which Queen Elizabeth 11 agreed to pay.
However in 2021 Alistair Storey the CEO of a hospitality company bought the estate for £23m and plans to use it for commercial hunting and shooting. The Royals have been given notice to clear orf the land.
The whole episode seems to echo the Perry Anderson and Tom Nairn analysis of the British ruling class where they argued that the landed aristocracy rather than industrialists were still really running things. The Royals remain in place but adjacent to Balmoral business has finally taken charge..
There is media speculation that Jeremy Hunt may step down as an MP before the Election as with boundary changes he thinks he may lose.
This has been dubbed a Portillo moment but it would not be as it would hardly be a surprise
I was there in North London in May 1997 when Portillo then an obnoxious Tory Minister was defeated by Labour in Enfield Southgate.
Not at the count but at an election night party in Tottenham. I’d been out in the Condtituency a few days before and wondered if people with two cars parked outside their house would vote Labour.
It seemed a bit unlikely but the surprise was they did, as much a surprise to Portillo as others
Tory Culture Wars are reaching new and baffling levels of complexity.
Post two Tory by-election defeats Rees Mogg has written in the Mail (Google it if you must) that the Tories are in a stupor similar to that of Henry V1.
Henry, according to some perhaps entirely accurate versions of Our Island Story fell into a stupor in August 1453 and didn’t wake up for a year. Speculation as to the health issue he had can be found on line.
According to Rees Mogg the Tories are in a similar stupor and must wake up. On the other hand they must not be Woke.
Its what bearded Marxists call the negation of the negation but in practical terms its probably just BS although in other times and other places calls to wake up have been part of far right rhetoric. One suspects Rees Mogg has his dog whistle out
Adil has departed Ambridge, his health having been seriously impacted by the chaos at Grey Gables. If we are to believe the BBC’s reporting the whole project has been seriously under resourced and badly project managed.
That said the Ambridge Socialist has little sympathy for Adil. He fronted up the still mysterious owners, when he illegally sacked the original workforce at Grey Gables. He then paid people off to try and avoid Tribunal claims. Adil may have an engaging personality but he represents them not us.
Henry in line to be a vicar
Henry has been exposed as the person who spray painted St Stephens door with rude words about the vicar in respect of Titchener. Alan has set Henry to weed the churchyard. In conversation Henry has explained to Alan that he is not religious but the vicar explained that the Bible caters for this. It looks like Henry could have a career here
Grange Farm crisis
As part of the fall out from the Grey Gables crisis Oliver, the minority shareholder has struck a deal with the owners to provided extra funding to sort matters out. The quid pro quo is that Oliver has to stump up the improbably small sum of £250K which he thinks may require him to sell Grange Farm, thus rendering the Grundys homeless. Once again the Ambridge Socialist urges that the whole matter could be resolved by turning Grey Gables into a Wetherspoons
CRYPT DOOR OPEN ON THE SCARIEST HALLOWEEN BEARD POLL
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, which campaigns against irrational prejudice against the hirsute, has said that the crypt door has creaked open on the Scariest Beard of Halloween 2023 poll with the voting for the Scary Final now open.
Neil Oliver and Laurence Fox won the first round and go to the Scary Final. Round Two saw Jonathan Gullis win easily with Paul Mason just second.
The title, awarded each year on October 31st, takes a wry look at Halloween festivities by identifying the scariest beard in the public eye. The winner is likely to win by the narrowest crack of a squeaky floorboard.
The BLF does not generally believe that beards are scary, a view promoted by generations of pogonophobes.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, facial hair is part of Halloween tradition. We aim every year to subvert some of the pogonophobia that lies behind that, while looking in a light hearted way at ‘scary’ beards.
Protest on Palestine. Why size & scale matters. Just ask the Met Police
Saturday saw protests across the UK about current events in Palestine. There were protests around the UK, if you checked social media. I noted Newcastle,Bolton, Manchester, Cambridge. There were also protests across the world, in France (where Macron has banned them) in Italy and Kerala, India where the writ of Modi doesnt run.
I was on the one in Cardiff which saw well over a thousand march from the Nye Bevan statue. It was big march for the Welsh Capital whose population is not a great deal more than that of a larger London Borough. It was also young and diverse a protest of those you don’t usually see much on protests.
The London protest was much, much bigger. The Met Police gave up estimating numbers on marches ages ago(it is a very imprecise science even for them) but they claimed 100,000 were present last week.Given a Guardian report noted, un-evidenced, the same number again perhaps the Met just re-issued their press release. We do know 1,000 officers were around.
The PSC said 500,000. It was certainly a good deal larger than last Saturday’s march and a march requiring stages in Trafalgar and Parliament Squares clearly was very large
Who however was impressed? It seems unlikely that either Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer noticed that their bellicose statements on the matter don’t fit a wider move of concern, focused on the impact on civilians. A YouGov poll has found an overwhelmingly majority support a cease fire.
Aditya Chakrabortty has written in the Guardian of the problem for democratic politics when such protests are demeaned or ignored
The argument is not however a lack of reports but how much prominence they have or don’t have given the seriousness of the matter and the global scale of protest.
You had to look to social media to find that numbers of Jewish people were on the London protest, horrified on what is taking place in Israel as well as Palestinian but understanding that the renewed cycle of violence stems from actions taken over time by the hard to far right Israeli Government. The leading Israeli paper Haaretz has been saying this for several weeks now.
But if UK politicians mostly weren’t listening what was the point?
Several speakers at the London protest made the thing clear. It is an act of solidarity that will be seen and heard across the world. Physical proof that many stand with them against the aggression of the IDF and the Israeli Government and for a ceasefire and political rights for the Palestinian people.
Steve Bell was sacked recently by the Guardian after a cartoon depicting Benjamin Netanyahu was at least implied to be anti-Semitic. There was an alleged reference to the Merchant of Venice and a pound of flesh. It was of course nothing of the sort as was clear if one actually looked at the cartoon (it can be found on Steve Bell’s site @bellbelltoons).
I had a twitter exchange with Steve Bell to this effect and of course received a schooling by Xers on the Merchant of Venice. None seemed to have actually looked at the cartoon. It was course a pile on.
Writing in the Spectator Fraser Nelson defended Steve Bell by pointed out that as papers become increasingly digitally focused- as the Guardian has- the ability of those who take offence to do so has increased.
Alan Rusbridger who edited the Guardian for a long while when Bell was drawing cartoons of the paper has pondered whether the right to offend is now diminished.
I think Steve Bell has made a significant contribution to modern British social history. His cartoons of Thatcher, Cameron, Major and Blair did a good deal to shape their public image whether they liked it or not
I’m not an enthusiast for the right to offend however. Hard right Tory politicians like Suella Braverman and Lee Anderson regularly exercise what they regard as their right to offend the poor and dispossesed. Rather and I think here Bell stands in the classical tradition of political cartooning in a democracy there is or should be a right to criticise and annoy the rich and powerful and perhaps particularly authoritarian politicians like, in the current case,Benjamin Netanyahu
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that it has barred Andrew Cooper the Tory candidate in the Tamworth By-Election for 5 years.
Mr Cooper was already under investigation before the poll for comments on social media, but the BLF says that his decision to storm off the stage at the result was announced at Tamworth early on Friday morning brought the hirsute into disrepute.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, we are a broad based and tolerant network but we take bringing the hirsute into disrepute seriously. The fact that Andrew Cooper was pictured with Jonathan Gullis, also barred from the BLF, has compounded the matter
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that it has barred Andrew Cooper the Tory candidate in the Tamworth By-Election for 5 years.
Mr Cooper was already under investigation before the poll for comments on social media, but the BLF says that his decision to storm off the stage at the result was announced at Tamworth early on Friday morning brought the hirsute into disrepute.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, we are a broad and tolerant network but we do take action when we find the hirsute being taken into disrepute.
