For decades, our country has been relentlessly destabilised by rocketing immigration and multiculturalism. A development fuelled by the Left-wing conviction that just about everyone on the planet has an inalienable right to come and live in Britain, and that once they arrive, they don’t need to make any effort to follow our customs or even, it sometimes seems, our laws.
It’s because of this toxic Left-wing fixation – and the many gormless Tories who swallowed it – that Britain is now home to so many people who hate us and our culture. It’s why Islamists have been able to wield such influence over policing, rape gangs have been able to operate with near-impunity, and illegal immigrants are free to roam our streets.
This, therefore, is where the blame really lies for today’s seething divisions. And the Left’s response? To smear, or try to silence, anyone who dares point it out.
This, however, is not the only reason we should ignore politicians who hector us about “division”. There’s another. Which is that, in one sense at least, we actually need more division, not less.
Most British people, I tend to suspect, don’t much like being forced to live side-by-side with wannabe jihadis, or machete-wielding psychopaths, or alleged “refugees” who assault underage girls within days of hopping off the dinghy. And because of this, I do want a government that divides us. By which I mean a government that divides the peaceful from the violent, the innocent from the predatory, the good from the evil.
And the way to bring about this particular form of division is not just to put offenders in prison. Wherever possible, it’s to kick them immediately out of our country. Or, better yet, prevent them from entering it in the first place by taking rather firmer control of our borders.
Here, then, is the message we need Sir Keir and co to heed. Remove the people who wish us harm. Because if you don’t, we’ll remove you.
If you want to know what sort of man Sir Keir Starmer is, consider these two clues. First, note how slow he was to make any public comment about the murder of Henry Nowak. And second, note how quick he was to condemn his political opponents for speaking up about it.
“Nigel Farage is completely wrong to use this to try and create division,” fumed the Prime Minister on Tuesday. Countless other politicians of the Left joined in, darkly warning the public about the dangers of “stoking division” among “our communities”, and denouncing “the far-Right” for “politicising a tragedy”.
Do these words sound a touch familiar? They should. Because, in recent years, this is exactly the same script that politicians of the Left have taken to reciting immediately after every atrocity inflicted on the British people. They use it every time Islamists have carried out a terror attack, or serious crimes have been committed by supposed asylum seekers.
They also used it when Elon Musk helped revive demands for a national inquiry into the Pakistani rape gangs. And they used it after Axel Rudakubana slaughtered three little girls in Southport. After every horror of this kind, they automatically start lecturing us about “division” – and ordering us to reject anyone who seeks to “stoke”, “sow” or “create” it.
Frankly, however, I’m sick of hearing these people read from their nakedly cynical playbook. For one thing, it’s so hypocritical.
Put it like this. How did politicians of the Left respond to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests of 2020? Did they condemn those leading them for “stoking division” by “politicising a tragedy”? Quite the opposite. They all rushed to proclaim that they shared the protesters’ anger, and declared that the “tragedy” in question should prompt a radical transformation of our society.
Sir Sadiq Khan said the death of George Floyd “has rightly ignited fury and anguish not just in the USA, but around the world”. Sir Keir himself said it “must be a catalyst for change”.
Meanwhile, Shabana Mahmood – who, as Home Secretary, is currently telling protesters that “there can be no justification for hijacking this tragedy to stir up violence and disorder” – wrote an open letter in June 2020, in which she said: “Many constituents have been in touch with me regarding protests across the United States after the murder of George Floyd. I share their anger at this unspeakable outrage.”
Curiously, her letter didn’t mention any violence and disorder stirred up by BLM protesters. But she did condemn “the appalling scenes of police violence across the US” and “the divisive and appalling rhetoric from President Donald Trump”.
Even more nauseating than the Left’s hypocrisy, however, is their shameless blame-shifting. Because the truth is, it’s not Nigel Farage who has made our society so dangerously divided. It’s the Left itself.
For decades, our country has been relentlessly destabilised by rocketing immigration and multiculturalism. A development fuelled by the Left-wing conviction that just about everyone on the planet has an inalienable right to come and live in Britain, and that once they arrive, they don’t need to make any effort to follow our customs or even, it sometimes seems, our laws.
It’s because of this toxic Left-wing fixation – and the many gormless Tories who swallowed it – that Britain is now home to so many people who hate us and our culture. It’s why Islamists have been able to wield such influence over policing, rape gangs have been able to operate with near-impunity, and illegal immigrants are free to roam our streets.
This, therefore, is where the blame really lies for today’s seething divisions. And the Left’s response? To smear, or try to silence, anyone who dares point it out.
This, however, is not the only reason we should ignore politicians who hector us about “division”. There’s another. Which is that, in one sense at least, we actually need more division, not less.
Most British people, I tend to suspect, don’t much like being forced to live side-by-side with wannabe jihadis, or machete-wielding psychopaths, or alleged “refugees” who assault underage girls within days of hopping off the dinghy. And because of this, I do want a government that divides us. By which I mean a government that divides the peaceful from the violent, the innocent from the predatory, the good from the evil.
And the way to bring about this particular form of division is not just to put offenders in prison. Wherever possible, it’s to kick them immediately out of our country. Or, better yet, prevent them from entering it in the first place by taking rather firmer control of our borders.
Here, then, is the message we need Sir Keir and co to heed. Remove the people who wish us harm. Because if you don’t, we’ll remove you.