The sight of extreme Brexiteers, burning flags, puffing their chests like overweight silver backs is encouraged by more mainstream enthusiasts warning of civil disobedience if their pure type of Brexit is not implemented. And the similar antics of the hard left are tolerated by those who should know better. Political debate has descended into shouting matches between the believers and the infidels.
Last night I watched the Uncivil War. Of course, it is a docudrama, but it is based on a horrible and cynical truth which will reshape political campaigning for a generation. Everyone has a room 101 which contains something that they are deeply afraid of. Find out what they are, who they are and where they are and feed their horrors. Exploit them. In real time. It was unnerving to watch the character of Cummings jump on a table chanting two terrible lies, ‘£350m and Turkey.’w It is now accepted that they were lies. But who cares? They won. That’s the end of it. Suck it up. To do anything else is treason. And a tweet that sent a shiver down my spine in relation to the 200 MPs who put down an amendment to stop a no deal Brexit? ‘Traitors it’s time that Parliament was cleansed’.
Actually, stopping a no deal Brexit is in line with Mayspeak. Her oft quoted line, ‘it’s better to have no deal than a bad deal,’ still works as she claims that her deal is a good one so the government is hardly supporting a no deal. Although the vote last night was symbolic it clearly shows that there is not a majority for no deal. Not surprisingly the twitter response from supposedly educated people is horrific.
This is the problem with finding a solution to Brexit. There isn’t one because nobody is entirely sure what exactly people voted for. After all, Bozo warned us in 2016 that a no deal would be ‘insane’. But we know some of the things that they voted against: immigration, Muslims, the political elite, foreigners taking their jobs, foreigners driving down wage levels, foreigners taking over their communities, a Federal Europe, our laws being made by foreigners. The vote was a Christmas tree upon which to hang any grievance. Yet I still have a gut feeling that Madame’s deal will eventually come through. Although perhaps not on the first vote. Whether this is wishful thinking or evidence based is still a mystery to me.
But back to bad behaviour on College Green. Firstly, have any criminal offences been committed? Calling someone a Nazi? No. Making a threat to safety? Possibly, if it had put someone of reasonable firmness in fear. These are all minor public order act offences which the police could have dealt with using a little common sense.
The trouble is someone has pressed that dangerous red button marked, ‘Something Must Be Done.’ Remember that the police have a statutory duty to stop people from impeding MPs from going to Parliament. Just ensure that there is a presence and a menace.People have the right to protest. To shout and scream. To let off steam. Politicians are regarded as lower than vermin. If they are seen to go into hiding, to be even more remote and out of touch than people already think they are then we are in for more disillusionment and disconnect. However, College Green and Parliament Square have become a magnet for the weirdos and the just plain nasty. The police must be vigilant or else there will be a fatality.
