28/03/2024
Darren Lewis, writing in the centre left paper The Daily Mirror, says that 'The extremists we should really fear taking over the country are in the Conservative Party'. In an essay looking at the hard right's attempts to influence public policy and dial up a "cultural war" like Christian extremists in the States, Mr Lewis says "Anti-war protest is as old as it is legitimate. In this country, millions of people, a sizeable number Jewish, many of them white British, have been as appalled by the killings of Palestinians over the past five months as they were at the October 7 massacre of Israelis. And yet Lee Anderson, as Tory party vice-chair, described those voicing concern in London as “Islamists”. ... The Tory far right want to reach social media’s soundbite generation, the people taking only snippets of news from the net and not the full picture from traditional media. So for the avoidance of any doubt, let’s be clear: those heartbroken at the cycle of blood in the Middle East are ordinary people like you and me. Extremists did take over the country years ago - but they aren’t Muslim or Islamist. They are in the Tory Party. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave the green light for his politicians to be overtly racially offensive under the thinly-veiled guise of "straight talking" in 2019. Back then he compared Muslim women wearing the Burqa to letterboxes.... The effects of the Tories’ pronouncements are playing out on social media and on our streets. Xenophobia, the fear being duplicitously stirred up by our odious government as a parting gift, is turning the country into a tinder box."
