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This has to stop — before it’s too late
House of Commons Speaker John Bercow was unable to stop Boris Johnson’s inflammatory language on the day, confining his “advice” on restraint to “all colleagues”. It wasn’t “all colleagues” that needed a lecture. It was the prime minister. And the Attorney-General. A double act to end all double acts, promoting division and hatred and provoking violence. Apparently the rules on appropriate parliamentary language allow this. I wrote the following to my Labour MP:
“I watched Boris Johnson’s performance in parliament yesterday with growing horror. His language and, when challenged, his insistence on continuing to use it (and even make it worse) is becoming more frightening. The “Surrender Act” is used to provoke anger and it will in the end provoke violence. From the time of Enoch Powell (and before, of course, but I’m talking about within my memory) whenever provocative language is used the result is an outbreak of violence. The parallel with Powell seems to me appropriate, given their shared racism. When challenged, Johnson simply repeats the insult (in this case going from “the Surrender Act” to “the Intimidation Act” to “the Capitulation Act”. Both Johnson and Geoffrey Cox set up a “Parliament versus the People” narrative, which is really a fascist narrative. I realise that we shouldn’t use that word carelessly, but I agree with the Labour MP (I can’t remember who it was) who did use it yesterday. As people said yesterday, another horror like the murder of Jo Cox could happen as a result of all this.
What can be done? Bercow’s semi-rebukes to Johnson (conveyed through admonitions “to all colleagues”) have no effect. A friend of mine has written to his Tory MP to protest, which seems an excellent idea, particularly if the practice spreads. Can you and others who share the disgust at Johnson’s language and attitude use Urgent Questions to keep up the pressure on Johnson, debates, quoting from constituents’ concerns (you’re welcome to use anything in this email that might be useful) …”
If you have a Tory MP, please write to them. Another friend of mine has signed a petition to his Tory MP. But write to your Labour or LibDem MP too. If you can, start a petition, organise a protest.
Good luck to Bercow’s meeting. But it must point the finger where it has to be pointed—at Johnson.
No answers, please – just bring on the clowns
An exchange between Emily Thornberry and Boris Johnson today in parliament slowly degenerated into yah-boo childishness. She shouldn’t let him draw her into his antics. Speaker John Bercow, after some incoherent yelling from Johnson, then joined in the circus: “I cannot believe the right honourable gentleman behaved in this way in his schooldays – or perhaps he did, which may explain a lot now.” He then told Thornberry off for calling the foreign secretary “Boris”.
Meanwhile, anyone in the real world who wanted answers to serious questions could be forgiven for despairing: the Foreign Office team got away with defending the rule of law in Spain (by which they meant the police beating up voters and wrecking polling booths) and refusing to say they would oppose Sudan joining the Commonwealth on the grounds of that country’s human rights abuses: any decision, apparently, would be up to the other Commonwealth members. But as many of them are human rights abusers themselves, we’d better not hold our breaths.
So at the beginning of this afternoon I am in favour of closing down our useless parliament and dismembering the “Commonwealth”. As for the EU, don’t ask. In any case it got lost amid the Johnson-Thornberry double act.
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