PIED PIPER CALLS THE TUNE

 

 

MANY posts on social media have revealed concern at the success of Reform UK in the local by-elections in May, at the growth of this right wing populist party driven by the Pied Piper of Parliament, Nigel Farage leading all who follow a merry dance.

Farage had David Cameron dancing to his tune to set the Referendum nine years ago, which resulted in that disastrous public vote to leave the European Union, to turn our back on our closest neighbours.

The Leave line was membership of the EU was costing too much. We’d be better off getting out, getting better deals with the rest of the world. But what do I know?

Well, I look around, read as much as I can for background.

 Let’s look at some of the facts:

Food prices rose by an extra eight per cent because of Brexit, according to SNP-commissioned analysis.

The House of Commons library research showed that UK food prices rose by 25 per cent between December 2019 and March 2023. It estimated that it would have only increased by 17 per cent if Brexit had not happened.

And now Mr Farage has Sir Keir Starmer under his spell exaggerating fears concerning immigration.  So up pops the Prime Minister to promise Labour will get tough on immigration, with an alarming statement saying we risked becoming an “island of strangers”.

Not only was this typical of Farage rhetoric, to some politicians his words echoed Enoch Powell’s notorious “rivers of blood” speech.

But what irony that on the 80^th anniversary of the end of Second World War on May 8, marking the defeat of Fascist Germany, Britain should vote for the Right in local elections!

The migration issue is a major driving force behind the “popular” rise of Reform UK, as it is with the rise of the right across Europe. It is a depressing worrying trend.

In one post referring to the ongoing Channel crossings by illegal immigrants in small boats, the writer suggested a Spitfire be despatched to the beaches to “let ‘em have it”.

One has to hope that if he or she ever needs to flee this country, that wherever they wash up “foreigners” might look at them more kindly.

History records that Populism surfaces whenever there is growing dissatisfaction with the current government, prompting a demand for a stricter government to get a grip. I have read that a substantial number of the younger population favour an authoritarian party, a slippery path!

Today’s major concerns remain the cost of living and migrants, with a call for tightening restrictions on entry to the UK.

The former Conservative government created a huge mess and the new Labour government is beginning to look no better. Notwithstanding the serious and international issues demanding attention, people are pissed off with Labour rowing back on promises to increase investment in welfare and benefits. On top of that, there is the questionable demand to stop using care workers from other countries and to recruit from home!

The latter is a tricky one for without migrants there would be no NHS or care workers, to take jobs British people don’t want to do.

An authoritarian party scores because it sides with the Pops saying they will sort out the issues of most concern and, surprise, surprise, a lot people swallow that.

But while making a lot of noise about this, they meanwhile accelerate their own agenda promising the earth and lining their own pockets.
We’ve seen this in other countries. Meanwhile they whip up racism, stoke fear and divide communities. Once elected an authoritarian party can morph into a dictatorship threatening anyone who opposes their narrow outlook. Just look at what is happening under President Trump, as he turns America towards fascism. They can be hard to be rid of.

As for Farage, despite not being an elected MP at the time, this controversial character became infamous for sowing the seeds for Britain to quit the European Union.  It led to that fateful public referendum in 2016 offered by Prime Minister David Cameron who took the bait cast by Farage demanding the UK’s future with the rest of Europe be put to a public vote.

Cameron who backed “Remain” urged support for Europe but failed to understand how much he was disliked due to his party’s austerity program. Why would the “popular” crowd heed him? Answer: they didn’t.

And so it was that 17 million voted to pull up the drawbridge on Fortress UK, while 16 million voted remain. As we know, this resulted in the UK quitting the European Union, ending free movement of people and trade, isolating us from the rest of Europe at huge cost.

The Leavers claimed we would ditch trade with Europe and secure better deals with the rest of the world.

Yet to this day, Britain still trades largely with the other 27 countries which have remained in the EU, but at greater cost and under vastly increased layers of bureaucracy which has forced smaller businesses close.

 

The restrictions on free movement have come at a cost to the UK’s economy, with the plight of the Youth Hostel Association just one example. In 2023 they were forced to sell 20 of their 150 hostels as a result of loss of income when foreign school parties stopped coming.

The Reformers have been quick to angrily respond to criticism, claiming this was the “Popular vote”, both in the referendum and the recent local elections.

They also worship their champion of Brexit, the former Prime Minister but no longer MP, Boris Johnson.

One entry on social media angrily said “stop living in the past FFS”.

To which the only response is to say that only by understanding the past can we make sense of today and plan for the future.

But the point this gentleman raised was to say leaving the EU was all about regaining sovereignty, nothing to do with economics at all.

He couldn’t accept the EU interfering with how the UK set its own laws.

Well, that might be a concern. But just how did this work?

According to the UK parliament, membership of the EC/EU did result in loss of sovereignty in respect that the Government was obliged to “fulfil the requirements of the EU Treaties and law, which have primacy over UK law.”

The UK Parliament pointed out the pros and cons, saying:

“EU laws have resulted in higher standards in many areas, such as employment and environment, but over-implantation has also tended to impose a burden on business and industry.”

Remainers by contrast were of the view that the benefits of EU membership outweighed the issues of sovereignty.

Interestingly, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has recently been negotiating with the EU to remove some of the barriers created by Brexit.

That has already set the cat among the pigeons.

Meanwhile, as Reform supporters brought up the subject of Johnson, let’s examine this playful fool in more detail.

Who will ever forget how this rogue become Prime Minister but who was eventually forced out in disgrace, accused of misleading and lying to parliament on a number of occasions. They included the famous Downing
Street parties which were found to have breached his own government’s guidelines to maintain isolation during the Covid pandemic.

But the big one was the prorogation controversy in 2019, when Johnson sought the Queen’s permission to suspend parliament. It was a blatant attempt to avoid scrutiny of his government’s Brexit plans. After a legal battle in the courts, his prorogation plan was ruled unlawful.

Then there were his many exaggerations, including declaring he would build 40 new hospitals when there was scarcely money to build one.

So, it is important to look back at those crazy times because they paved the way to the present.

I would see Boris up close at press conferences when he was Mayor of London.  Likeable fellow, charismatic, fun to be around. Everyone knows that. He has missed his true vocation as stand-up comic.

It is said he is the classic narcissist, all the while seeking attention to feed a huge ego.

 No one ever thought for a moment he was fit to become PM!

Good writer, as a journalist he spent many years taking the piss out of the European Union with half-truths that did much to create populist Euroscepticism. 

I wonder how many people recall that Boris first backed Remain when the referendum was announced; switching horses to Leave in the belief he could make political gain. But all the while he remained convinced the public would vote to remain in the EU.

I read that he was visibly shocked when the Leave vote won. I recall reading a piece about Johnson’s reaction to hearing the result of the referendum. He could be seen mouthing the words to his fellow Leave campaigner Michael Gove; what do we do now, when the results came in.

But hey, he became Prime Minister when Cameron resigned. So, a win win.

That was his major aim in life, to become PM and get into Downing Street.

But then began another Johnson charade: “Get Brexit Done”.

It was never done. Britain was undone.

But a lot of people like catchy phrases like that, “Get Britain Done”.

Or across the pond: “Make America Great Again”.

And the Pops go around chanting them and hey presto, to their minds Brexit’s done and America is Great Again.

Analysis reveals that Leave won because most of those who voted Leave  were concerned with the plight of the NHS, the cost of living and immigration. But they failed to understand these issues were the result of the British government alone, nothing to do with the European Union. So quitting would have no effect on those issues.

So it was that the Leave voters wrongly blamed the EU for our financial woes, and that mistake carried the vote, not concerns over sovereignty.

I recall one young man in Wales justifying his decision to vote Leave, asking what had the EU ever done for his locality. He had no idea the new sport and leisure centre he enjoyed using was built with EU funding!

More recently, a member of the Welsh Labour party, alarmed by  Starmer’s remarks insinuating there were too many migrants, has sought to bring some clarity to the discussion.  She says that 7 percent of the population in Wales are migrants. And yet from this small number,  50 per cent of doctors and dentists in Wales are from migrant families. What would Wales do without them?

We will for ever recall the decal on the side of the Leave Battle Bus with the claim and pledge (disputed by the UK Statistics Authority and Institute for Fiscal Studies) "We send the EU £350 million a week, let's fund our NHS instead",  and  the slogan "Let's take back control".^[2]

It was one of the most prominent symbols of the campaign and a lie and Johnson exploited it to the full.

But he was “popular” so who cares. And despite his reputation, he it is said he has been earning £2.5m a year as an after dinner speaker.

He’s vowed never to return to politics.  But don’t bet on it.

Which is a worry, for he and Farage have cosied up to Trump widely criticised for his racist stance and for creating turmoil for the world economy with his shit show of huge tariffs on world trade. At home  he has cut funding in US scientific research and education. 

Vital government agencies have been disbanded resulting eliminating thousands of jobs. Billions of dollars for biomedical research have either been clawed back or stopped completely.  He’s now ordered Harvard University  to stop taking foreign students.

As if this is not enough to deal with, how do you like this?

In a recent edition of The New European in a piece written by Nicky Woolf, we learn that key to Trump’s administration is a woman called Laura Loomer who is 31.

She describes herself as “proud Islamophobe” and “pro white nationalist”. And she is a guiding hand in all the crazy stuff Trump does.  She has gone so far as to make sexual assertions against those who oppose her master.

In a tweet reacting to the election of the new pontiff, Loomer wrote simply “Woke Marxist Pope”.

She has been compared with “Rasputin, the sinister mystic who held Russian Czar Nicholas 11 under his spell.”

If I was at all religious I would say this is the work of the Devil.