What a drip: He might be a big hit with foreign Conservatives, but this is how British people see Nigel Farage.
This is typical populist behaviour. Nigel Farage told Australian Conservatives what he thought they wanted to hear.
So he praised up the Queen, but then attacked other Royals for social justice and environmental campaigns because he knew that this would be popular with his audience.
Did he mean what he said? Who cares?
The only thing that matters to Mr Farage will be the effect his words had on his audience – that they leave their conference believing what he has told them about the UK, and that he is their ally.
He’s drumming up support from rich foreigners.
Nigel Farage has derided the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their “irrelevant” social justice and environmental campaigns while abusing Prince Charles and describing the late Queen Mother as an “overweight, chain-smoking gin drinker”, in an incendiary speech to an Australian rightwing political conference.
Farage’s speech to Sydney’s Conservative Political Action Conference – from which media were barred – ranged across his views on Brexit, media bias and the United Nations, but he reserved his fiercest condemnation for members of the royal family, including princes Charles and Harry, and the Queen Mother.
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How disappointing – after all the work UKIP did to rid itself of racism.
It seems the girlfriend (now ex-girlfriend, if reports are accurate) of party leader Henry Bolton made racist comments on Facebook, about Prince Harry’s bride-to-be, Meghan Markle.
In a series of messages published by the Mail on Sunday, Jo Marney reportedly said Ms Markle would “taint” the Royal Family, that she had a “tiny brain” and that black people were ugly.
Mr Bolton has appeared on television to defend Ms Marney. It’s uncomfortable viewing:
"I think it's inexcusable to exploit a young woman in order to get at me."
Ukip leader Henry Bolton talks about the break-up of his relationship with Jo Marney, who is alleged to have made racist remarks about Meghan Markle. pic.twitter.com/Yr2eGG3ONl
Let’s be honest – he comes across as trying to distance himself from the comments and the person who made them.
His claim that people cannot remember everything they write on Facebook is risible, considering her comments must all have been written in recent months.
His claim that it is inexcusable for her comments to be exploited in an attempt to attack him is also unconvincing – as are his comments about discussions he had with her on the relevant subjects.
It seems she had every opportunity to come clean about what she had done, and his claim that the controversy come about just days into the relationship therefore rings hollow.
So the following, if true, would be unsurprising:
UKIP leader Henry Bolton yesterday on racist girlfriend “I have no doubt …Jo and I are going to come out of this, as a couple stronger than we went into it." UKIP leader today “The romantic element of our relationship is over… “ @BBCr4today
Of course the fact that Ms Marney is 25 years old and Mr Bolton is 54 – 29 years her senior – has nothing to do with anything at all, although this may be a hard position to argue, considering the fact that a young person has much to gain from an attachment to a person in a position of power; that is a fact of life that is unlikely to change any time soon. But the age difference has drawn the obvious remarks:
When you realise you’re two years older than the old bloke who is going out with the racist bird who is younger than your daughter and is too dense to shit…? It’s time to wear purple with a red hat that doesn’t go.
“Too dense”? We’re told she had four ‘A’ levels when she was 15, don’t you know!
And the end result of all this explanation?
According to The Independent, Mr Bolton is still likely to lose his place as party leader at a meeting on Sunday:
Ukip leader Henry Bolton will be forced out within days after his girlfriend was accused of racist remarks about Meghan Markle, a former party deputy chairwoman says.
Suzanne Evans said Mr Bolton’s decision to end his relationship with Jo Marney would fail to save his job – urging him to quit because he had “brought the party into disrepute”.
Otherwise, next Sunday’s special meeting of Ukip’s national executive committee would pass a vote of no confidence, she predicted – plunging the party into its fourth leadership battle in just 18 months.
“He has displayed an astonishing lack of judgment,” Ms Evans said, pointing out Mr Bolton had “portrayed himself as a family man” when he won the leadership last September.
“I think he has brought the party into disrepute and, certainly, people have been kicked out of the party for that in the past,” she told the BBC’s Daily Politics programme.
She agreed that “politicians have a right to a private life”, but added: “He has left his wife for a woman who is younger than his youngest daughter, who has turned out to have held some reprehensible views.”
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One of the smallest republics in Africa has set a shining example with a masterclass in how to stand up against international bullying, after US President Donald Trump reportedly spoke about immigration from – and I apologise for the language; it’s his word, not mine – “shithole” countries.
Mr Trump allegedly made the comment in a closed-door discussion with representatives of the DACA – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – programme. It’s an Obama-originated initiative to allow people brought to the US illegally as children the temporary right to live, study and work in America.
The claim is that he said Haiti, El Salvador and some African nations are “shithole” countries.
Commenters have linked it with other comments attributed to Mr Trump – that Mexicans are “rapists”, Haitians “all have AIDS”, and Nigerians live in “huts”. Charming.
But it seems the government of Botswana went a little further – dragging the US ambassador to the southern African country to the presidential office and demanding that he clarify whether that country is regarded as a “shithole” by the US government.
I know some readers have disparaging opinions of Wikipedia, but This Writer would like to believe that site’s page on Botswana, which makes it clear that the country is far from the kind of place Mr Trump allegedly described:
Botswana … has maintained a strong tradition of stable representative democracy, with a consistent record of uninterrupted democratic elections and the best perceived corruption ranking in Africa since at least 1998.
A mid-sized country of just over 2 million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.
Formerly one of the poorest countries in the world—with a GDP per capita of about US$70 per year in the late 1960s—Botswana has since transformed itself into one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Botswana boasts a GDP per capita of about $18,825 per year as of 2015.
The Government of Botswana today summoned the US Ambassador to Botswana to express its displeasure at the alleged utterances made by the President of the US, Donald Trump, when he referred to African countries and others as “shithole countries” during a meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakeers at the White House on Thursday 11 January 2018.
The Botswana Government has also enquired from the US Government through the Ambassador, to clarify if Botswana is regarded as a “shithole” country given that there are Botswana nationals residing in the US, and also that some of Botswana may wish to visit the US.
The Government of Botswana is wondering why President Trump must use this descriptor and derogatory word, when talking about countries with whom the US has had cordial and mutually beneficial bilateral relations for so many years.
Botswana has accepted US citizens within her borders over the years and continues to host US guests and senior government officials, including a Congressional delegation that will come to Botswana at the end of this month; that is why we view the utterances by the current American President as highly irresponsible, reprehensible and racist.
Botswana calls on SADC [the South African Development Community], the African Union and all other progressive nations across the world to strongly condemn the remarks made by President Trump.
“Irresponsible, reprehensible and racist” – that view has been taken up by the United Nations.
The organisation’s Human Rights spokesperson Rupert Coleville said: “If confirmed these are shocking and shameful comments from the President of the United States. There is no other word you can use but ‘racist’.”
If only the UK government could bring itself to make such a principled stand.
But Theresa May has not built a reputation for principled action and has reportedly refused to condemn Mr Trump for his latest alleged rant.
For any opposition to Mr Trump, you have to visit the social media – which is perhaps appropriate as the President loves it so much – and the debate over his decision to cancel his State visit to the UK.
Mr Trump has claimed – well, we all know he can tweet for himself:
Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!
Oh, really? So it’s nothing to do with the recently-announced snub by Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle, who want former President Barack Obama to attend their wedding, rather than Mr Trump? That’s nice to know – if you believe it.
As for the US embassy – well:
Just look at the way this incompetent charlatan lies. The decision to relocate the US embassy was taken by G.W. Bush not Obama.
The real reason he doesn't want to go to London is he knows the British people would hold massive protests against him, so he's chickened out. https://t.co/PsOL0uSWQz
Nine Elms site is actually pretty flash, going to be too flash if anything, went for a cycle around it yesterday… new Battersea Power Station development, embassy development has a 100 ft high suspended swimming pool, Thames views etc https://t.co/kBPomNNFQr
Among those who tweeted their support for Mr Trump’s decision was London Mayor Sadiq Khan, whose words prompted another Tory, well-known for putting his proverbial foot in his proverbial mouth, to do so yet again:
Many Londoners have made it clear that Donald Trump is not welcome here while he is pursuing such a divisive agenda. It seems he’s finally got that message. pic.twitter.com/YD0ZHuWtr3
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Stuart, 39, has been living on the streets in Windsor for four months [Image: David Levene/the Guardian].
Please don’t tell me people will see this as a sign of strength.
Theresa May has reluctantly spoken up to oppose a call by Windsor and Maidenhead Council leader Simon Dudley for police to clear homeless people off the streets in time for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May.
It’s a bit late, isn’t it?
If she was a real leader, the first we would have heard about this issue would have been Mrs May issuing a veto on the whole idea, and demanding that Councillor Dudley’s local authority enact the multi-agency approach to attack the causes of homelessness advocated by Thames Valley Police.
As it is, she just comes across as some ‘Janey-come-lately’.
Theresa May has publicly challenged a call by the leader of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead for police to take action against rough sleepers in the town ahead of the royal wedding later this year.
The prime minister, who is the MP for Maidenhead, said she disagreed with comments made by Simon Dudley on Twitter and in a letter to the Thames Valley police and crime commissioner.
Asked about the remarks during a visit to a hospital in Camberley, [Mrs] May said: “… I think it is important that councils work hard to ensure that they are providing accommodation for those people who are homeless, and where there are issues of people who are aggressively begging on the streets then it’s important that councils work with the police to deal with that aggressive begging.”
Thames Valley police have made it clear that they do not view legal action against rough sleepers and people begging on the streets to be effective, and have called for a multi-agency approach to find solutions to the causes of homelessness and destitution.
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Stuart, aged 39, has been living on the streets in Windsor for the past four months [Image: David Levene for the Guardian].
This is typical of the Conservative Party and its representatives at all levels of government.
They are perfectly happy to use their privileged positions to engineer harm to anybody less well-positioned than themselves. We have seen recently that Conservatives simply could not care less about the thousands more people who have been forced to sleep on the streets since their party took office in 2010.
But they cannot bear to see the results of their cruel work.
So Simon Dudley, Mayor of Windsor and Maidenhead, wants the police to clear homeless people off the streets, presumably in order to give an entirely false impression of his area to the rich and powerful people attending the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Clearly he wants these people to think Windsor and Maidenhead are glittering examples of perfect societies, where nobody could possibly be in such dire poverty that they are forced to live in the gutter, their belongings carried around in a few plastic bags.
He wants them to believe a fantasy.
Jesus said: "when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed."
And the Conservative Leader of Windsor Council said: when you give a banquet charge the poor under the vagrancy act.https://t.co/z8Zz0cXKmo
If it were within This Writer’s power, I would encourage as many homeless people as possible to make their way to Mr Dudley’s council area by May 19 and put in an appearance on the big day – just to ensure that he doesn’t get away with his big con.
The leader of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, home to Windsor Castle, Eton College and Ascot racecourse, has demanded police use legal powers to clear the area of homeless people before the royal wedding in May.
Simon Dudley, the council’s Conservative leader, wrote to Thames Valley police this week seeking action against “aggressive begging and intimidation” and “bags and detritus” accumulating on the streets.
The letter, seen by the Guardian, follows a series of tweets sent by Dudley while on a skiing holiday in Wyoming over Christmas, in which he referred to “an epidemic of rough sleeping and vagrancy in Windsor” and said “residents have had enough of this exploitation of residents and 6 million tourists pa [per annum]”.
He tweeted that he would write to Thames Valley police “asking them to focus on dealing with this before the #RoyalWedding”.
Tens of thousands of wellwishers and tourists are expected to descend on the picturesque town on the banks of the River Thames for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on 19 May in St George’s chapel at Windsor Castle.
News website Evolve Politics has elaborated on Mr Dudley’s position, which seems, in fact, to be delusional:
In a separate tweet posted whilst he was on a skiing holiday in Wyoming, the heartless Tory Council Chairman also claimed that some of those on the streets of Windsor have made a ‘life choice‘ to be homeless.
Dudley went on to claim that homeless people in the area were “marching tourists to cash points to withdraw cash, hanging out near car park ticket machines to get discounts and ask tourists for money”.
However, replying on Twitter, Thames Valley Police quashed the Tory Council leader’s claims, saying:
“We deal with reports of begging proportionately but we have not had reports of anyone being marched to cashpoints to take out money.”
Dudley responded by saying the issue was ‘voluntary homelessness’, and the leader of Windsor Council then went on to shirk any responsibility for the crisis, telling Thames Valley Police that ‘It is time for you to deal with this issue.’
The Labour Party has rightly demanded that minority prime minister Theresa May should condemn the comments by Mr Dudley. As the MP for Maidenhead, he is the leader of Mrs May’s own local authority:
Labour’s Andrew Gwynne has slammed the government’s record on homelessness as a ‘national scandal’ which ‘can’t be swept under the carpet.
The shadow local government minister said: “While many families spent this Christmas without a home to call their own, the leader of Theresa May’s Council was pleading for these people to be treated like criminals.
“The Prime Minister needs to immediately condemn these comments.”
But it seems the appeal is likely to fall on deaf ears.
After all, Mrs May recently denied the existence of the NHS winter crisis. She’ll have no problem applying her blinkers and earmuffs to this.
It is as I suggested at the top of this article:
Tories love to cause harm but hate to see the results of their mischief.
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