…when a guest gets enthusiastic about the rallies for the Brexit Party.
That’s at 0:40 minutes in on this clip on Politics Live, uploaded to YouTube by the eminent True Brit.
That made me curious about the lone voice of sanity on the panel. He is Tom Harwood, award-winning journalist and commentator, who writes for Guido Fawkes.
Then I checked his opposition out:
*Sam Gyimah, Conservative MP and a Remainer.
*Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP. Here’s a tweet from her:
Today is #EuropeDay. A day when we celebrate our continent in all its richness and diversity And when we celebrate the European Union which is, at its heart, a project of peace and unity …
(That made me feel quite ill.)
*Grace Blakeley, journalist and economist. Here’s a tweet from her:
A Green New Deal isn’t enough – we need a Global Green New Deal And that means we need new international institutions built on genuine solidarity, not the imperialist faux-internationalism of the ‘liberal rules-based order’…
(Somebody pass me a bucket.)
Tom Harwood continues enthusiastically, and when he says, “I’m staggered, really, as someone who isn’t naturally predisposed to the cheerleading for Nigel Farage…” he’s interrupted by one among the female opposition, with, “You’re predisposed to it now.”
It’s so typical of the left to make snide comments when they don’t have a valid response to a valid point – which is most of the time.
At this stage the Peterborough rally is being shown.
When Tom Harwood encourages everyone to look at Margaret Thatcher’s rallies in 1953, at 1:40 in, there is a gasp of astonishment, followed by, “Oh my God,” and then Jo Coburn asks Glace Blakely whether she will be looking at clips of Margaret Thatcher. The question is no doubt flippant and the answer is naturally in the negative.
Grace Blakely then makes it clear that she believes there will be a rise in popularity of the Brexit Party, but only because of its “populism,” in the absence of policies.
Then Molly Scott asks Tom Harwood what the Brexit Party can offer, “other than being angry,” demonstrating, for the nth time, the left’s inability to debate in a civil fashion.
Tom responds politely, but of course his support of the Brexit Party is dismissed by Grace who believes it is “far right,” Molly by pouring vitriol on its Italian equivalent, a smiling Sam Gyimah with his assertion that any other politician could arise and also “muster huge audiences” and by Jo, who feels obliged to add her opinion by pointing out that Jeremy Corbyn “also did that.” (Not sure what kind of support Corbyn could currently rally.)
Meanwhile, someone named ‘Vera’ has been trying to interject, with Jo asking her to hold on. Finally Vera appears on a screen from an outside feed to proclaim that the ‘people’s vote’ rally attracted over a million supporters (which Tom then disputes) and goes on to fiddle with other stats to try to diminish Brexit.
I’m not sure who Vera is or why her opinion should matter, but by my count that makes it 5 blinkered Remainers to 1 Brexiteer, since Jo Coburn, representative of that most-trusted and impartial broadcaster, must surely have nightmares at the prospect of the EU being undermined by Brexit.
The clip only lasts 6:22 minutes. Yet it’s bursting with enough anti-Brexit bias to make any reasonable person turn away in disgust before the end. So here’s a question, esteemed colleagues: what on earth can be done to oblige the BBC to represent all shades of opinion on all subjects in a fair and responsible manner?
