PRESSING THE PANIC BUTTON

Has Starmer already pressed his?

Graphic created for Inside The Right. Photo by Freepikn.

For the last week, I have been going around with a personal safety device, AKA a panic button. Rather like an Airpods capsule, it’s discreet, ergonomic, and links direct to a police control room. At the touch of the SOS button, I get straight through to a police control room, 24/7.

I don’t love it, and obviously, very much hope I’ll never need it, though there’s something reassuring about having this emergency hotline. You see, without any evidential basis whatsoever, a Muslim news website randomly decided to blame me for the riots – and now I’m a potential target for nutters.

Masquerading as a credible news outlet, the website in question offered no explanation or justification for grouping me with EDL leader Tommy Robinson and social media personality Andrew Tate as one of the “Top 10 online instigators of Far Right riots in the UK.” For reasons only known to themselves – quite possibly because they needed at least one woman – they seem to hold me personally responsible for encouraging unrest.

This wholly false accusation has now been viewed more than a million times, quite possibly including by some very dubious figures. Unfortunately, the website in question is not as respectable as its veneer.

The widespread circulation of my photograph in this context looks very much like a deliberate attempt to whip up online hatred against me – at the very least. Unfortunately, it only takes one crazed extremist to go much further; hence the special security measures.

As always, these people are exactly what they accuse those of us on the Right of being. If it weren’t so serious, it would be quite funny. They simply cannot see the irony in smearing and demonising mainstream conservative voices, while baselessly complaining about being victimised. To be clear – and as they well know - at no point have I ever done anything other than categorically condemn the riots. I would never condone such behaviour. Saying that public anger over mass uncontrolled immigration is understandable is quite different. It does not remotely equate to excusing, still less encouraging, violence or vandalism on our streets.

This really shouldn’t have to be spelled out, but because there are a lot of very stupid people out there, including those who love twisting words, I’ve always been at pains to make it crystal clear. Time and again, I have spoken out against the deplorable scenes on our streets. As for any suggestion that I am anti-Muslim, this is a total lie.

Indeed, I spend a considerable amount of time in the Middle East and regularly write and talk about what countries like the UAE do better than us. (2), (3).

Of course, what’s really going on here is the usual dreary attempt to shut down debate about immigration with the old tropes about Far Righter-y and racism. As always, Nigel Farage has been the top target, even though he was several thousand miles away, eight hours ahead of the UK, during much of the drama.

But who cares about facts, when you’re terrified about the number of ordinary people who are gravitating towards sensible right-wing parties like Reform because they are so angry about the disastrous consequences of mass uncontrolled immigration and the abject failure of multiculturalism?

Those of us on the Right are wearily used to shrugging off a daily dose of insults and slurs from those on the Left who just can’t grasp the fact that it is quite possible to oppose open borders without being a racist, fascist or neo-Nazi. But this time, something much more sinister is going on. In a sign of true desperation, Starmer is harnessing the machinery of the State to crush dissenting voices – just as the Tories did during the pandemic, when they disgracefully used the Army’s 77^th Brigade unit to vilify public critics of lockdowns. (4)

The most obvious expression of this sinister policy is the remarkable acceleration of the judicial process for a certain type of rioter, namely white British thugs, who have very clearly been fast-tracked through the criminal justice system to send out a message. As I have written in the Telegraph this week (5), it is quite right that those guilty of violent disorder should be behind bars. If only justice were so swift in all straightforward criminal cases, especially for those who attack women and children – even more especially if they cannot speak any English and could swiftly be deported.

Far more concerning than the encouraging efficiency of our justice system in relation to certain people is the way the machinery of the State is being used to bully and frighten those who seek to expose the consequences of the loss of control of our borders, be they citizen journalists, commentators, or politicians.

As the unfortunate Bernie Spofforth (6) discovered to her cost, individuals who publicly speculate on the ethnicity, religion or immigration/asylum status of violent criminals -even with caveats – now risk a dawn raid. Writers are still just about able to get away with reporting simple matters of fact – like the Romanian ethnicity of the homeless man who appeared in court this week charged with the attempted murder, in broad daylight, of an 11-year-old girl in London’s Leicester Square (7). Journalists were also able to share the fact that he required an interpreter – at yet more cost to the taxpayer. However, even where an individual has not been charged, so reporting restrictions are not in place, it is becoming increasingly dangerous to comment on such matters, even though they are demonstrably in the public interest. We can agree or disagree about policy implications, but seeking to cover up the immigration status of those accused of heinous crimes does not allow anyone to learn anything.

What truly petrifies this government is mounting public awareness of the demonstrable link between mass uncontrolled immigration and the increasingly dangerous state of our streets.

Day in and day out, the horrors just keep coming. Of course, the random stabbings are not all, or even mostly, committed by those who have recently come to this country, the appalling Nottingham attacks being a case in point.

But quite a few are. And voters deserve to know. (8), (9)

A strong and stable government, confident in its ability to turn public opinion in its favour via the power of argument, would not be incarcerating commentators, especially those like Spofforth, who made a foolish but fleeting mistake, in relation to a matter of overwhelming public interest.

Starmer’s behaviour is the political equivalent of pressing the panic button. Like my own device, it is best left for genuine emergencies.