Richard Kemp - Another Bigot Busted

The right-leaning part of our free and fearless press is not racist, not bigoted, and not at all biased against Muslims, oh no. After all, only one out of 8,148 complaints of discrimination made to sham press regulator IPSO over a one year period recently was upheld, so that must be right. But it isn’t: as any fule kno, the Editor’s Code to which IPSO works only considers complaints from individuals. So demonising Muslims as a group is OK.

Blog post? Critical? Damned insolence, Fenton - get back in line this minute!

It isn’t, of course, nor is hiring pundits for whom bigotry is a stock in trade. And here we come to Richard Kemp, former Army officer, for whom punditry has become a Nice Little Earner. Billed as “former Commander of the British forces”, the Daily Mail has run stories under Kemp’s by-line telling “Any lawyer who knowingly makes false accusations against our troops deserves to be in the dock”, and reminding us “Almost all the allegations of maltreatment brought against British troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have turned out to be baseless”. He’s also been featured by the Sun.

Sayeeda Warsi - libelled by Kemp

And his ramblings for the Murdoch goons expose his true beliefs: he has told that “all British citizens feared to have been radicalised should be imprisoned without trial - even if there isn't enough evidence to prosecute them … Colonel Richard Kemp also said non-Brits suspected of extremism should be instantly deported”.

Reliable sources ...

Replicating failed policies from the past, though, was only the beginning. Kemp also wanted to arm the Police: “We need to have every cop in this country armed, which gives us a greater chance of having an immediate response”. Plus it was doubly the Scary Muslims (tm) to blame, because “During Ramadan we always expect to see a higher level of violence from ISIS and we’ve seen that around the world, and now in London”.

... unbiased sources ...

Kemp’s Twitter feed is also filled with a less than totally charitable attitude to Muslims and Islam. He approvingly cites Breitbart and the Gatestone Institute, claiming that Islam can only mean “Theocratic Rule”. So Jewish News should have known who they were hiring last year when Kemp launched a tirade in their pages against Sayeeda Warsi.

... even-handedness ...

His article triggered a libel action which resulted in Jewish News having to publish a front page apology: “In a column written by Colonel Richard Kemp published in the Jewish News and jewishnews.co.uk on 6 April 2017, it was suggested that Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has sought to excuse the appalling conduct of the barbaric Islamic State terror group … The column also suggested that Baroness Warsi has objected to action being taken against British Muslims who murder and rape for Islamic State. We wish to make absolutely clear that these allegations were wholly untrue and should never have been published”. Sayeeda Warsi will have her costs paid, plus damages of £20,000.

... clear-headed, evidence based conclusions

There does not, though, appear to be any sign of contrition from Kemp, who continues to use Twitter to throw his weight about, claim criticism of Israel equates to anti-Semitism, and order dissenters around like so many disobedient squaddies.

Richard Kemp is now exposed as an Islamophobic bigot, his reputation forever tarnished by the intolerance he cannot hide. So he’s still ideal Mail and Sun material, then.