The right-leaning part of our free and fearless press is still most reluctant to report it, but the prospect of electoral damage is such that even the Mail, and the Murdoch Times, are taking notice of the dozens of self-identifying Tory Party members expressing forthright bigotry towards minorities, and not always just to Muslims.
This is not least because of the sterling work put in by the Tweeter known as MatesJacob, who has now opened a crowd funder to assist the research (see HERE). The result is headlines such as “Labour's vile anti-Semitism goes to the heart of the party but Conservatives face their own allegations of Islamophobia with whistleblowers hit by a wall of silence” from the Mail. The paper even got hatchet job specialist Guy Adams on to it.
MatesJacob observed “This article proves two things: firstly, that @BrandonLewis wilfully ignores complaints of racism unless there’s accompanying media attention, and also that he lied about the existence of outstanding complaints. Shocking stuff”. Shocking indeed. Also taking interest was the Times, and MatesJacob was there too: “We need to talk about David Abbott, the deputy mayor of Houghton Regis. The Times is running an article on him today, but since it’s behind a paywall I’ll tweet the main points”.
It did not make for comfortable reading for the Tories. “Last month, @evolvepolitics revealed that David, who currently sits as an independent but was planning to run as a Conservative in May, was an admin of the deeply Islamophobic ‘Boris Johnson Supporters Group’ on Facebook”. Abbott at first tried to worm his way out of it.
“David claimed, ludicrously, that he was unaware of the Islamophobic content of the group. But with a bit of digging I found that David was actively involved in promotion of Islamophobia himself in other groups … In the related ‘Jacob Rees-Mogg: Supporters Group’, David felt free to expound his views on the ‘infiltration requirements of Mohammedanism’, and the philosophy of ‘breeding for Islam’”. What a charmer.
And as to Abbott’s incomplete withdrawal from politics, “David has now been suspended by the Conservative Party, but it’s time for him to resign from his council position too”. He’s still deputy Mayor. He should go, whether he is a Tory or an Independent. Also, he is not an isolated caae: MatesJacob has found another 20 of them, whose social media indiscretions have been taken up by the people at BuzzFeed UK.
Their article includes “One man, who is in a closed group of Conservative party members and called Muslims ‘muzz rats’ and ‘sub human scum’, asked: ‘why have we got them in our country?’ He also wrote: ‘This lot should be rounded up and put on a boat home. They don't like our flag - but they love our welfare payments.’” Another described London Mayor Sadiq Khan as “this Muslim Brotherhood stooge”. Call it for what it is - racism.
And remember, it’s not only Islamophobia - there is plenty of old-fashioned anti-Black racism, and enough instances of anti-Semitism, to show that the Tory Party is institutionally racist. Yet the press is beyond cautious when it comes to tackling the problem.
If the press fails to act, this may become a scandal broken exclusively by social media and online sources. What that means for print media’s future should not need spelling out.
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Of course press and broadcast media will give it short exposure and then quickly brush it under the carpet.
ReplyDeleteUnlike the allegations of anti-semitism in the Labour Party. You can bet too Watson and Hodge won't offer more than a peep about tory racism.
And far right media "journalists" and "politicians" wonder why they are held in such deep contempt by free-thinkers everywhere.