Farage Jo Brand Attack Hypocrisy

The Brexit Party’s self-appointed and unsackable Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage was incandescent after Jo Brand made a distinctively off-piste comment about politicians and milkshakes. On the “terrible” state of British politics, she mused “Well, yes I would say that but I think that's because certain unpleasant characters are being thrown to the fore and they're very, very easy to hate and I'm kind of thinking: 'Why bother with a milkshake when you could get some battery acid?’”

Squeaky full of crap finger up the bum time

Farage wasn’t having that. “This is incitement of violence and the police need to act”. And he went further on Twitter. “I am sick to death of overpaid, left wing, so-called comedians on the BBC who think their view is morally superior. Can you imagine the reaction if I had said the same thing as Jo Brand?” As Sir Sean nearly said, I think we got the point.

Jo Brand

And, as the Guardian has now reported, his wish has been granted. “Jo Brand’s on-air joke about throwing battery acid at politicians is being investigated by police after Scotland Yard received an allegation of incitement to violence … On Thursday Scotland Yard said it had received an allegation of incitement to violence and that it was being assessed. It said inquiries were continuing but no arrests had yet been made. It is understood the complaint to police was not made by Farage or the Brexit party”.

All well and good, but then, Mr Thirsty is standing in an extremely draughty glasshouse when it comes to calling incitement to violence on others. Two years ago, he told an audience at a £63 a head dinner “if they [elected Westminster politicians] don't deliver this Brexit that I spent 25 years of my life working for, then I will be forced to don khaki, pick up a rifle and head for the front lines”. Still, only a little civil disobedience, eh?

Mr Thirsty forgot about her

And in May 2016 he asserted that “I think it's legitimate to say that if people feel they have lost control completely, and we have lost control of our borders completely as members of the EU, and if people feel that voting doesn't change anything then violence is the next step”. Violence is the next step, he says. And there was more.

On the prospect of a narrow Remain win in the 2016 EU Referendum, he declared “In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way. If the Remain campaign win two-thirds to one-third that ends it”. Unfinished business? Meaning what? Does that mean just more campaigning, or do we go straight to violence?

And of course he infamously said after Leave had won that referendum that this had been achieved “without having to fight, without a single bullet being fired”. More than one bullet had been fired by Thomas Mair, and as a result Labour MP Jo Cox had been murdered. Farage apologised - but it took him a whole week to do so.

But then, there was always the excuse, the get-out clause: as Tom Peck has recalled, Farage’s spokesman claimed in 2017 “It is very clear … that Nigel was talking about … politics using metaphors”. Ah, a variation on the Littlejohn Defence. Nige is allowed to use metaphors, but Jo Brand, being a Rotten Leftie™, is not.

Also, as LBC host James O’Brien has recalled, the Farage stance on risqué jokes was so different back in 2014: “We are heading down a road here where we would kill all humour in this country if we tear things to pieces. Enough is enough, let people tell their jokes. If what they say is inappropriate they won't earn a living because they won't get booked again”. So that’s abandonment of free speech to add to the charge sheet.

Spare us the righteousness, Mr Thirsty. Your politics stinks. Because it’s full of shit.

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