They started as self-styled Revolutionary Communists, although they were neither revolutionary, nor communist. They then morphed into crude libertarianism, adopting sympathy for paedophiles and terrorists. From there it was a short hop to denying genocide, then denying climate change. But then the people who inhabit the world of Spiked, so-called because it should have been long ago, found where the money was at.
So it was that the likes of Brendan O’Neill became pundits for hire, and especially for hire by our free and fearless press, or at least the right-leaning part of it. Some of his colleagues, people like Claire Fox, who supported the Armed Struggle of Irish nationalists, fetched up at the Brexit Party. Others entered Tory political circles, like Munira Mirza, who served under alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.
Ms Mirza has now moved with Bozo The Clown from City Hall to 10 Downing Street, where she is director of the Policy Unit. Some may find having one of the Spiked alumni in that role a frightening prospect, but now has come the news that will fall as manna from heaven for anyone opposed to the Tory Party: she is to co-author its election manifesto.
Her co-author is Rachel Wolf, who has lobbied for fracking companies like Quadrilla, and for gig economy exploiters like Deliveroo. Ms Wolf is a Free School advocate. She helped front a campaign which last year claimed “most workers in the gig economy are highly satisfied with the form of the work” as they struggle to stay awake on the job and make ends meet. Her husband used to be a director of the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance.
So, given that the Murdoch press has such a liking for the Spiked crowd, and given its hatred of the EU and any kind of regulation, look forward to the Tory manifesto having plenty to say about workers being more “flexible” in their pay demands, their conditions, their entitlement to paid leave, their safety in the workplace, and the hours they work.
Look forward to no more criticism of firms like Amazon and Google and the pittance in corporation tax they pay in the UK. Look forward to an embrace of more “flexible” food standards, under the cover of “freedom”, away from the comparative safety of EU rules and in the direction of rather less strict US ones. More dodgy chicken all round!
So it was understandable that Otto English responded “The RCP/Spiked bunch shouldn't be allowed near a hamster let alone government policy. But there you go - Mirza is writing the manifesto”, with Matthew Dalby adding “The rise of the Revolutionary Communist party influence over the Tory party is one of the weirdest and least talked about aspects of recent events”. And Charlie Kennaugh mused “Should be fun then when they accuse Jezza of being an IRA sympathiser”. Because the Spiked crowd are, and he really isn’t.
The RCP defended all the IRA bombings in London. Claire Fox, when given the opportunity to disown the RCP’s sympathy for the Warrington bombing in a phone call with Colin Parry, whose son Tim died after being caught in the blast, doubled down and “repeatedly refused to disavow her comments supporting the IRA bombing”.
Terrorist sympathising, genocide denial and child porn excuser meets corporate free-for-all, tax minimisation and worker rights bonfire advocate. What can possibly go wrong?
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Spiked?
ReplyDeleteIt's so batshit loopy you have to wonder who's REALLY behind it......