Sadiq v Boris - Spot The Protest Difference

The statue of Churchill in Parliament Square has been boarded up, boxed in. Those still prepared to declare their loyalty to alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson are pointing fingers at London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, as the Black Lives Matter protests and counter demonstrations from the far right are being used by the Tories as part of their attempts to unseat Khan in next year’s Mayoral elections.

The response from Andrew “HS2 ate my fridge” Bridgen was typical: “Churchill’s famous words ‘We will never surrender’ is completely undermined by London Mayor Sadiq Kahn’s appeasement of the mob. It’s a national humiliation, Sadiq Kahn must resign and so should Cressida Dick”. His colleague Creepy Conor Burns was on the same page.

“The Cenotaph is being boarded up. Our national memorial to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom we enjoy - and many abuse - today. The statue of the greatest fighter for freedom who saved half Europe and the world - Winston Churchill - is boarded up. We need grip … And for the record it is my understanding that these are decisions of the Met and the Mayor of London not the Government”.

Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer and now former LBC presenter Nigel “Thirsty” Farage was in no doubt what was going on. “This is surrender to the mob”. Former Labour MP and floor-crosser supreme Kate Hoey added “Presume the Mayor of London [Sadiq Khan] ordered the boarding up of Churchill and Cenotaph. How on earth can he justify this cowardice in face of a mob”. How different it was under Bozo’s Mayoralty!

In 2014, it wasn’t just a few statues and monuments that were being boarded up - the whole of Parliament Square Gardens was fenced off. As the Guardian reported at the time, “Lawyers have written to London’s mayor threatening legal action after he sanctioned the construction of ‘unlawful’ fences around the square, which campaigners claim are a deliberate attempt to stop them protesting peacefully. Parliament Square is considered to be one of the most important sites in the country for demonstrators and is maintained by Johnson’s Greater London Authority”. No spluttering from the right that time.

And while those out on the right lay into Sadiq Khan and accuse him of backing down from that firm leadership that they claim he isn’t providing, in 2009, the Guardian also reported “Boris Johnson today signed up to a review of the Metropolitan police's approach to handling demonstrations amid public outcry over policing at the G20 protests in London earlier this month”. The kind of thing that Khan is now being criticised for.

There was more. “The move follows widespread criticism of containment strategy, known as ‘kettling’, and video footage showing violence by police officers … Kit Malthouse, the MPA vice chair, promised that recommendations from a review of public order tactics and training by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary ‘are fully implemented’”.

Malthouse is today backing more of that firm Policing that he was happy to see made a little less firm a decade ago. So what has changed in that time? Simples. The Mayor represents the other lot. The Tories want to unseat him. But their campaign is stalling.

Nothing like blaming Sadiq Khan for doing what the Tories did previously. Sad, really.

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