It was the outcome nobody in or around the Government had foreseen: not only did England’s footballers get to the final of Euro2020, their manager declined to bend to the will of our free and fearless press and stop his team taking the knee before each game - and then, when the racist abuse came following the lost penalty shoot-out at the end of the final, the players declined to keep quiet about it, or indeed, give the Tories a free pass.
Tyrone Mings
Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka missed their spot kicks; all were then subjected to racist abuse. Worse, a mural in south Manchester featuring Rashford was then defaced. Alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and his Benidorm holiday rep Home Secretary Priti Patel condemned the racism. But they in turn were condemned for their previous attempt to play both sides of the field.
Maybe listen more and smirk less
Bozo and Ms Patel had equivocated when asked to condemn those who booed when the players took the knee. Both tried to play the populist card, to cheer on the team while keeping the bigots with them. The press remained supportive, dismissing taking the knee, claiming it was a political gesture, or that the players were naive and misguided.
The reaction to the racist attacks on Rashford, Sancho and Saka, and the defacing of the Rashford mural - ordinary people backing the abused players over the boo-boys - has now been compounded by their England colleague Tyrone Mings cutting through all the excuses to nail Bozo and his Home Secretary for what the former likes to call “
Cakeism”.
“
You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ & then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens” he told Ms Patel. And there was more.
Sayeeda Warsi - a Tory - had a message for Ms Patel. “
Priti - we as govt, as [Conservatives] need to think about our role in feeding this culture in our country. If we ‘whistle’ & the ‘dog’ reacts we cant be shocked if it barks & bites. It’s time to stop the culture wars that are feeding division. Dog whistles win votes but destroy nations”.
But will her fellow Tories listen? Dover MP Natalie Elphicke has already been forced to apologise after suggesting that Rashford - who has himself apologised for missing his spot kick, but not for who he is - should have spent more time “
perfecting his game” rather than “
playing politics”. And former Chief Constable Peter Fahy had more bad news.
As the
Guardian has reported, Fahy concluded “
Politicians being ambivalent about their support, choosing to wilfully misinterpret what England players are doing means a minority will see that as tacit support. They are giving them room to operate, especially those trying to make out that [the knee] is a political issue”. Many Tories have done just that.
Former England player Gary Neville added “
The prime minister said it was OK for the population of this country to boo those players who were trying to promote equality and defend against racism. It starts at the very top. I wasn’t surprised in the slightest that I woke up to those headlines; I expected it the minute the three players missed”.
The Tories believed footballers past and present could be persuaded to keep the discussion about football. They believed wrong.
Now they are reaping the whirlwind.
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7 comments:
No she is not a Benidorm holiday rep. She is dreadful
Hideous toblerone woman. She thinks she can hind behind her race and her gender but power is power and if you abuse it look what happens. A bullying spiteful Piece of shit gets held to account. More to come I very much hope
Where’s Marc Francois when you need him eh $hitsack?
She is more like a toxic air hostess who despises the gammony members of economy class but is dependant on pleasing them to keep and advance her career.
Ugli Patel is the horrible far right tory poison dwarf of politics. A disgusting opportunistic low life of the worst type.... even by the "standards" of the most wretched and corrupt Parliament in living memory.
A cold vile inhuman piece of detritus.
Divide and conquer, it's always the Tory way, Johnson was banking on a win to bask in the glory of England winning for political ends and to stick two fingers upto the EU.
Now we're seeing their RW commentators like Darren Grimes trying to smear Marcus Rashford & RW comic making racist jokes, soon found his gigs cancelled.
As my e-chum ian noted:
I think she [disgraced former International Development Secretary Piggi Patel] only exists to make prize dimwit Boris marginally less stupid than all the evidence would stridently suggest.
Sorry Ms Patel, but you do not get to set fire to your kitchen and then become concerned as the flames hit your bedroom door! Better not to have set fire to your kitchen. Best still, don't play with matches!
But then, as I have often said black and Asian Tory MP's wish to be seen to be harsher and more intolerant than their white Tory counterparts. Not just in order to climb the greasy pole within the Tory Party. But simply to make it onto the shortlist in the first place.
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