Canterbury Skewers Bozo

Reminding us that whatever the country’s shortcomings, the UK still knows how to do the pageantry, the ceremonial, and then broadcast it in a way few other nations could manage - even the Daily Mail has grudgingly accepted the excellence of the BBC’s contribution - Elizabeth The Second was finally laid to rest at Windsor Castle on Monday afternoon.

Peace be with you ...

And that coverage uncovered some behaviour from our Government that did not look well: Kwasi Kwarteng caught by the cameras laughing, former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson apparently sulking, and his replacement Liz Truss giving a Bible reading in a manner that showed she is not just monotonous, but indeed Tedious Maximus.

But what will have irked the Tories more than any of that being caught on camera was the sermon delivered by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Justin Welby kept it mercifully short, as Brenda might have wanted, having, as a regular churchgoer, sat through enough of them in her lifetime.

Canterbury dwelt on the lifetime of service the Queen had given to her country, observing “People of loving service are rare … Leaders of loving service are still rarer …Those who serve will be loved & remembered when those who cling to power & privileges are long forgotten”. OUCH!

That described Bozo to a T, and maybe even his successor. It could also describe a whole host of hangers-on, cheerleaders and other sundry sycophants. So it was no surprise when someone out there on the right decided to claim that Canterbury was talking about someone else, someone who was already established as a hate figure to right-wingers.

So who would get the blame? As if you need to ask: the Murdoch New York Post kicked off with the old “We’re only asking a question” ploy: “Did Archbishop shade Harry and Meghan during Queen’s funeral sermon?” QTWTAIN. But a loose convocation of Megs hatred was already coalescing around this wacko idea, which, given 24 hours or so, will be finding its way to a variety of hosts on Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse).

... but not with you, matey

It got worse: Nana Akua, a host at Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”) decided that keeping up with the Murdoch crowd was A Very Good Thing. “The Queen’s funeral was amazing! These words from Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury struck a chord ‘..in all cases those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten.’ I wonder who he was talking about? #MeghanMarkIe”. Don’t mention the Tories. Or their US equivalent.

After all, the words would equally fit Combover Crybaby Donald Trump, and indeed many of those sycophants who went along with all the bad behaviour of the Trump presidency, which has since led to prosecutions, and even an FBI raid on Trump’s Florida retreat. One Tweeter concluded that Bozo’s wife Carrie heard Canterbury’s remarks and appeared to tell him “he means you”.

The comments could also include Bozo’s replacement Liz Truss, who gave a characteristically wooden and unconvincing bible reading at the funeral service. Why so? Well, as one onlooker observed, “Liz Truss’s chief-of-staff, Mark Fullbrook, fails to travel to New York with the new PM after it emerged he is subject in an FBI probe of alleged bribery, corruption and subversion of democracy in the US”. Thus, as they say, avoiding a nasty fracas.

Trying to deflect from the obvious target onto a target the right-wing media class would like it to be about is, sadly, all too predictable. As one Tweeter put it before the creative reinterpretation began, “Meghan Markle condemned after Queen’s funeral for reason British press have not yet decided”.

Now, some of them have decided. But it wasn’t about her. It was about Bozo.

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