Isabel Oakeshott Muslim Hypocrisy

Only a week ago, Brexiteer supreme Isabel Oakeshott indulged in a slice of Muslim demonisation which was especially nasty, even by her own not especially high standards, while demonstrating a lack of journalistic nous which might surprise those not up to speed with the machinations of our free and fearless press, given she was once Sunday Times political editor.

Someone had posted a doctored video to Twitter, X, or whatever Muskrat’s calling it this week, claiming “In Wales, the Welsh Refugee Council is using 12-year-old girls in ads meant to entice migrant men to come to Wales. Most members of this council are from the Middle East, India and Pakistan”, before adding “I think I’m going to throw up”, just to tell those viewing what to think.

The video, to no surprise at all, had nothing to do with the Welsh Refugee Council, whatever its makeup, but was a school video project. It was produced in response to those arriving in the Principality from Ukraine, had been released two years ago, and then later withdrawn from circulation. A so-called “real investigative journalist” should have figured that out.

Instead, Ms Oakeshott just shovelled it on, adding the comment “This is INSANE. On so many levels”, Nudge nudge, wink wink, nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh? She left the Tweet up, even when the reality of the video, and its later selective editing, was pointed out. As a result, those involved in its original production faced a barrage of threats and abuse.

Then, as the London Economic has told, “Staff at a refugee charity in Wales say colleagues have had ‘their lives threatened’ after Elon Musk shared a social media video suggesting young girls are being used to ‘entice’ migrants to the UK. The Tesla billionaire shared a video posted by the Welsh Refugee Council (WRC) in 2023 which was shot by year seven students at Brynteg School, who wanted to welcome refugees escaping the war in Ukraine”.

There was more. “South Wales Police said it was looking into an allegation of malicious communications. Andrea Cleaver, the chief executive of WRC, said the video ‘was never intended as an advert to encourage migration and was shared to show the positivity of pupils’”. But Muslim bashing is OK, innit?

In the meantime, the Observer, soon to be given away by its current owners, has gleaned that Ms Oakeshott may be stirring up hatred against Muslims in the UK (knowingly or otherwise), but she has no problem living in a country where Islam is the recognised religion. Yes, she’s left the UK - several months ago, it seems - and has now rocked up in the Middle East.

As the Obs tells, “Richard Tice, deputy leader of Reform UK and its MP for Boston and Skegness, is splitting his time not just between his Lincolnshire ­constituency and the House of Commons, but is also spending time 3,500 miles away in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) … The Observer has established that some months ago his partner, the journalist Isabel Oakeshott, moved out to Dubai with her children”. Do go on.

“The couple are still very much ‘an item’, both insist, and are now seeing each other whenever time and Emirates airlines allow. ‘She has been based out there for a few months … I occasionally go there and she ­occasionally comes here,’ said Tice”. Cue excuses about how liberal Dubai is, honestly.

And there was yet more. “Oakeshott, who is working from Dubai as international editor at Talk TV and as a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, said that Labour’s ‘pernicious tax on private schools' prompted her to look elsewhere for the best places to educate her children. The UAE, she said, offered ‘endless opportunities’ and had a ‘booming economy’”.

Like upping sticks to Dubai costs less than VAT on school fees. Or maybe not. What Ms Oakeshott has demonstrated is that she’s fine with Muslims if it’s to her benefit, and for similar reasons, she’s fine with amplifying misinformation about them. Maybe other right-wingers will follow her to Dubai. Malaysian misinformation specialist Ian Miles Cheong is already there.

High principles can also be flexible principles. For the rich, that is.

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