This quote is from Philippe Sands QC, in the Guardian this morning:
I object deeply to the characterisation by Boris Johnson of Trump as a decent, liberal guy from New York. Boris Johnson would basically welcome the election of Adolf Hitler on that standard, and you can imagine the words, ‘We can work with him', ‘He's going to be good for Britain'.
There is little to add, it's so obviously true.
There are times to say 'We can't work with him'. Moments when lines have to be drawn in sand. When stands have to be taken. When issues of right and wrong have to prevail over pragmatism.
We need a foreign secretary who knows how to discern such moments. We have not got one. But if ever there was a moment in recent history when one was needed this is it.
And yes I know there might be a price. But it may well get bigger if we do not say something now. That's the lesson from history.
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This is a statement after my own heart really – and why I’ve been prattling away about being a little less liberal towards those whose ideas are basically illiberal.
For me the line in the sand was crossed a long time ago – much to our own detriment and the gloves now need to come off because I do not see a balance of ideas anymore in this world. We are increasingly living in a mono-culture.
Johnson is a weather-vane – pointing in whatever direction the political winds blow – couple that to an inability to separate fact from fantasy & an ability to regarding lying and telling the truth as the same thing and there is no doubt that if this was 1938- & post Kristallnacht – Johnson would continue to give favourable references to Hitler and the Nazis. Johnson a stain on humanity.
Spot on and I assume you’ve seen the article in The Guardian this morning in which the Italian Economics minister recounts this:
“He basically said: ‘I don’t want free movement of people but I want the single market,’” he told Bloomberg. “I said: ‘No way.’ He said: ‘You’ll sell less prosecco.’ I said: ‘OK, you’ll sell less fish and chips, but I’ll sell less prosecco to one country and you’ll sell less to 27 countries.’ Putting things on this level is a bit insulting.”
And then to reinforce Johnson’s court jester (for that is what he is) status this from soemone who is not only powerful and influential but also from a country the UK likes to see as a like-minded neoliberal country:
‘Dijsselbloem told the BBC’s Newsnight: “I think he’s offering to the British people options that are really not available. For example, to say we could be inside the internal market but be outside the customs union, this is impossible, it just doesn’t exist. The opposite does exist. We have a customs union with Turkey but Turkey is not part of the internal market.’
And finally we have the Gove (yes, he’s back) saying let’s just walk away and fuck the consequences. Surely the most crass thing even this ego-filled imbecile of a politician has said (amongst many examples).
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/nov/16/european-ministers-boris-johnson-prosecco-claim-brexit
The Guardian editorial on him today is good
Indeed Angela Merkel was much more measured in her welcome to Trump and I think set the right tone. They have had their own issues with the authoritarian right in the past.
It seems also that Obama is looking to Merkel to be the de-facto leader of the free world. I’m not sure the Germans are too happy. Even less so if Marine Le Pen gets elected next year in France.
Brexit seems even more of a mistake. Lets hope the Supreme Court kick it into the long grass.
How does this impact on your “Hitler” narrative?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSs0w1laMJQ
Tokenism?
Is that fake news?