The Tories are racist for political gain, and are being caught out for it

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The culture war against wokism has been Boris Johnson's  creation.

He made it clear he has no time for those who are woke, which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as meaning a state of being "aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)."

Johnson, aided and heavily abetted by Priti Patel and many in his party, have sought to inflame racial tension in this country for their own political advantage. When it still remains the case that no identifiable gain from Brexit can be identified excepting attempts to break international law to deny asylum seekers their rights, racism is at the very core of their political messaging.

But they have lost that message. People are genuinely shocked at the racist response to members of the English football team with which they now identify.

People support a manager who has defied criticism to take a knee with his team, where each person counts, as they do in society - which is their message. They have refused to bow to pressure. They have been anti-racist. People can see that the policy has worked. The English football performances were very good. It was obvious their solidarity was key to that.

And now the country is with them. It will not tolerate the intolerance being shown to England players. And the message is being amplified. Social media is doing that. It can be a force for good, as well as for what is negative. The message is getting out there.

That message will not reach everyone of course. Damien Green MP last night argued on Channel 4 News that only 7% of the country was racist and so there was no issue to worry about. But he ignored that the percentage anti-racist is growing, and that is what matters. The passive toleration of racism on which his party has relied is declining. Active hostility to racism, also  seen as an embrace for our diversity, is rising. And that is a big change.

The behaviour of Johnson and Patel, both furiously trying to claim sporting success for themselves whilst condemning with hollow words the racism they themselves fuelled, is so obviously that of panicked people that even the most politically  indifferent can smell their fear.

That fear is real. Johnson does not know how to govern. He only knows how to divide to create the chaos that permits his minority to win majorities in a society permeated by the fear he himself seeks to create. What he knows is that if his attempt at creating division fails because there is significant agreement on the key issues he uses to divide people - of which race has been the greatest - then his access to power is denied.

Johnson is desperate in that case to neuter woke sentiment now. His aim is to dissipate it by attempting to normalise it, without having any intention to change his approach to any issue. As a result he evidences that he is the very opposite of an anti-racist. What he is seeking to maintain is the power racism delivers to him. Anyone pushing forward current legislation on asylum, policing, universities and other issues of the type he is promoting at present can only be described as such: the mechanisms for control by racists are being reinforced. And he is aware that is putting him in conflict with many very powerful voices belonging to what might be called ordinary  people from right across society in this country.

No wonder Johnson is frightened. If woke wins - and it must, and might  (I am aware if the contradiction in that statement: it is deliberate) - then his power seeps away. But appreciating that we see the essence of the man who has used race as his weapon to get where he is, and can also see the essence of the party that has supported him.

There are many more than 7% racists in the UK. To vote Tory is to be tolerant of racism. It is that straightforward. But as people become aware of this - and maybe they are - then that power base might slip  from Johnson.

It would be about time. A party of deliberate prejudice has no place in governing any part of the UK.


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