OPINION: Britain now a bit player in European politics

FROM having an Empire on which the sun never set, from colonies, protectorates and dominions to Brexit, Britain now is nothing more than a bit player in European politics.

As Hamlet’s auld fella said in slightly different circumstances: ‘O what a falling off was there!’

In the House of Commons where lingering imperial urges emboldened the Conservative party to crank up a ghostly sense of its former glory, all that it could produce  was a mish-mash that cynics considered more appropriate to the musical ‘Mamma Mia!’ than Britain’s place in the modern world. 

Blown at last was the Tory lie that Britannia was far more influential and stronger than it actually was. Indeed a story doing the rounds in London had it that after one Downing Street dinner, EU chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, concluded that Prime Minister May didn’t live on planet Mars, but rather in a galaxy far, far away!

Worse still, the party is being torn apart in a vicious civil war in which political combat has been reduced to something akin to soccer hooliganism: Britain vs Brussels – as simple as that. 

At least that’s the impression we get on this side of the pond when we hear Tories hooting and jeering whenever their boss, Mrs May, comes up with a new wheeze – the latest is her ‘Brexit way-forward extension.’

No Dunkirk this time!

May’s enemies accuse her of quasi-endorsement of Europeanism because of her request to Donald Tusk for an extension to Article 50 until June 30^th (Article 50 gives any EU member state the right to quit unilaterally)

Missing too from the fractious debate is the Dunkirk phenomenon, that former grandeur of the British people when they used pull together in a common cause, and which has been the plot of awful movies.

Fleeing from the symbolic-style Dunkirk that the Brits created and from a Johnny Foreigner Europe they despise, it’s back to a Britain that is likely to suffer economically (the Bank of England predicts an 8% drop in GDP and a 7.5% rise in unemployment). 

Amazing too that our neighbours don’t seem to mind being governed by a self-involved clique that draws its strength from millionaire lawyers, a financial elite of bankers, class,  remote civil servants, toffee-nosed politicos and a twisted media, and not from any set of political beliefs that might form the basis of a political system.

Which raises this question:  Is naïveté the reason why the Brits believe Tory yarns about Europe falling under the thumb of rabble rousers who are incapable of making any kind of political or economic sense?

Call in riot squads

One way or another, it is hard not to be amazed at the sight of the Lord Snooties choosing to destroy their own party rather than that of their political enemies. There ain’t any method in that sort of madness!

And while this is happening, confidence in poor Mrs May ebbs away. Some argue that she lost political credibility when she sought salvation in the embrace of the DUP, a repulsive Northern outfit of maniacs and religious headbangers; but that now is neither here nor there.

Her current dilemma is that she’s in office but not in power, and although she knows she’s about to be ditched, she’s unable to take action against the fury and viciousness that pretenders to her prime-ministerial job direct at her. She’s flummoxed. Her situation is dire.

So, here’s a remedy for her affliction, courtesy of Archon and The Southern Star (British Ambassador, Daily Telegraph, and the Conservative and Unionist Party of Great Britain please copy):

It’s time for her to resurrect the tried and trusted method the Empire always used for dealing with restless and rambunctious natives, namely the dreadful Rees-Moggs and the Boris Johnsons.

She must call in the riot squads with their tear gas, police dogs, armoured vehicles and water cannon and lock up the blighters, just as Margaret Thatcher’s good friend, General Pinochet, used do with his critics. And although controversial for a day or two, such a decisive move would put manners on the rest of the back-stabbing Tories and teach a lesson to others.

Her message must be simple:  ‘Meddle with May at your Peril’  Will that happen?  Very, very unlikely!  But it’s the way to go!

Dark side of politics

In the meantime, those who inhabit the dark side of politics are having a field day. White supremacists are increasing their efforts to foment racial conflict.

Indeed the switch from British police to MI5 in the monitoring of extreme right-wing groups means that fascism is now being taken seriously as a threat to British national security. Four extreme right-wing plots were uncovered in the UK since 2017, as well as 14 violent Islamic conspiracies. Over 100 investigations currently are taking place. 

The right-wing threats came centre stage after the assassination of a Labour MP in 2016.  MI5 is now of the opinion that there are more than a hundred neo-Nazis and far right extremists operating in Britain, most of whom are committed to initiating racial war. 

Last month the BBC reported that British Neo-Nazis have been studying on-line methods of attack and, weirdly, are sharing the information with jihadists. The material often is vile – such as beheadings and men thrown off high buildings, having been ‘convicted’ of homosexuality – but the intention is clear: neither the fascists nor the jihadists want a multi-cultural society.

Irish anti-fascists

Interesting too that a poll conducted in Britain in July 2018 found that 49% of those who voted Conservative in the 2017 general election considered Islam a threat to the British way of life, compared with 21% who said it was compatible.

And let’s not forget that British fascists supplied funds and weaponry to Loyalist groups and that Northern thugs have carried out racist attacks on the homes of immigrants. Unsurprisingly, the Six Counties have a higher proportion of racist attacks than other parts of the UK.  Police in Britain refer to Belfast as the ‘race-hate capital of Europe’.

So it’s not too much of a surprise that a self-styled anti-fascist group has emerged down here which boasts of monitoring ‘fascist individuals and groups in Ireland to ensure they do not gain momentum.’  It also claims to be ‘notoriously secretive’ and does not want its members identified.

In a document mysteriously supplied to this newspaper, the group calls itself ‘AFA Ireland’ and claims to have organised ‘high-profile protests’ at public meetings where speakers were accused of racism. They also protested at debates held by right-wing Polish politicians in Dublin and Cork.

They say any level of fascist activity is a threat but assured the nation that AFA does not accept the proposition that there is no need for militant anti-fascist groups. ‘Wherever the far-right gathers, the AFA will be watching,’ they warned.

And no, we didn’t dream it!