![]() It relies on a degree of respect for the opinions of others, soliciting support for political ideas without stirring up undue savagery and hatred against opponents. ![]() But in the aftermath of her death, there are truths of which we should remind ourselves right now.ĭemocracy is precious and precarious. Just why she became the victim of such a vicious attack, we may learn eventually. There was Jo Cox, a dedicated MP, going about her business, doing what good MPs do, making herself available to any constituents with any problems to drop in to her surgery. Our image, our reality, will change overnight.Ĭontempt for politics is dangerous and contagious, yet it has become a widespread default sneer. Around the world we will be seen as the island that cut itself off as a result of anti-foreigner feeling: that will identify us globally more than any other attribute. When politicians from a mainstream party use immigration as their main weapon in a hotly fought campaign, they unleash something dark and hateful that in all countries always lurks not far beneath the surface.ĭid we delude ourselves we were a tolerant country – or can we still save our better selves? Over recent years, struggling to identify “Britishness”, to connect with a natural patriotic love of country that citizens have every right to feel, politicians floundering for a British identity reach for the reassuring idea that this cradle of democracy is blessed with some special civility.īut if the vote is out, then out goes that impression of what kind of country we are. Ted Heath expelled Enoch Powell from the Tory front ranks for it. The justice minister, Michael Gove, and the leader of the house, Chris Grayling – together with former London mayor Boris Johnson – have allied themselves to divisive anti-foreigner sentiment ramped up to a level unprecedented in our lifetime. This campaign has stirred up anti-migrant sentiment that used to be confined to outbursts from the far fringes of British politics. This campaign has stirred up anti-migrant sentiment that used to be confined to the far fringes of British politics How recklessly the decades of careful work and anti-racist laws to make those sentiments unacceptable have been overturned. But the leavers have lifted several stones. ![]() Rude, crude, Nazi-style extremism is mercifully rare. The car’s owner had passed it on to the police. White Power” – accompanied by racist symbols. Nex time do not park your car with remain sign on. This is what the message said, printed in capitals (I’ve left the original spelling): “This is a lave area. The car had a remain poster on it and was parked round the corner from where I live. We must break free from the EU and take control of our borders.” Nicola Sturgeon, Caroline Lucas and many others condemned it as “disgusting”, and so it is.Īt a ward meeting this week my local Labour councillor in Camden, north London, showed us a sign that had been left on a member’s car windscreen. Only an hour before this shooting Nigel Farage unveiled a huge poster showing Syrian refugees fleeing to Slovenia last year, nothing to do with EU free movement – and none arriving here. It’s been part of a noxious brew, with a dangerous anti-politics and anti-MP stereotypes fomented by leave and their media backers mixed in. I believe they bear responsibility, not for the attack itself, but for the current mood: for the inflammatory language, for the finger-jabbing, the dogwhistling and the overt racism. But there are others whose recklessness has been open and shocking. There are many decent people involved in the campaign to secure Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, many who respect the referendum as the exercise in democracy that it is.
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