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The Farage stuff. So, predictably he’s diversifying his hate portfolio for a post-Brexit landscape. He hasn’t been sated with leaving the EU; he’s now going after the most vulnerable migrants. Unsurprisingly, he’s also channelling the Trumpian ‘border viliante’ tactic. /1
Atm, it looks like a fringe hobby that might appeal to the more extreme wing of right-wing opinion, but Farage has taken what were previously fairly eccentric concerns and pushed the Tories into mainstreaming them. /2
A post-Brexit and Covid economy might be fertile ground for his brand of xenophobia. The Tories have shown in the past that they are prepared to move to the right to head off an electoral threat from Farage. /3
And with a fragmented centre and left, that would obviously be a very worrying development. So, Farage may look buffoonish and frankly eccentric right now; but, what he is doing is potentially very dangerous and all decent people should be vigilant. 4/4
P.S. slightly clumsy in first tweet. Obvs, Farage has been going after asylum seekers before (the breaking point poster being the most memorable example). That might have been seen, however, as a tactic to win the referendum. Quite clearly, that wasn’t the case.
