Dull royal duties lost their sparkle for Meghan Markle, says ANN WIDDECOMBE
OF COURSE Meghan Markle wasn't driven out of this country by racism. It is a ludicrous claim and symptomatic of how ridiculous the must-be-offended-at-all-costs brigade has become.
On the contrary, it was widely said that the arrival of Meghan proved the Royal family knew how to adapt to modern times and an enormous fuss was made of her quiet, dignified mother, Doria. Meghan hasn’t been driven out by anything except boredom and the indulgence of her own wish for wealth and a celebrity lifestyle without dull duty attached. She is spoiled and celebrity-obsessed. What Meghan wants, Meghan gets. I can only hope that Harry will not find it as difficult to adapt to her lifestyle as she did to his.
It’s an odd way to even the score
Twelve years ago, I was the first woman to become a full member of the Carlton Club, the famous London Tory watering hole.
When I stood for the Brexit Party in the European elections, half the club said they would be voting that way, including Tory councillors and MPs.
ix months later, during which time I used the club regularly, the new chairman, George Young told me I was being expelled for standing against the Party.
Given that myriad Conservatives voted Brexit in May and that in the General Election we were effectively allies who did not stand in Conservative seats and drew off Labour votes in plenty of others, it seemed an odd decision.
Just another reason not to rejoin the Tory Party.
A free shot of BBC hypocrisy
Were the BBC licence fee still collected by government and Ministers had taken away the right of the over-75s to free viewing, the BBC would be howling with outrage and the presenters of the Today programme would be having a field day.
Now that it is the other way around, the BBC suddenly becomes cost-conscious.
Next time a Minister is attacked for refusing to spend money on something the BBC thinks he or she should, there will be a ready-made answer.
Worth labouring the point about discrimination against Christians
Tim Farron, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, says that atheism has become the new religion of this country and is assumed to be the norm.
He further states that Christians in this country feel marginalised.
That is a polite way of putting it: Christians suffer straightforward discrimination as he should know.
He could not carry on as leader of a mainstream political party because he did not believe in gay marriage.
Robert Flello, a Catholic, was deselected as a Lib Dem candidate because he does not believe in gay marriage or abortion.
Now Labour Party leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey is coming under pressure because she believes that unborn disabled babies should have the same rights as their able-bodied counterparts.
Catholics will only be tolerated if they do not hold Catholic beliefs.
Anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic, today’s Labour Party just hates the very groups which have supported it through thick and thin.