Priti Patel says all the right things but does not do them, says ANN WIDDECOMBE
THE campaign against statues grows steadily more ignorant, having expanded from slave traders to anyone who might be vaguely accused of racism, even at second hand.
Priti Patel: Toppling of Edward Colston statue is ‘disgraceful’
To state the bloomin' obvious, nobody is celebrated for having connections with slavery or racism. Statues are erected to commemorate outstanding leadership in national crises (Churchill), victory in battles (Nelson), philanthropy (Colston). Almost anybody from the past will hold views discordant with the present.
One only has to read the popular authors of the inter-war years such as Buchan, Galsworthy and Somerset Maugham to understand how casually racist Britain was and now, embarrassingly for Keir Starmer, some harshly racist comments have been unearthed uttered by none other than Keir Hardie, founder of the Labour Party.
Gladstone is a target, not for his views but for those of his father.
What sort of justice is that? In a clear-headed society it should not matter if your dad was Hitler or Stalin: each individual should be judged on his or her own merits.
And where, oh where, is the political leadership in this country amid this crazy chaos of the woke? It is as invisible as common sense itself. Priti Patel brings fighting talk to the table but no action.
She proclaims miscreants will feel the "full force of the law". Tell that to the vandals who pulled down Colston's statue while police stood and watched. Tell that to those who organised demonstrations with impunity in the teeth of the law on social distancing.Tell that to the kneeling coppers.
As with immigration she says all the right things but does not do them.
Meanwhile Boris is still enervated from the illness which nearly killed him, the Lib Dems are out of sight and Labour is snivellingly unwilling to offend the woke. We need a party which will stand up for freedom of speech, ban the cancel culture, understand history and restore full order; one that will put common sense before political correctness. Nigel?