He is back and this time he is pissed off!!
Former Labour MP and TV presenter Roberty Kilroy-Silk has emerged from his brief period of public exile to announce that he intends to stand as a candidate for the UK Independence Party in the forthcoming European Parliament elections.
The UKIP leadership will almost certainly regard this as something of coup and not without justification. They have had a dreadfully hard time getting any public traction for their campaign to get Britain out of the EU altogether and celebrity commitments of this nature can (if not turn the tide) at least help to raise profile.
But what will the Europhile side make of this? Hay, is the answer. Indeed, the harvesting is already underway:
Robert Kilroy-Silk, the politician turned TV presenter who lost his daytime show for insulting the Arab nations, has now joined a group of people who think that continental Europe is ruled by “barbarians”.
The former Labour MP, whose opinions have become more right-wing as he has grown older, wants Britain to withdraw from the EU altogether, and to impose heavy restrictions on immigration.
The entire case of the Europhile lobby consists of the wicked calumny that anti-EU campaginers are merely a motley bunch of rabid, red-necked bigots and foaming-at-the-mouth nazi-types who just do not like ‘foreigners’. It is the only weapon in their armoury and they wield it with alacrity.
Given Mr. Kilroy-Silk’s recent, well-publicised and rather uncharitable outbursts (the nature of which were sufficient, in the current ethical climate, to brand him as an incorrigable racist) his candidacy is going to provide the Europhiles with a big dose of ‘see-we-told-you-so’ corroboration for their libels. I expect that they will milk this unfortunate and inaccurate conflation for all it is worth.
I hope that good fortune smiles on UKIP and Mr Kilroy-Silk’s campaign for electoral success but I do fear that his candidacy will prove to be a propoganda victory for the other side.
I wish them well, too, if only for the entertainment value. I don’t think they’ll amount to much, though; why hurl insults when there are so many good arguments to be made for his case?
“The former Labour MP, whose opinions have become more right-wing as he has grown older, wants Britain to withdraw from the EU altogether, and to impose heavy restrictions on immigration.”
I like him 🙂
“The former Labour MP, whose opinions have become more right-wing as he has grown older, wants Britain to withdraw from the EU altogether, and to impose heavy restrictions on immigration.”
I half like him. I think immigration is far too restricted.
Sadness is of course is that he is a celebrity, and will not take votes from those who wish to remove our reliance on Euro-dictact, but from the Tories. The Tories are supriosingly well re4presented inthat particualr region by two men. Chris Heaton Harris and Roger Helmer, both of whom are part of what is known in Brussels as the ‘H block’. This unofficial grouping includes Dan Hannan, see you previous post about Tillack, and represents good solid, eurosceptic values. Now if he had stood in other regions – the SW to name but one, there would be more sense.
The problem is that Immigration is effectively subsidised. Immigrants can freely arrive and for no financial consideration impose costs on workers (such as pressure on wages/benefits) and citizens by increasing uses of common resources.
What is needed is a market in immigration that balances the needs of business with the costs it imposes on citizens. I propose unrestricted immigration as long as you win the entry auction.
Snakehead gangs regularly charge many thousands of dollars to smuggle somone into the UK. The state is missing a free source of revenue from non-citizens, that can also balance immigration.
People should do what they feel is right regardless of what others might think. It often amuses me that pro-Europeans accuse eurorealists of those things that they themselves are guilty of. Anyone who has studied the foundations of the EU will know its link with and resemblance to Nazi policies. See this article and its links.