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You would have to credulous not to see this as as consequence of political pressure Richard Tice, of Reform UK, has refuted Metro Bank’s claims that the party’s bank account was suspended as it was “no longer commercially viable”. Speaking at a press conference in Westminster, Mr Tice, 56, told journalists the suspension of the party’s bank account was a politically motivated act.
You would have to be remarkably naïve to think Metro Bank was not leaned on to undermine the primary electoral threat to Tory marginal seats. If they manage to eliminate Reform UK in this manner, the only way to express displeasure with the Tory Party is to vote for the even more monstrous Labour Party.
I am not currently planning on doing a tactical vote to try and destroy the Tory Party, so if Reform UK still exist come next election I will probably vote for them even though they will not win. But if they do not exist… who knows? As many have observed as of late, after the last year and a half, the differences between the Stupid Party and the Evil Party have narrowed very considerably, so perhaps the unthinkable is becoming thinkable.
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Becoming the Stupidly Evil Uniparty?
Quite so, Clovis
They don’t have to shut down the account, “they” can just shut down the flow of funds by denying card processing rights at the scheme (MC/Visa) level. Or sic AML (anti-money-laundering) and KYC (know-your-customer) auditors down on the bad thinkers so the funds are tied up. The flip side would be allowing, as they did Obama while he was losing to McCain (look it up) to violate all those rules wholesale for a nice $13M haul when he needed it.
Cashless society … bad.
-XC
I’d say it was impossible, not just incredibly naive, to doubt this is political. Anyone in the public domain who questions that is part of it.
But as to the role in it of woke hatred for the ‘everything-ist’, ‘all-phobe’ Reform Party versus the OP’s suspicion that Tory pressure is involved, that I do not know. The former are the usual cancellers. What role the latter are to play will likely become clear in not too much time.
Why it can’t be the Metro Bank people itself that are totalitarians?
You’re probably just doing a polite “benefit of the doubt” thing here, but I would say that they’d have to be well past that and into “actively dishonest”. This is “Twitter is just being fair” level.
In the United States the Federal Reserve and other agencies are pushing a code of conduct (first drawn up under the Obama Administration) to push Social Justice and crush dissent – business enterprises (as well as political and cultural groups) will see their access to financial services slowly cut off, if they do not push Social Justice Collectivism on a wide range of matters – dissent will not be acceptable, and even a neutral position will not be acceptable (every business will, eventually, have to promote the agenda).
As far as I know, no such formal code of conduct exists in the United Kingdom for banks and other such – but there does not really need to be.
Remember Perry – the Big Business types (including the bankers) are EDUCATED people – and education (schools as well as universities) now teaches that certain opinions are to be crushed. The sort of opinions associated with the “Reform Party” would be an example of the sort of opinions that the education system (and the bankers and other corporate managers that it produces) holds must be crushed.
So there is no need for a call from Conservative Central Office or anything like that – this sort of creeping totalitarianism proceeds automatically now.
Imagine standing up in, for example, a local authority meeting and voicing forbidden opinions (on “diversity and inclusion” or on “Climate Justice”, or many other things) – after a stunned silence, a person who did that would be asked to leave the meeting (and removed if they did not leave). No political party would condemn that – on the contrary they would all rush to condemn the person expressing the dissenting opinions (who would be told to resign – and removed if they did not resign, and an elected person can be removed without losing an election. for bringing the body into disrepute).
Presently it is still (just) acceptable to be silent – but how long that will still be acceptable, I do not know. The time is coming when everyone will have actively express agreement with the “correct” opinions on all matters – being silent will no longer be acceptable.
This is international.
For example, the government of Hungary had a pro adoption campaign – not banning abortion, but urging woman to consider putting babies up for adoption (rather than aborting them).
The European Union denounced the adoption campaign as “against European values”, babies must be killed (not adopted). And all the major international bodies agreed with the European Union on this matter.
Some opinions are correct and must be promoted, and some opinions are “reactionary” and must be exterminated. The international community is very firm on this. This is the position of the education system (the schools and universities) – and, therefore, of the people educated to be government and corporate officials.
So people who think all this is just Britain and the United States are quite mistaken – it is general in the Western world.
It was, after all, Frankfurt Germany – not Frankfurt Kentucky.
My favorite expression to replace “remarkably naive” would be: delusionally insane.
See also: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.
Snorri – Conservative Central Office would not have needed to contact the bank, or anything like that.
It is NOT “political pressure” in the conventional sense – it is the rise of totalitarian mindset in the financial industry and Big Business generally. Due to the “education” that managers receive – and what the culture of the Western World (not just Britain) is now like. Some opinions (such as the opinions associated with the Reform Party) are considered semi criminal – and business enterprises will rush to dissociate themselves from anyone with such opinions.
But all this is not better than Prime Minister Alexander Johnson telephoning some bank and telling them to behave in this disgraceful way – it is actually WORSE than that.
We have, in my lifetime, moved from a Free Speech Culture to an ANTI Free Speech Culture.
I could see it happening even in the 1980s – when instead of really FIGHTING the Frankfurt School of Marxism, the “right” in this country just made weak jokes about “loony lefties” and “Political Correctness Gone Mad” (look at how pathetically weak that response it is – it concedes that there is a non “mad” form of “political correctness”, it concedes the basic position of the enemy).
One does not win a war by making jokes – and this was a war, a war we LOST.
Today the Frankfurt School of Marxism (Marxists were advising the Home Office as far back as the 1970s) greatly influences what is acceptable speech in public life. That is what “Woke” means.
For example, see such pieces of the legislation as the 2010 Equalities Act – passed under Prime Minister Cameron. All public bodies have a duty to promote certain opinions, and to punish other opinions. Big Business follows similar lines of thinking.
They do NOT know they are serving Frankfurt School Marxism – but they do not have to know (in order for the Western World to be undermined and, eventually, destroyed). And it is not just the United Kingdom – it is also most other Western nations.
Including the Netherlands Snorri.
Don’t. Just call him Boris Johnson. Otherwise it just devalues whatever follows by making you look like a prat, a bit like writing in lavender ink or all caps.
My apologies – the 2010 Equalities Act was passed under Prime Minister Brown – NOT Prime Minister Cameron.
Although all major political parties largely agree on enforcing “Woke” doctrine as law, I should still strive to get the details correct. I apologise for my error.