It’s outrageous to claim that Brexit voters are racists
THERE’S a phrase in politics that has much to commend it: “Play the ball, not the man.” It means that one shouldn’t attack the person who is saying something you don’t agree with, you should attack what it is they are saying.
That’s a rule that works well for life generally, where courtesy and politeness are virtues we could do with more of. But like all good rules in life there are exceptions.
Sometimes playing the man – or the woman – is the right thing to do because it’s impossible to separate what they say from how they say it and why. Which is why I would like you to consider Diane Abbott, the Corbynite Labour MP and currently shadow health secretary.
Ms Abbott has a reputation in Westminster for being condescending and patronising. Having taken part in a few broadcasts with her, that is exactly how I found her. And I imagine that if you have seen her on TV that is how you find her too. She speaks as if anyone who disagrees with her is some kind of half-wit who needs to be told, slowly, how stupid they are.
I write this not simply to be rude about Ms Abbott but for context. Because on Monday Ms Abbott gave the world the benefit of her views on our vote to leave the EU.
And yes, she thinks that we are all stupid, or “irrational” as she put it. Were that all, it would be typical but hardly worth bothering with. But it isn’t all.
MS ABBOTT, you see, has a more pronounced view of why we voted to leave: it is, she says, because we are racists. According to the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, those of us who voted to leave do not like seeing people who look “foreign” on our streets. And after the vote, she says, we channelled that racism into attacking ethnic minorities.
Her remarks are deeply revealing because they show just what contempt she and her hard Left allies have for the ordinary, decent working people they claim to represent.
She is far from alone. Remember Emily Thornberry tweeting