the brilliantly leaping gazelle

Yesterdays “Guardian’ thought it a good idea to give Enoch Powell a go at being a journalist. Thankfully for all concerned, it isn’t her full-time job. Worryingly though, she is a Labour MP and former leader of the House of Commons who is running for deputy leadership of the Labour party. She also neatly encapsulated why exactly it is that the public have always held politicians in low regard, and paradoxically, why Nigel’s Farrago popularity only ever seems to increase.

Of course, his popularity only increases with people who don’t read ‘The Guardian’. They’re certainly not the sort of people who would ever vote Labour, not that Enoch would ever want them to. Although she has to pretend that she does, to be seen to be going though the motions.

So we got this. ‘Labour must grab the microphone from Reform UK and stand up for true British values.’ That’s a strong headline, which suggests that she knows what these British values were and if there was any doubt as to what these were, she was going to tell us. But no. A headline, and nothing else. Nowhere in the article did she even hint at what vague sentiments these values might embody, let alone boldly claim what they were. But job done, she might think, anticipating that most Guardian readers would only glance at the headline, whilst scrolling down its homepage for something else, assured that they were left with a good impression of her. 

That’s because in order to define ‘British values’ are, one first has to clarify what one means by ‘British values’. Numerous problems immediately preclude this. Who is British and even if the government thinks they’re British, do they? Championing and encouraging ethnic diversity, as successive local and central governments have done, whilst simultaneously inculcating a sense of guilt about being British, hasn’t exactly fostered a shared pride in Britain. This leads to there not being a shared set of values, fundamental core beliefs that are universal to everyone just by dint of them being here. Because one of the things that ethnic diversity necessarily brings with it is the idea that every ethnicity has its own differing set of values. It’d be preposterous to suggest otherwise.  

But whilst there isn’t a set of ‘British values’, there does exist a set of ‘Guardian values’ and a quick shufti at the comments section article reveals what they are. One word sums them up, and there’s no prize for guessing what that word is, because you and I both know what that word is. 

Brexit. Its the political equivalent of snake oil for “Guardian’ readers. It not only helpfully explains away the problems of now and the causes of the problems of tomorrow but crucially, reinforces their own perceived moral superiority 

It increasingly occurs to me that if Brexit had never happened, I mean if the referendum had never taken place, something broadly similar to it would need to have been invented to explain away working class disillusionment with the political process. One which, regardless of the solemn promises that each party makes to them prior to each election, they had consistently failed to honour.  It was more convenient then to explain away the frustration that Brexit revealed as evidence of manipulation, of misinformation and symptomatic of the ‘xenophobic and bigoted tendencies of the working class. 

Indeed, the more we hear it, the more it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, an instinctive narrative which frames our understanding of anything involving any expression of working class discontent. It is also indicative of the groupthink, the consensus view that has infected the Labour Party amongst other institutions, such that it is considered politically unconscionable to even talk about British values, lest they be mistaken for something else.

And Powell knows this only too well. In May this year, whilst taking part BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions commentator and Reform UK member Tim Montgomerie asked Powell if she had seen a recent Channel 4 documentary on the rape/torture gangs. She responded with “oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now do we” and “let’s get that dog whistle out shall we”. Making allowances for someone saying something they might have said more judiciously had she had time to think, doesn’t really cut it. She is a politician and knows, or should have known, how that that comment would’ve sounded to different ears.

But it was only on Radio 4, which is basically an audio version of The Guardian’, after all, so no harm really. So the controversy that engulfed her following broadcast must’ve taken her by surprise. I suppose one of the ‘British values’ she can’t quite place is the idea that being concerned about easily the worst scandal to have emerged since Saville, isn’t a ‘dog whistle’. Its a normal to ask why this happened, why it was allowed to happen and why it happened in so many parts of the country, often at the same time and often with the same victim/perpetrator profile.

But her eagerness to dismiss it as a ‘dog whistle, together with her inability to even tentatively suggest what British values are, speaks of a deep mistrust, a loathing even, for what those values might be.  Much easier to talk about them, to give the impression she knows what they are, rather than betray her own ignorance. 

It also betrays the unbridled contempt that the Labour Party, along with ‘The Guardian’, has for the working class. That a belief in cherishing the traditions of and celebrating the culture of one’s country is a good thing, just as long as that country isn’t England and certainly not held by the English who voted for Brexit.