No. 79 – Boris Claims to be a ‘Model of Restraint ‘ and Flips Language onto its Back

Dear James,

So you have bought it hook, line and sinker. The new Tory Party has gone for broke. It has relinquished its ancient ties to a conservative broad church and its version of fairness and become Farage Party Mark 2. And all this is delivered by Boris Johnson with that straight face and reassuring demeanour as he claims that his language is completely acceptable and ‘a model of restraint.’ It is not. And neither is your claim to ‘Get Brexit Done!’.

Brexit will only be done when a majority of MPs or the public is satisfied with the result of everything we now know about its implications. It is blocked because the problem that our nation faces is highly complex and Parliament has recognized this and is attempting to deal with the problem of mitigating the undoubted downsides of wrenching ourselves out off the largest free market area in the world. Those responsible for the hold up range from the ERG - which voted down Mrs May’s deal three times because it would have kept us too close to the EU for their liking - to the Lib-Dems who do not want to leave at all. There are countless other views between those two. That is no reason to give up on such a vitally important question facing us all. It is also no reason to force through Brexit using language and tactics which threaten the very basis of our democracy. Boris is in a corner and when in such a situation knows that, using Trump’s playbook to never look back, always go forwards, that the only way out is to double down using language to subvert fundamental truth. That is what your party has come to James and you are still in it. Have you no shame?

Boris claims that his use of ‘Surrender Act’ is a completely acceptable use of language. That would be the view of propagandists everywhere. Dr Goebbels, knew about it as did Josef Stalin. Language can never be separated from context. I can call a friend a ‘Paky’ if he is a friend, we know each other very well, if we trust each other, share a sense of humour and are sure that no one else is within earshot. He could do the same to me. ‘You bloody Gora!” which apparently means ‘White man’ but can be used derogatorily in the right – or wrong – contexts. Outside those contexts, such words would cause massive offence. And that is the trick. No word, phrase or sentence has meaning except within a context. And both Boris and Trump know it. The context for ‘Surrender Act’ is of warfare and craven subservience to an enemy. We are not in a war James. Boris’s use of the phrase is designed precisely to gird up his supporters and intimidate his detractors. It is designed to cause offence and stir up violence. 

‘Dolchstoss’, was a phrase that the Nazis used on their path to power in Germany. It means a ‘stab in the back’ and encapsulated the notion that the country had been betrayed by Jews after the First World War. It fuelled resentment, hatred and finally the bloodlust that ended in the holocaust. Donald Trump uses a variety of phrases to stir up his supporters and to intimidate his opponents. ‘Witch hunt’ is one of his favourites. ‘Smear’ is another. He understands the contexts completely. As does Boris when using language to describe burqa wearing Muslim women as looking like ‘letter boxes’ or ‘bank robbers’. Language has consequences James. Let no one tell you any different. I just hope you will not have blood on your hands!

You are now about to have your Party Conference in Manchester. Many of your party will not be there because they know what is happening to their party. Ridicule, propaganda and bribery will be the order of the day. You will ridicule the ‘traitors’, propagandize those who believe your party’s deviation from all its old norms is necessary and bribe the population with promises from ‘the money tree’ so suddenly rediscovered by the party that invented austerity.  This will be ‘the new face of Toryism’ and you, James, and your party will be on the way to eventual oblivion. 

Just because you could not find the courage to say ‘no’ to the blatant corruption, built up over so many centuries, of the language and culture that is so much admired by the rest of the world. 

So sad, James. So sad. 

Kind regards, 

BH - Your Concerned Constituent.