Battle for Britain: Fighting the Tory Government’s Vile Ideology

The first of two articles in which I examine how the Tory government’s vile anti-immigration policies, pursued with such vigour by Priti Patel and Suella Braverman, have their origins in the dangerous isolationism of Brexit, and its unleashing of false and disturbing notions that, post-Brexit, the UK should no longer be constrained by international law. In this first article, I look at how Brexit happened, how Theresa May paved the way for the shoddy and cruel lawlessness of Patel and Braverman, and how the Tories, even before Brexit, have consistently sought to undermine the European Convention on Human Rights, with a particular focus on Theresa May’s obsessive pursuit of the Jordanian cleric Abu Qatada.

Now that Rishi Sunak has become the Conservative Party’s fourth Brexit Prime Minister in six years, I look at the colossal challenges he faces — on the ‘cost of living’ crisis, the climate crisis, and Brexit in particular — and express serious doubts that either he, or his Cabinet, are capable of providing anything like the leadership that we need.

With the government of Liz Truss in chaos, having crashed the economy, but still committed to widening inequality and trashing the environment, there’s never been a better time to get involved in protests taking place in London from October 1 to October 16, involving Just Stop Oil, Enough Is Enough, the UK Guantánamo Network, the Don’t Extradite Assange campaign, and Extinction Rebellion.

My detailed analysis of the extraordinary coup staged by Liz Truss and her Cabinet, who, without a mandate from the British people, have delivered an energy price cap that will be paid for by taxpayers, and an energy policy that prioritises new fossil fuel extraction over renewables, and, via the new Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, a ‘mini-budget’ that further widens the chasm between the rich and the poor. This is through tax cuts that overwhelmingly favour the rich, accompanied by a promise to punish the unemployed, as well as attempts to set up rights-free “investment zones” across the country — all policies drawn from the adherence of Truss and her colleagues to the far-right ‘libertarian’ think-tanks in Tufton Street in Westminster that also helped to secure the Brexit vote, and are now seeking to fulfil their dream of an utterly unregulated Britain, with no workers’ rights or environmental protections.

My analysis of Liz Truss’s scandalous proposal to cap the rising energy bills that threaten to destroy the British economy by borrowing at least £100 billion to compensate energy producers for their reduced profits, and then making UK taxpayers pay it back over the next ten to 20 years, instead of levying a windfall tax on those same companies’ unearned £176 billion in profits. Truss also lifted the moratorium on fracking, and pledged to allow new fossil fuel extraction in the North Sea, completely ignoring renewable energy sources, even though they are cheaper, environmentally sound, and can be brought online swiftly. Although the announcement on Wednesday was immediately overshadowed by the death of Queen Elizabeth II, it is imperative that resistance to this outrageous plan is kept alive until Parliament resumes its business after the Queen’s funeral.

Marking the 37th anniversary of the Battle of the Beanfield, on June 1, 1985, when the police, under Margaret Thatcher, violently assaulted a convoy of travellers en route to Stonehenge to establish what would have been the 12th annual Stonehenge Free Festival, with commentary about how, today, Gypsies and travellers face a threat to their very way of life via legislation introduced by our dangerous and bigoted home secretary, Priti Patel.

My review of 2021, in which I assess the last 12 months regarding Covid, corrupt governments, and, overshadowing it all, the climate crisis, the gravest existential threat in our lifetimes. With reference to Adam McKay’s ‘Don’t Look Up’, this New Year’s post is, I hope, something of a call to action.

My response to the shameful deaths of 27 refugees crossing the Channel to the UK, how it reflects appallingly on the Brexit-soaked racism and xenophobia of the Tory government, the right-wing media and far too many of the British people, and how counter-productive it is to be turning away immigrants when, post-Brexit, all manner of British businesses are critically short of workers.

The latest fundraiser for my photo-journalism project ‘The State of London’, a labour of love for which I have no institutional backing whatsoever, and rely on your support to enable me to keep cycling, taking photos and posting a photo a day, with accompanying essays, on social media.

As the wretched Tory government of Boris Johnson irresponsibly prepares to lift all Covid restrictions, I look at how the delusions of Brexit, which is crippling British businesses, have fed into a political climate in which the Tories’ irresponsible and sometimes criminal response to Covid gets overlooked, and how Johnson and his Cabinet prioritise whatever will keep them in power — opening up sports events, for example, and cynically capitalising on England’s success in the Euro 2020 championships, while almost entirely abandoning the country’s cultural sector. I also look at how, under Priti Patel, almost all immigration has been shut down (despite job shortages that are making many businesses unviable), as this particularly vile home secretary also seeks to stamp out all political dissent, as well as criminalising the way of life of Gypsies and Travellers.