Via Conservative Home, here is the text of an early day motion that Boris Johnson - apparently working on the premise that the best way to defuse an accusation of racism made against oneself is to make a similar accusation against someone else - is in the process of initiating:
“This House notes that in May 2008 there is a possibility that at least two members of the BNP will gain a seat on the London Assembly. As things currently stand there is a grave risk of these two members of the BNP having a deciding vote on the Mayor’s budget. This is a potentially disastrous situation in which a future Mayor of any party could depend on BNP support to pass his budget. We call upon all politicians from all parties to denounce the BNP in London and ask for all politicians to work together to combat anyone who seeks to play the race card in London politics. We call upon the Government to use its powers to combat this very real threat.”This last sentence is particularly interesting. As a number of commenters at Conservative Home have already asked, what is it, exactly, that Johnson wants the government to do with "its powers" in order to "combat this very real threat"? Is he calling for some kind of restriction to be imposed on the BNP? Or even for the party to be banned?
I would also suggest that if Johnson and his fellow MPs are really that concerned about the possibility of the BNP getting a couple of assembly members elected, then they should consider the concerns (particularly over mass immigration) that lead people to vote for the BNP, and take some proper action to deal with the problems that give rise to those concerns. But, of course, it is so much easier for our political class to engage in sanctimonious hand-wringing over the fact that some voters are daring to use their votes in a less-than-PC manner, than to actually take any steps towards undoing the damage they've done to the country.
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