gordon-brown

The impact on the political discourse of the Nick-Griffin-on-Question-Time debacle was manifest even before the programme was over. Late in - and leaving the BNP leader entirely out of it - the ministers of the main parties launched into an impromptu cat-fight over which party had the "best grip" on immigration.

Instead of "celebrating diversity" - immigration is suddenly now a topic over which politicians wrestle to show us how much more "in touch" they are with "people's concerns". In this shameful aftermath, all seem desperate to disassociate themselves with the policies of the last decade. First, a former adviser to Tony Blair blurts that the cabinet wanted to “rub the Right’s nose in diversity” by importing a few million more Labour voters. Then come the Home Office admissions over shambolic visa fast-tracking, and the Home Secretary's confessions. Of course, it's all only a matter of saving bacon, sinking ships, etcetera.

Even Gordon Brown is at it now. But as always he's a step behind, half-stuck still in New Labour's outgoing mantras. He manages to sound as if the problem is that there remain parts of Britain that have not yet been transformed by mass immigration:

"if you're living in a town which hasn't seen much inward migration before, you may worry about whether immigration will undermine wages and the job prospects of your children – and whether they will be able to get housing anywhere near you", he said.

So, it's just a matter of the oiks getting over their parochial worries. (Reminds me of a Guardian article on education and diversity, which asserted that because Northumberland College is in England's most sparsely populated county - one with a black and minority ethnic population of less than one percent - it now faces "major challenges" in meeting new diversity requirements. Eh?)

Thankfully:

In an attempt to assure voters that [Gordon Brown] understands their concerns over immigration, he insisted: "If people ask me, do I get it? Yes. I get it."

Oh, just go away - the lot of you. (Bogus politicians and power seekers, I mean.)