Brown the bigot reveals the problem with the immigration debate

Reality transcended satire last week when dear old Gordon messed up with his ‘bigot’ comment. Surely the writers of ‘The Thick of It’ would not have come up with a better idea for an episode than this? We were treated to an extended episode as well, when Gordon decided he would descend the whole thing to farce by visiting Gillian Duffy’s home in Rochdale to try and rectify his mishap. It only made things worse, when his 40-minute effort to persuade her to come outside and have a photo failed. Instead he came out on his own, grinning inappropriately, and gave one of the most farcical statements I have ever heard. It was quite simply hilarious. I had to watch the clip on the Sky News website three or four times, I was enjoying it so much. For this then, I heartily thank our Prime Minister for providing such entertainment.

But on a serious note, the bigot comment revealed the whole problem with the immigration debate. As most commentators admitted, if you read the transcript of what Mrs Duffy said, there is nothing she said which could have been justifiably described as bigoted. Of course most people associate the ‘bigot’ label with those that hold views on immigrants which can be said to be prejudiced or perhaps racist. Usually the left dismisses any discussion on immigration by simply retorting that anyone who raises a concern as to levels of immigration is a racist or a bigot. The issue was nicely encapsulated by the Conservative posters of their 2005 election campaign: ‘It’s not racist to put a cap on immigration’. And now we know where Brown sits in this debate. Rather than acknowledge Mrs Duffy’s acceptable concerns, the real Gordon, recorded by the Sky microphone, dismissed those concerns as ‘bigoted’. In so doing, he also dismissed millions of peoples concerns in this county that echo exactly the anxiety that Mrs Duffy has about immigration.

It is very easy to hold Brown’s view on immigration if you (like so many of the political establishment and the righteous left) live in a nice house in a leafy suburb of West London. But when you actually live somewhere like for example, Rochdale, or any other place that has witnessed the unprecedented growth in immigration under Labour, it is not so easy. What is deplorable is that Brown and the like refuse to have the debate, and simply dismiss any alternative views.

Many have commented that they felt a little sorry for Gordon Brown. There was an element to the episode that we can all empathise with. But the mistake would have attracted much greater sympathy had he been recorded saying something like ‘yes she is right we have had a right problem with those eastern Europeans’. The trouble is he didn’t. His slip up revealed the true Gordon. He does not want to listen to the every day worries of the people. He simply views those worries as bigoted and so proceeds with a policy that has resulted in a net average of 200,000 people settling here every year.

A ‘bigot’ according the dictionary definition I looked up is a person ‘who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own’. How very ironic, that Gordon Brown’s view of Mrs Duffy and the left’s response to the immigration debate seem to fit this definition perfectly.