Remembering Suella Braverman

The disgusting events of 2023’s “Remembrancing” season came as no surprise to me, as they have been building up for years. I’ve been saying for years that the poppy has become politicised since the passing of the last Great War veterans, and we with our World War 2 veterans diminishing year on year, the genuine reflection and remembrance has diminished with them. What we are left with now is a pale imitation of remembrance, wrapped up in union flag waving British Nationalism, or “patriotism” as those participating would prefer it to be known. The connection to the individuals is almost gone, and for most they are now remembering an idea, not individuals.

Watching footage yesterday of the National Front in England laying a wreath really does show how farcical this whole situation has become, where our modern day home-grown Nazis are openly accepted as participants in remembering the fallen, many of whom died at the hands of the original Nazis. Here in Scotland we are little better, with the far right and the British Nationalist extremists also gathering round the poppy as a symbol of Britishness. We see Labour MP’s and Tory councillors posing online in mock remembrance for the camera, all for a photo to be shared online for likes and comments. At our local cenotaph I observed sash-wearing Orange Order members placing wreaths, one of which was dedicated to the “UVF”, the other proclaimed “No Surrender”. There’s no humility or dignity involved anymore, it’s merely competitive staunchness.

“No Surrender”, a slogan used by the Orange Order

That Suella Braverman tapped into this market of extreme British Nationalism is unsurprising, after all it was the same “Little Englander” mentality which brought us Brexit, but she pushed just that bit too hard this time, and it has fuelled a rise not just in racist and xenophobic comment, it emboldened the thugs and put their jackboots on the street, snarling and spitting at those who aren’t white, poppy wearing British citizens, and leading to a wave of violence and arrests. Her sacking is welcome, but the words she used and the attitudes she displayed remain at the core of the Tory party, and may still pay off for them in the long run, what with an election coming in the next twelve months.

One thing I couldn’t help but notice on Sunday was that considering there is a sizeable and vocal element of Scottish society who display their poppy 365 days a year, and who are not slow at criticising anyone who fails to wear one come poppy season, their numbers are very thin on the ground come the actual day itself. Where are they at 11am on a cold, frosty November morning? Not at the cenotaph, that’s for sure. I guess they forgot.

Remembering the Ulster Volunteer Force

Orange Order Supporters to Vote For “Pro-IRA” Corbyn Party

The Silent Majority

In the 2010 and 2015 Westminster elections the Tories in Airdrie consistently polled around 7 or 8% of the vote, somewhere in the region of 3,200 votes. If there was one thing that Ruth Davidson did well, it was to identify her market. Right wing, traditionalist, pro-military British Nationalists. Step forward the Orange Order.  ‘Colonel’ Davidson appealed to them and motivated them to rally to the Tories, a move which saw the Tory vote in Airdrie almost treble in 2017 and saw their candidate take almost 9,000 votes. So successful was this tactic that it took voters from the Labour Party and saw Neil Gray of the SNP take the seat with a majority of only 195. It did not go unnoticed among them that had they stayed with Labour they would have unseated the SNP candidate. They haven’t had long to wait and that lesson is still fresh in their memory.

Current BritNat Tactical Voting Guide for Airdrie

Well organised and secretive with an extensive network of contacts, the above image and others like it are now being aggressively shared on social media and the Loyalists are being asked to be a bit less, well, loyal. It’s being accompanied by sentiment such as “hold your nose and vote Labour” because having spent years convincing themselves that Jeremy Corbyn is an IRA supported they now find themselves having to back him to oust the SNP. If successful it could see potentially thousands of votes switch from the Tories to Labour and could hand the seat to them, and is likely to be successfil given that the head of the Orange Order in Scotland is a Labour councillor in Airdrie.

Neil Gray’s only chance of retaining the seat now lies in the hands of the people who he failed to motivate last time, almost 10,000 voters who simply dropped away over a period of two years for reasons unknown. Outspent and outgunned by Labour last time in terms of manpower, things have not improved greatly and the restrictive nature of the campaign will not help. At present he has failed to meet his very low crowdfunding target which does not bode well as this campaign is all about leafleting and social media advertising. Without activists parties rely on paid for mailshots delivered by Royal Mail, not a problem to dark money Tories and Union funded Labour, but a real issue to an MP who can draw on neither of those. As an MP with a significant salary you might think that a fair chunk of that would be tucked away for such occasions. All will be revealed after the election, but in all likelihood Labour will again come out on top of the spending chart, followed by the SNP, with the Tories third and Lib-Dems and Greens at the coo’s tail. With the Lib-Dems spending a massive £88 last time (yes, really- £88!) the Greens should manage to outspend them at least, even though both are likely to lose their deposits.