Lee Anderson, Conservative deputy chair says asylum seekers should ‘fuck off back to France’ if they don’t want to be housed on the Bobby Stockholm barge

Wyllow3

Yes, that really stood out in the news - the interview with the very valid bloke who had come by plane.

Indeed Siope - endlessly - like processing the backlog, like introducing centres outside the UK to request asylum, like actually putting real efforts into joining EU police forces

I've been shocked by the hate on here tonight. *Remember, please, that 61% of people who do apply are allowed to stay with valid reasons. The government have allowed a situation to build up and built up, then whip up hatred.

What hate? I think it has been a reasonable discussion.

Wanting controlled immigration and looking after our own people first is not hating people.

Primrose53

Wyllow3

Yes, that really stood out in the news - the interview with the very valid bloke who had come by plane.

Indeed Siope - endlessly - like processing the backlog, like introducing centres outside the UK to request asylum, like actually putting real efforts into joining EU police forces

I've been shocked by the hate on here tonight. *Remember, please, that 61% of people who do apply are allowed to stay with valid reasons. The government have allowed a situation to build up and built up, then whip up hatred.

What hate? I think it has been a reasonable discussion.

Wanting controlled immigration and looking after our own people first is not hating people.

You only have to agree with the sentiments expressed by Lee Anderson to be showing hate.

Casdon

Primrose53

Wyllow3

Yes, that really stood out in the news - the interview with the very valid bloke who had come by plane.

Indeed Siope - endlessly - like processing the backlog, like introducing centres outside the UK to request asylum, like actually putting real efforts into joining EU police forces

I've been shocked by the hate on here tonight. *Remember, please, that 61% of people who do apply are allowed to stay with valid reasons. The government have allowed a situation to build up and built up, then whip up hatred.

What hate? I think it has been a reasonable discussion.

Wanting controlled immigration and looking after our own people first is not hating people.

You only have to agree with the sentiments expressed by Lee Anderson to be showing hate.

Don’t be so ridiculous!

You only have to agree with the sentiments expressed by Lee Anderson to be showing hate

Frustration and exasperation rather than hate.

Here, perhaps, but it is naive to pretend that it doesn't fan the flames of hatred in our society, for hatred there is.

Tolerance of Lee Anderson and certain similar remarks - on here - allows an atmosphere where hatred can flourish.

Why not express frustration here about the lack of speed of processing of vast numbers that have built up over years by this government? Or the lack of facilities abroad that offer processing abroad before people set out here?

Instead of approving of someone swearing about the results of this neglect?

There was a time when standards in the House were a little higher and politicians were able to articulate their frustration or whatever mood or emotion overwhelmed them in more eloquent terminology.

Regardless of the issue - Anderson is a sexist oaf, his comments to and about women are crude. He has no gravitas nor refinement and is being accommodated by the current government because they assume he appeals to the Red Wall.

He's insufferable. Any fool can use the language of the gutter.

Interesting to read that those who have contacted the outside world from the barge are Afghans who arrived “legally” by plane to the U.K.

For those of you who would prefer that they “fucked off” perhaps you would like to reflect that these people served the U.K. and in many cases risked their lives in doing so. One has had to leave his family behind - absolute tragedy.

The U.K. has nothing to be proud of when we treat people as we are treating these folk. It is beyond disgraceful, and people on this thread who are using such language of hate, and suggesting that the conditions are more than adequate need to take a period of reflection on their moral and empathetic compass.

Yesterday afternoon there was a programme on CNN about African asylum seekers arriving in USA and how NY is finding it difficult to house them. The difference in the language, empathy, acceptance etc between the USA and U.K. was stark.

What is happening in this country is wholly reflective of the worse type of right wing ideology, seen in the rhetoric from the likes of Braverman and little Sunak, desperate to find something that will boost him in the polls. Well if this amounts to what we see happening in the U.K. I want none of it. Neither do I want to be associated with those who are willing to jump on the same bandwagon and turn their backs on those who served this country, sometimes with their lives.

There are not sufficient words to describe how ashamed I feel.

You know reflecting on the Tory rhetoric, there was a time that to read such language we had to turn to the BNP - now it is the Tory Party and apparently their supporters.

Frustration has spoken, He spoke for the majority who dare not say what they think

Why don’t people “dare” to say what they think? I haven’t noticed any such reticence. Maybe they do think that anyone with non white skin shouldn’t live in the U.K., is that what they think? Who knows if they are all so silent? And if they are so silent who are we to assume we know what they think?

I weep at some of the posts on here
NO NO NO. He only speaks for racists let’s not tip toe around this

How wonderfully we embraced the white Ukrainians giving them everything ( rightfully so) but anyone fleeing from war or poverty or bad treatment who isn’t European should be sworn at and put into a floating prison

It’s simply Far Right racism equal to the Enoch Powel days
So Karmalady let’s put it as it is pure and utter Racism which unfortunately is still very much alive and kicking
Yes there is an underbelly it appeals to and they are here and always have been

I d swap a racist for a refugee ( however they arrived) any day.

The Tories are trying to deflect from the fact that they are not going to “stop the boats” by shoving people into warehouses for years on end with nothing much to do. Yes there are alternatives - set up safe and legal routes, let people apply while they are outside the U.K., they can be fingerprinted, IDed, interviewed etc, if they are refused and rock up in a small boat they can be deported legally. If they are accepted they can travel safely. France have offered to help set a system up there but the government have refused to cooperate, maybe don’t want to be seen to work with the EU on anything. They are trying to coverup the fact that migration has increased since Brexit and the Dublin agreement which meant that they could be sent back has been revoked. This isn’t highlighted.

karmalady

Frustration has spoken, He spoke for the majority who dare not say what they think

Oh I’d say what you think - I can’t possibly think why you dare not? I have no trouble saying what I think.

Could I suggest that most of those respondingto this thread read the OP. The thread is not about the issue this politician used this langiage on.It is about whether it is acceptable for a politician, any politician, to use language like this in the public sphere - and it isn't.

Do not kid yourself that he spoke out in frustration and anger. No one like this makes any kind of announcement that reaches the public with out careful thought before be does so.

Lee Anderson has reduced public discourse to the level of a bar room brawl. He takes still lower the reputation of politicians in this country. He has made himself comfortable in the gutter and any politician, including our Prime Minister who condones language like this on any issue, is making themselves comfortable in the gutter with him.

A reminder that the father and son making money out of this venture have, in the past, made large donations to the most right-wing of political parties (no I don't mean Tories or Labour)

You mean UKIP that has been assimilated into the Tory party.

Robert Jendrick has just now defended Lee Anderson's frustration in a conversation with Nick Robinson. RJ and others like him seem determined to inflict more damage on the government. How low can they sink?

When I was a headteacher of a school in an area of high deprivation a meeting with a ( possibly frustrated) parent would be swiftly ended if this language was used. As a volunteer at a foodbank, such language would result in the client leaving empty handed and told to return the next day when s/he could be civil.
I expect better of everyone, and so should we all.

You know there are probably young and not such young ex-military men and women walking around the U.K. today who would not be here except for the actions of brave Afghans.

The fact that we hear school children using the f word in no way excuses its use, in this way, by a senior politician. The fact Sunak and others support Anderson doesn’t make his comment acceptable.

This repeated claim that the ‘silent majority’ need people like Anderson to speak because they feel silenced is nonsense. Discussions like this are full of people expressing strong, negative feelings about so called lefties.

I have young grandchildren, as do many others posting here. I don’t accept that we should accept this kind of language from senior politicians. Is this really the kind of example we want them to see? If I’d used language or expressed this kind of language at work, it would have been a disciplinary.

Personally I dislike the expression, but the f word has become more and more popular in common parlance. (I bet it's one of the first words refugees pick up).
I think it was the addition of the word back from where they came in the sensitive context of refugees that showed some racist undertones.
Or maybe he was directing his exasperation at the pitiful state of the refugee jungle camp in Calais in comparison?
He should have just said, "We're doing what we f ing can here. No-one has a f ing magic wand."

How wonderfully we embraced the white Ukrainians giving them everything ( rightfully so) but anyone fleeing from war or poverty or bad treatment who isn’t European should be sworn at and put into a floating prison

You mean families with young children from the Ukraine Bluebell.

Why does no-one address the fact that 90% of the migrants arriving by dinghy are Young, fit Men. If they are fleeing a war torn country why are they leaving their wives, small children, parents to suffer their fate?

No, sorry. I’m not buying that these migrants didn’t feel safe, either where they came from, or France. And they can’t all be gay - as advised to say by some shifty human rights lawyers!

He should have just said, "We're doing what we f ing can here. No-one has a f ing magic wand."

Which would have been equally despicable, Joseann, because the tories are blatantly obviously NOT doing anything to improve the situation. They have deliberately nurtured an enormous backlog in dealing with asylum applications and are now weaponising it in order to win votes.

Not that it is working. As I pointed out last night, polling suggests that, should a general election be called now, the tories would be completely wiped out, with only 60 seats in parliament.

While our resident racists might think that they speak for a 'silent majority' they are kidding themselves. Polling results like that don't indicate that weaponising asylum seekers is in any way a vote winner. Thank goodness...😄

F off back to France is one of the less outrageous comments I’ve heard, some would support sink the boats!.

There is never an excuse for using bad language by a member of any government. He should have been made to apologise but he has been supported by the Tories which is disgraceful.