Poke Staff. Updated February 27th, 2024
You don’t have to be a fan of Nick Ferrari – thank goodness for that, you might think – to applaud his response today after he attempted to get a response from Conservative MP and minister for countering illegal immigration Michael Tomlinson about Lee Anderson.
Specifically, about former Tory party deputy chair Anderson’s remarks over the weekend when he claimed that ‘Islamists’ had ‘got control’ of London mayor, Sadiq Khan.
Many Tory MPs including the PM himself, Rishi Sunak, have said Anderson’s remarks were ‘wrong’ but have been reluctant to go any further.
So Ferrari thought he’d ask Tomlinson. And here’s what happened next.
‘For the third time was it Islamophobic?’
‘Nick it was wrong.’
‘I’ll have to curtail the interview there, enough already.’@NickFerrariLBC cuts off the Illegal Immigration Minister after he refuses to confirm whether Lee Anderson’s comments were Islamophobic. pic.twitter.com/usNWrtPVmc— LBC (@LBC) February 27, 2024
Extraordinary scenes. Here’s a lovely bit of analysis from the Guardian’s live politics blog, written today by Andrew Sparrow.
‘It was a slice of radio that perfectly captured how moronic government ministers sound when they slavishly parrot the line to take from No 10, when they lack the wit or nous to dodge a question without making it too obvious. Listeners must have been cheering when Ferrari pushed the ejector seat button, and it would be nice if other presenters did this a bit more often too.
;But the episode also illustrates why the Lee Anderson row is so difficult for Sunak and the Conservative party. No 10 does not want ministers describing what Anderson said as racist or Islamophobic (even though Anderson himself has subtly distanced himself from the core part of his allegation against Khan last week – see below) because it wants to draw a line under this affair. And that is for three reasons: 1) Anderson has significant support amongst Tories (again, see below); 2) conceding Anderson’s comment was racist would open Suella Braverman up to the same charge; and 3) this would also accelerate a wider debate about Islamophobia in the Conservative party, which Sunak would rather avoid.’
And here’s a flavour of what everyone else made of it.
1.
This is an astonishing clip. Kudos to Nick Ferrari, but how utterly humiliating to be a minister of the crowd and feel the need to parrot such nonsense.
It’s like a parody.
To coin a phrase, it’s wrong https://t.co/lbuLduBcxy— Jon Sopel (@jonsopel) February 27, 2024
2.
They can’t upset the racists because they need their votes!
— Daniel Holland ॐ (@DannyDutch) February 27, 2024
3.
I’m struggling to come to terms with Ferrari holding a Tory to account in the most powerful way possible.
Visit from 3 ghosts last night?
— Ben (@Bennyjj81) February 27, 2024
4.
Really sweet that Michael Tomlinson MP decided to emulate my interview yesterday https://t.co/xMJdgkj9Kf
— Rosie Holt (@RosieisaHolt) February 27, 2024
5.
This
Thank you @NickFerrariLBC
Tragic that my colleagues don’t even have the moral capacity to say what is anti Muslim hate / racism/ Islamophobia and why racism is wrong
How are we able to solve an issue when we can’t even say what it is ♀️ https://t.co/Kgu6Mv3YVe— Sayeeda Warsi (@SayeedaWarsi) February 27, 2024
6.
This is a bind for the Tories; trapped between the views of some of their MPs and most of their members. It’s been clear that this gulf was opening for years now; and the leadership did nothing to fix it – clear cases of racism weren’t pursued – this is the political price https://t.co/A3jkIoblsB
— Alan White (@aljwhite) February 27, 2024
7.
Fair play to Nick here. https://t.co/adyObT0fdF
— Adil Ray OBE (@adilray) February 27, 2024
8.
Amazing! If you are unable to explain why something is wrong should you be in politics? https://t.co/sBugCwXskc
— Rory Cellan-Jones (@ruskin147) February 27, 2024
