Criticism of Boris Johnson’s inflammatory language escalated last week, as Islington Council’s leader accused the prime minister of using “far right rhetoric” to start a “culture war”, last Thursday.
Councillor Richard Watts accused Mr Johnson of attempting to “harvest votes”, arguing that his repeated referral to the Benn law against no-deal Brexit as the “surrender bill” and dismissal of concerns over death threats to MPs as ‘humbug’ were ‘nothing short of disgraceful’.
Responding to Mr Johnson’s suggestion that the best way to honour murdered MP Jo Cox was to “get Brexit done”, Cllr Watts said in last week’s Council meeting that the prime minister had been ‘utterly bloody disgraceful.’
Cautioning that Mr Johnson is attempting to exacerbate societal divides, Cllr Watts recalled Darren Osborne, the Finsbury Park terrorist who killed and injured Muslims in 2017.
He argued that Mr Osborne, who was “radicalised online” by “hateful” material, should act as a warning against the “community tensions” that the prime minister and the “far right coterie around him” are seeking to “inflame”.
Cllr Watts ended his address in Islington Town Hall stating, “we stand against the hatred that Boris Johnson is trying to peddle.”
