#Nuttall rails against it in #Stoke – but his speech shows he IS the Establishment

Well, that was quite entertaining, if you think vomit is entertaining.

I just watched the video of UKIP leader Paul Nuttall announcing (as expected) his candidacy for the Stoke Central by-election and it’s very illuminating – if you can bear to watch it. Here it is, in case you’ve a strong stomach – the relevant section starts from the 8m 28s mark:

The speech is illuminating because the content sounds like he’s selected it at random from some ‘right-wing take-away menu of meaningless dog-whistle buzzphrases’ with a side of non-sequiturs, while the style is exactly that of the Westminster politicians he rails against.

‘Empty vessels sound loudest’

First the empty right-wing buzz-phrases  – here are a few ‘choice morsels’:

• “A national health service and not an international health service!” – frankly racist bollocks, since ‘health tourism’ is a drop in the ocean of NHS spending (around 0.1% of the NHS budget), while the NHS depends hugely on immigrant doctors, nurses and other staff to keep it running
• “we will slash the bloated foreign aid budget” – will you slash the Tories’ £70 billion in tax cuts to the rich, Paul? How come that doesn’t get a mention but aid to desperately poor countries does?
• “£30m [on foreign aid] every single day and we will invest that money in our NHS” – different numbers, but exactly the promise UKIP and other ‘leavers’ made about Brexit and then desperately backpedalled on the very morning of the referendum result
  
  
• “drive Brexit forward” – yes, Paul, but what does that mean and what colour sauce has Brexit got in your strange mind?
• “give Britain back the power to tackle the problems facing communities like this one” – what kind of power does that mean, Paul? And what problems?
• “change politics and set a new course, a course that will restore pride in our nation and open up opportunities to people in every part of our country” Great stuff, Paul – what kind of new course? Aren’t people in Stoke already proud of our country? What kind of opportunities?
• “the Metropolitan elite” Er, Paul, weren’t you a Tory party member for years – and even a Tory candidate? And that accent doesn’t sound like you come from Stoke..
• “let down by a haughty political Establishment that looks down its nose at working class people“. Er, again, what party did you previously belong to? And didn’t you frequently advocate getting rid of the NHS that looks after working class people without bankrupting them?

If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s almost all the kind of meaningless drivel you’ll hear from Theresa May – it was a miracle ‘red white and blue Brexit’ didn’t pop up in there somewhere – and no less crammed with irony and nonsense than Mrs May’s ridiculous claim as she entered Downing Street that she was going to right all the injustices we’re suffering, that her party created in the first place.

Non-sequiturs

And the ‘side of non-sequiturs?

First, Nuttall tells people that their problems “will not change by simply electing another Labour MP” to act as “lobby fodder“. Well, they certainly won’t change by electing a ‘pound-shop Tory’ who, based on his position of 736th out of 756 MEPs in terms of actually turning up, will rarely be in the Commons anyway, let alone able to influence anything all on his own.

And what are the Stoke problems he mentions?

A “hospital in crisis” – caused by the decision by the Tories to close down the vast majority of services at nearby Stafford hospital on the politically-driven pretext of an invented high death-rate there, which has led to Stoke’s main hospital posting some of the worst performance figures in the country and closing the doors of its A&E and maternity services on several occasions, like this one:

“60,000 people on the breadline” – possibly, but we’ve had almost 7 years of Tory government now, Paul, and they’ve created the massive increases in poverty and job insecurity that are putting people on the breadline, by cutting benefits to unemployed and working people – who, along with pensioners, claim the vast majority of benefits – alike.

And that Establishment style

Nuttall rails against ‘haughty elites’ and out-of-touch Westminster politicians – but who does he think he’s fooling? As well as being a member of the Tory party until he left because they weren’t Tory enough, he’s obviously learned speech-giving from exactly the same PR people all the other Establishment pols use. Listen to the weird, stilted syntax he used – “this-must-change”, “it does not” etc, with artificially-long pauses between words and painfully weird emphases.

He also makes a painful attempt at sounding like he’s a local or has a close interest in the area, by talking of the people of ‘the Potteries‘ instead of just saying ‘Stoke’ – a classic Establishment artifice that grates on the ears.

And that body language, with the weird hand gestures. Does any normal person speak and move like this?

Even the ‘thumb of power‘ makes an appearance – spot a resemblance to these ‘Westminster politicians’?

However much Paul Nuttall tries to pretend otherwise, with his Scouse accent and populist rhetoric, the truth is clear. With his Tory background, his long-established hatred for the NHS – however much he claims to think otherwise now – not to mention his association with alleged expenses fraud, there’s only one sensible verdict: he’s as much a part of the Establishment he claims to despise as his predecessor, former City financier Nigel Farage.

And one with no connection to or interest in Stoke – except ambition.

I’m sure the vast majority of the people of Stoke are far too sensible to be fooled for an instant.

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