When I read Boris Johnson’s dog-whistle appeal to anti-immigrant feeling this morning – presumably closely in line with the Tory’s election strategy to appeal to northern, working class Brexiteers – I couldn’t help remembering that Johnson is himself the grandson of a Turk, Osman Kemal, and great grandson of a German, Hubert Freiherr von Pfeffel.
Isn’t it a tiny bit distasteful that he should be appealing to aggressive British nativism at this juncture ? Doesn’t his appeal to anti-foreigner feeling carry a few risks with it ?
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
I’d call it more of a fog horn than a dog whistle; & it fits with a long history of statements that go far far beyond being ‘a tiny bit distasteful’.
One wonders how he feels about the British in, say, Spain, Southern France, or Italy treating those countries as if they were their own?
Yes, all those patriotic Brits living in Spain. Charles
I agree with Otto… and I would like to remind you that Boris wasn’t even born in the UK…..And was a dual citizen with the USA/UK. I think that makes him some form of immigrant…. Couldn’t we send him back? But to where? And who would take him?
Surely exile back in Turkey is the obvious revenge. Charles
We’ve enough trouble of our own from a similar individual here in the US. You can keep Boris, please.