Boris Watch

After Jennette Arnold AM asked him to “urgently clari[fy]” his views regarding immigration and diversity, Anthony Browne has renounced his previous work…

“I do very much regret any offence caused by any past newspaper articles. It really never was my intention to cause offence, but to provoke debate. The articles, which I deeply regret writing, also don’t give a fair reflection of my views. I want to make clear that I am emphatically not anti-immigration.”

So, they’re not a reflection of his current views. As I’ve said, there’s no shame in changing your mind on something – we’ve all done it, me more than most – but I’d like to know why he’s changed his.

Claiming that he was innocently trying to “provoke debate” is bullshit, because one can point to very specific allegations that he made. In 2003, for example, Britain “[was] already overcrowded“, but now he’s “emphatically not anti-immigration“. Well, I’m pleased to hear it, but why the change? He was, at one time, a prominent critic – his book, Do We Need Mass Immigration? is sold in the BNP’s online gift shop, ffs – so his new wisdom would be extremely interesting.

“I want to assure you that my policy advice to the mayor will be based on the following principles: support for diversity, opposition to racism and other forms of discrimination, support for immigrants and immigrant communities and support for equality of opportunity. I invite you to judge me by these standards, not by what I may have written some years in the past.”

Browne’s being disingenuous if he imagines that his writings won’t influence his work. I’ve no particularly reason to believe that he’s being insincere, but how, for example, will he engage with Muslim communities without clearly explaining that he doesn’t believe that they’re trying to take over the world after all? I don’t know about you, but I’d find working with someone who may very well believe me to be intent on global domination just a leeeettle bit awkward.

If Browne genuinely wants to demonstrate sincerity then more detail, and a bit more candour, would be great.

A tip of the hat to Sunny at Pickled Politics…

Tags:   Anthony Browne · Diversity · immigrationNo Comments