Last week (23 January) the Oxford Union hosted a debate – motion: “This House Believes postwar Britain has seen too much immigration” – between Lord Singh, Nadhim Zahawi MP and author Monica Ali on one side, and Douglas Murray and former UKIP (now independent) MEP Godfrey Bloom on the other.
David Browne, a student, took the the microphone to make a statement opposed to the motion, but before he could begin he was interrupted by Bloom making a point of order to ask “are you Richard III or not” (a clear reference to Browne’s disability). Browne, unfazed, replied with a quote from Margaret Thatcher: “I am always quite flattered when people insist on personal attacks on their opponents because it just demonstrates they have run out of arguments.”
(It’s also worth pointing out how many people laughed at Bloom’s “joke”, because from the way the incident’s been reported elsewhere it might seem like he wasn’t playing to an audience happy to lap up that kind of ableist crap.)
The incident so appalled Douglas Murray that he blogged afterwards to call it “a gruesome moment – ghastly, disgraceful and deeply telling of Mr Bloom”. Somehow, considering this is a man whose response to being asked about his party’s lack of members from ethnic minorities is to hit the journalist who asked the question, it seems unlikely Bloom will feel much remorse.
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