Washington Post: Boris Johnson Is ‘Far Right’

British people who want to take back their country’s sovereignty from unelected bureaucrats in the European Union (EU) are “far right”, “populist” and “nationalist”, according to the Washington Post.

An article by Matt O’Brien — illustrated with a photograph of former London Mayor Boris Johnson standing in front of a ‘Vote Leave’ truck — talks about how “Right-wing populists are trying to make their country great again by, you guessed it, keeping immigrants out and negotiating great, and I mean great, deals.”

Using the terms “right-wing populists”, “nationalists” and “far-right” interchangeably, O’Brien also takes aim at UKIP, using much-criticised Treasury figures to suggest Brexit would cost up to 800,000 jobs.

Maintaining that Britain is going through a depression, he points out that the Great Depression of the 1930s saw the rise of “right wing extremism” – the implication being that those who want to leave the EU are the heirs of that extremism.

He does graciously admit, however, that “Today’s right-wing populists, depending on your opinion of Donald Trump, aren’t fascists so much as nationalists. So they might exploit racial tensions and they might be illiberal, but they probably don’t want to start World War III.”

The bad news, though, is that “it’s going to take a lot more than economic growth to make them go away,” he adds before describing US politician Pat Buchanan as “far-right”.

The term ‘far-right’, traditionally only applied to neo-Nazis and racial purists, is now being used increasingly to describe any group that opposes mass immigration and is vaguely patriotic.

Parties such as Alternative for Germany and the Freedom Party of Austria, which pledge allegiance to liberal values but oppose large scale immigration, are routinely labelled ‘far-right’ by Europe’s mainstream media, grouping them alongside neo-fascists.

Needless to say the Washington Post article was heavily criticised in the comments section.

Chinwag Gazooks wrote: “This is the very worst article I have ever read in the Post. This is just full of misinformation,” before explaining: “(a) UKIP is not far right – I don’t support the party but it is not a racist party; (b) most of the top presenters are actually both moderate Conservativve [sic] and moderate Labour; (c) there are some great arguments to remain and some great arguments to leave.”

Another commenter adds: “My decision on the 23rd June is not a left or right vote. Its an in or out vote. The right or left wing are irrelevant in this vote.”

Meanwhile, Millenial Lawyer simply asked: “Is this article based in fact, or is it made up biased nonsense?”