Over the past couple of days I have noticed a lot of anti-UKIP material floating around the internet, which is of course all well and good, but I have noticed that (especially on tumblr), the perpetrators are not being named. This blog post is somewhat of a reply to a very good post I saw on tumblr, outlining some of their worst and most worrying policies, and mentioning some problematic behaviour that their party members have displayed. I found that this particular post mentioned a lot of problematic behaviour from one particular (and so far unnamed) UKIP MEP, from 'Bongo-Bongo Land' to calling women 'sluts'. I’m going to add to this conversation and say that the racist and misogynist UKIP MEP menioned above should be named and shamed; that man is Godfrey Bloom, and I have personal experience of his unique brand of odiousness.
When I was 16, my school was involved in BBC School’s Question Time, and as part of our entry to the competition, we had to organise our own Question Time, and being the politically involved teenager I was, I dragged my dad along. Sonali Shah of Newsround chaired the discussion, and amongst other local representatives from Labour, Conservatives, Lib Dem, and Green, Yorkshire and Humber MEP Godfrey Bloom starred on the panel. The turn-out was great, the school hall was absolutely packed out, people even had to stand up at the back, and as well as the school’s cameras, there were also people there filming from Look North.
I also feel the need to add that at this point in early 2010, UKIP didn’t pose nearly as much of a threat as they do now, and at that point they were mostly dismissed as close-minded euro-sceptics. As I’m sure you can tell, Godfrey Bloom was being his usual unpleasant self. However, he made one point about the justice system, which I couldn’t let lie. If I remember correctly, he said (word for word) that ‘criminals should be left to rot in prisons for the rest of their lives’. I, of course, raised my hand and directed a question/statement towards Mr Bloom, which went along the line of “I’m afraid I can’t agree with what you said there, surely rehabilitation is a highly important part of the course of justice?”.
I don’t know what I thought would happen next, but I didn’t think it would be this; he had the audacity to try to undermine me in front of several hundred people, and several television cameras. Again, word for word (I don’t think I’ll forget these words, actually) he said to me, in front of all of those people, “I don’t think you know what you’re talking about, dear.”
I was furious, and to this day I am thankful that I had the wherewithal to retort, “Oh, I do know what I’m talking about, you’re just wrong.” I then went on to make my point about how in order for people to become productive members of society, blah blah blah, they need psychiatric help. He had nothing more to say on the subject, but I seem to remember the Labour and Lib-Dem representatives backing up my point which was very pleasing. The best part was, once I had finished ripping Godfrey Bloom to pieces, my dad leaned over to me, put an arm round me and said, “I’m proud of you.” If I had managed to impress him, I knew that I had done well.
This is a massive part of the reason why I find UKIP so terrifying on a personal level (there are other things, but those can be said another time). I have first-hand experience of the contempt and lack of respect they hold for women, and if they come into power, it will be terrifying. He felt justified to be a condescending twat to a young, politically engaged woman in front of a massive audience of people. I dread to think what kind of affect it would have on someone who was less confident than I managed to be on that night. Not only was it disrespectful, but it was plain unprofessional. Even if you were somehow awful enough to agree with their policies, there is no way you would want someone so petty and childish to have any kind of power.
This, on top of the rampant racism and homophobia, is why UKIP is as very serious threat to anyone who isn’t a straight cis white male, and it is also why everyone needs to become more engaged with politics, and make sure they don’t take any more power than they already have. The world will become a much more dangerous place for oppressed people in the UK if they win the General Election.