
Breadcrumb
"I don't know if we can succeed. But I do know we will suffer a rancorous verdict from future generations if we do not try. This is not the time for retreat, indifference or despair, but the time to rise up in defence of what we believe."
Well, many in and outside Britain welcome the prospect of maintaining the UK as a nation tolerant and open, which can hardly be achieved with the inwardly looking, insular Brexit movement and its starkly anti-immigrant agenda.
Yet tackling this particular issue, immigration, Blair showed his true colours.
|
He said: "There is, in some parts of the country, a genuine concern about numbers from Europe - real pressures on services and wages. But for many people, the core of the immigration question... is immigration from non-European countries, especially when from different cultures in which assimilation and potential security threats can be an issue."
A-ha! Whom does Blair mean? Brown people? Muslims?
Blair continued: "Nonetheless, we have moved in a few months from a debate about what sort of Brexit, involving a balanced consideration of all the different possibilities, to the primacy of one consideration - namely controlling immigration from the EU - without any real discussion as to why and when Brexit doesn't affect the immigration people most care about."
Let's translate that from Blairese, shall we?
Translation: "The British people were deceived about Brexit. They were told it would stop immigration, but in reality, it stops the wrong kind of immigration. It stops Europeans coming in, when the issue should be stopping Muslims and other brown people coming in, and Brexit doesn't do much to address this."
Maybe, Mr Blair, you could just suggest that a Muslim ban is in order for Britain, too.
Follow Karim Traboulsi on Twitter: @kareemios