Anatomy of a Big Fat Lie

Last night on the BBC’s 'Question Time' I faced two attempts to smear me. One came from a member of the audience who accused me of ‘blaming immigrants’ for the housing crisis. The other was from Labour’s Alan Johnson, who said;  ‘I heard Peter’s arguments when I was a kid in Notting Hill and when people were coming over from the West Indies to work in our NHS, to drive our buses,  to work in the Post Office.  And we heard the same things then . I’m not associating you with this Peter…’

I interrupted him at this point: 

PH: ‘Yes you are. It’s a straightforward smear. I think you should  (sound is unclear here) back off from it .’

he continued:

Alan Johnson ‘ We had Mosley on the street corner saying exactly the same thing and it was always “blame the immigrants” ’ .

 

You had Mosley saying exactly the same thing as what, Mr Johnson? Exactly the same as me?  Where and when? This is a serious charge if so, and I should like to see his evidence. I have now written to him, asking for it.

 

These sort of attacks, which are a commonplace experience for anyone who criticizes this country’s migration policies, are based on the repeated, obvious untruth that those who oppose mass *immigration* are condemning the *immigrants*. At no point did I do so. At no point do I do so.

 

On the contrary, as someone who has uprooted his life and family and moved countries twice (though I did it in ideal circumstances, far easier than they will have encountered).  I am filled with admiration for the courage and resolution of those who leave their homes and go to foreign countries to better themselves. See what I said recently here about this  in another context :

 

‘I admire the migrants’ bravery and determination. Nobody can blame them for wanting to leave their blasted war zones. ‘

 

You can see the context here : http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/mass-immigration/

 

 

But back to the smears:  

In what appears to be a BBC tweet (describing me incorrectly as a ‘Daily Mail columnist’)

 

I am quoted as follows:

 

 

“The reason for our housing crisis is quite simply this that we have had (… ) the greatest wave of mass immigration in our history”

 

And then as follows .

 

 

I’m not blaming immigrants. To say that I’m blaming immigrants [for the lack of housing] is a big fat lie’

 

 

Now look at what I actually said, without the excisions:

. “The reason for our housing crisis is quite simply this that we have had *thanks to our open borders imposed on us by the European Union* the greatest wave of mass immigration in our national history”

 

The direction of the blame is clear: 'Thanks to our open borders imposed on us by the European Union.'

 

So I am including in the blame the Labour, Tory and Liberal Democrat Parties, alongside the EU. This is also quite clear from a fuller transcript. 

For after ‘history’, I continued with the words ‘begun under Labour continued under the Coalition and that’s why there aren’t enough houses'.

Now, at round about this point, a voice from the audience said something along the lines of :‘You’re blaming immigrants!’. That is certainly how I heard it, on the platform.

 

I replied :'I am absolutely not blaming immigrants. The people who came here were perfectly reasonable to come here, they were encouraged to come here by governments. They came to better themselves. I don’t blame them in the slightest. What I blame…'

(Interruption)

 ‘To say that I am blaming immigrants is a straightforward big fat lie. It is a lie and I reject it. It is nothing to do with the immigrants it is to do with the politicians. They did it, they opened the borders and they made it happen and we’re going to have to find some accommodation with it, but I do not think they should escape the blame. I think when we realise that our country, much of our country is going to have to be concreted over because of this we should always remember who made that happen’

 

I rest my case.