James O'Brien's Monologue On Jo Cox Is A Must-Listen

17 June 2016, 10:26 | Updated: 2 August 2016, 14:45

This is James O'Brien's must-listen polemic against the politics of hate in the aftermath of the the killing of Jo Cox.

The Labour MP died after being stabbed and shot three times in her constituency in West Yorkshire.

Speaking on his LBC show, James said the way that the insidious creep of hatred within politics has led to this moment.

He said: "Is it even vaguely possible that a man living in Britain today could be pushed to the brink of murder by political debate and the political situation?

"I don't care where you come from, I don't care who you vote for. Can you conceive of circumstances in which somebody living in Britain today could be pushed to a point where they contemplate this sort of conduct.

"I'm afraid to tell you that I can.

"If I was to be reading my newspaper every single morning and be told that my very existance was under siege from people I've never met and never seen but keep getting told are coming here in their hoardes.

"If I was to open my newspaper or turn on my radio or TV to hear that everybody who is coming here is a rapist and they've got their eyes on our women and we've got no chance whatsoever of protecting ourselves.

"And unless we do this or do that, or treat them like this or treat them like that, then we're all doomed, we're all going to hell in a handcart.

"If I was being told it's time to reclaim our country every time I got out of bed in the morning, I'd begin to believe it, I think, if I didn't have the knowledge and the insights and the education to know that it is not true.

"We want our country back from whom? We want our country back from when?"