James Calls Out The Politicians Using Racism To Win Votes
24 April 2017, 14:03 | Updated: 25 April 2017, 14:04
James O'Brien makes the case against politicians using racism to win votes - something he thought had died out until the past few years.
James says it's not just British politicians who are using "pungent anti-immigration rhetoric" to win support. Indeed, he was responding to Marine Le Pen's showing in the first round of the French Presidential election.
"It's always very interesting to look at the census where voters put immigration at the top of their list.
"The census almost always...shows that the last thing a politician in an area where voters routinely describe immigration as ruining their lives should be doing is describing those concerns as legitimate.
"A really responsible, decent politician would turn around for example and say: but 97.3% of people in this constituency are indigineous British...the last thing we should do is blame the 2.7% of the residents here who are non-indigineous British.
"But that is a very unfashionable view.
"It deals in facts and statistics - which is a terribly pre-2015 thing to do. What you should be doing instead is saying: what will get the biggest emotional reaction out of these people?
"The answer is creep up behind them and shout really loudly in a way designed to scare them. That's what you do. And it works."
