During my customary late-night Twitter perusal this week I got a shock.
I made the stupid mistake of reading some questionable remarks reportedly made by Michael Gove from a handful of Cambridge Union debates — which have since been obtained by The Independent.
It didn’t matter that they happened three decades ago. Their contents left me seething, and I was suddenly wide awake.
For a start he seemingly refers to people living in countries Britain had colonised as “fuzzy-wuzzies”.
He also boasted of his happiness at seeing Margaret Thatcher create a “new empire” where “the happy south stamps over the cruel, dirty, toothless face of the northerner”.
Born and raised in the north, at that point I spat out my Yorkshire tea. How dare he?!
Gay people were not immune from his attacks either, who apparently “thrive primarily upon short-term relations” and one-night stands.
In short, he drew on every regionalist, sexist, homophobic and racist trope you possibly could. And worse: he said them all publicly, and without shame!
I’m not saying people need to be berated for everything they’ve ever said, because our views change over time.
But this is a man who has reached the upper echelons of power and is making decisions which affect our lives. He went to Oxford, and seems on the whole a pretty intelligent chap.
Too intelligent to assume these speeches are “accidental” gaffes, but instead genuinely held views with a sprinkle of hyperbole and crass humour.
And this isn’t just an issue confined to one political party: MPs across the entire spectrum have been accused of persistent sexual harassment, for example.
Honestly, all I want the next time I go to the ballot box is to be able to put a tick against someone who hasn’t previously disrespected a huge portion of the British public.
Just a decent lad or lass who cares about their constituents and wants to make a difference.
Is that really too much to ask?
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