William Joyce was a British traitor. John Amery was a British traitor. Melita Norwood was a British traitor.
Prime Minister Theresa May is not a British traitor.
On the contrary, she is a British patriot trying to do what she believes is best for the people and future of her country. Those who suggest otherwise are emotionally immature and intellectually deficient.
So even if he’s a reporter who shouldn’t inject his opinions into a story, I sympathize with the reaction of Sky News’ Faisal Islam to a protester who called May a traitor on Tuesday. Turning to the protester while live on Sky News, an obviously aggravated Islam asked why he had called May a traitor.
“Because she’s acting against the interest of the country,” the man responded.
When Islam pushed the protester to explain his particular choice of “treason” language, said protester again repeated his line. He then added that this is the definition of treason and told Islam to look it up. Now, that isn’t the definition of treason under English law, but even if we grant the protester’s definition point, his contention still falls apart on intellectual terms.
For a start, there’s an extraordinary arrogance in the protester’s assumption that he alone gets to decide what the interests of the country are. But then another protester added his own defense of the treason descriptor. He said it’s because May’s increasing support for a customs union doesn’t comport with the Brexit referendum verdict.
But the Brexit referendum held in June 2016 asked respondents a simple question: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?” The answers were “remain,” or “leave.”
This fact evidences the absurdity of the “Theresa’s a traitor” crowd. After all, the referendum did not ask “Should the United Kingdom leave the European Union on terms of a full withdrawal of British conformity with EU free movement of persons and customs union regulated trade?”
The simple fact of why May is struggling to get Brexit enacted is because there is a great division in British Parliament and society at large as to what form Brexit should take. For protesters to decide that this plurality of views is irrelevant to the supremacy of a small group of hard-Brexiteers is utterly absurd. And when introduced along terms of calling May a traitor, it deserves the derision Islam on Tuesday offered. If hard-Brexit voters had wanted a harder Brexit, they should have supported May’s deal rather than allowing Labour to fill the gap of their obstinacy.
Anyway, you can watch the exchange below.
