Ukip’s general secretary compared the party to the black death and here are the only 9 responses you need
Ukip’s local election results were so bad its general secretary Paul Oakley went on Radio 4 today and ended up comparing the party to the Black Death.
Here is his exchange age with presenter Nick Robinson in full, just in case you missed it.
Paul Oakley: “Think of the Black Death in the Middle Ages. It comes along and it causes disruption and then it goes dormant, and that’s exactly what we are going to do. Our time isn’t finished because Brexit is being betrayed.”
Nick Robinson: “Can I just clarify – as general secretary of UKIP, you’ve just compared your party with the Black Death?”
PO: “Absolutely. What’s wrong with that?”
NR: “Well it’s responsible for the deaths of many hundreds of thousands of people, that might be one reason to hesitate about the metaphor.”
PO: “It also led to economic growth and the Renaissance but this isn’t a history lesson, it’s just an analogy, a little soundbite for Radio 4.”
NR: “Just give us one aspect of the Black Death you’d like to emulate.”
PO: “Well, it got rid of the whole issue of servitude, basically, and allowed people to go into the towns and escape their landlords and create their own businesses, that sort of thing.”
NR: “UKIP are like the Black Death, thank you for joining us.”
And here are our favourite 9 responses online today.
1.
Say what you like about the black death, but it addressed ordinary people's very real concerns about overpopulation, which medieval elites had totally ignored. https://t.co/ZJQHudxsR5
— Peter Thal Larsen (@peter_tl) May 4, 2018
2.
There is evidence for a Black Death boom. But it’s a bold political strategy. “Yes. There’ll be piles of rotting bodies on the streets. But it’ll solve the housing crisis. Swings and roundabouts really.” https://t.co/p1mvjAyxuX
— Tom Sutcliffe (@tds153) May 4, 2018
3.
10 Reasons why UKIP is like the Black Death. pic.twitter.com/xjkMivmboE
— Mike Stuchbery 💀🍷 (@MikeStuchbery_) May 4, 2018
4.
The General Secretary of UKIP has just compared his party to the Black Death (coming back again and again). Then tried to spin it into something positive. "It led to the end of serfdom and the renaissance". It also killed 60% of the European population mate.
— Felicity Morse (@FelicityMorse) May 4, 2018
5.
The Black Death may be unpopular today, but it did achieve its main policy goal.
— jonn elledge (@JonnElledge) May 4, 2018
6.
https://twitter.com/callummay/status/992311753328414720
7.
The strangest thing about UKIP’s chosen UKIP/Black Death analogy is the implication that the Black Death hung around after the pandemic threatening to come back if anybody went soft and started watering down the Renaissance. https://t.co/HqDR0poz39
— Mark Wallace (@wallaceme) May 4, 2018
8.
It's not every day that we tweet our agreement with anyone from UKIP but @PaulJamesOakley just compared UKIP with the Black Death during an interview on the Today programme so we suppose today is one of those days.
— HOPE not hate (@hopenothate) May 4, 2018
9.
"Come on boys, how can UKIP make ourselves more appealing to the general public?"
[two weeks later]
"In many ways our party is like festering buboes growing all over your face, cock and balls…" pic.twitter.com/4xFmORipxA
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) May 4, 2018
And just in case anyone’s in need of a refresher …
Apropos nothing in particular. https://t.co/RXfuLnPUn5
— History Today (@HistoryToday) May 4, 2018