Beware politicians that like to play dress-up…

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy and subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation and race.

That’s the definition of fascism from its page on Wikipedia. Other definitions vary by a word or two but in essence that covers it.

When you search the internet for the word fascism you’ll often find it accompanied by images of men in uniforms. Hitler and Mussolini being the most common.

When I’m out and about in my country or when I watch any politically related content on TV or other media, there is a distinct lack of authority figures in uniform.

Despite the government’s claims, there are fewer police officers today than when they came to power in 2010. They tout the number of recruits while omitting to mention that the number that has exited the Force far exceeds that.

They try and pull the same trick with nurses, teachers or any other public service worker they can use as a device to illustrate their claimed success.

Yet despite the absence of leaders sporting carefully pressed tunics and highly polished boots the UK is heading towards being a fascist state at breakneck speed.

I can be accused of lots of things, being an ex-alcoholic I’m probably guilty of quite of few of them. Not paying attention is not one of them. So I, like any average TV detective, made a list of the clues I’ve collected so far…

1. Nationalism
   Fascism is characterised by strong symbols of Nationalism. Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Make America Great Again anyone?
   
   The Queen’s Seventieth Jubilee offered the country the chance to break out the Union Flags. They were everywhere as people celebrated being the loyal subjects of someone with vaguely German ancestry.
   
   Except if you were paying attention, many of the flags were already there. The most obvious place was in the redesigned government briefing room which was transformed from an austere wood-panelled reception room to flag shagger’s wet dream.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
   
   We are, I hope, a distance away from torture, summary executions and assassinations. Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.”
   
   The people tend to look the other way or even approve of the deportation of refugees to Rwanda. If a government will treat one group of people like that, who’s next?
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
   
   One of the precursors of fascism is populism. The simplest way to achieve this is through division. As the Conservative government of the last twelve years has swung further to the right, it’s achieved this by always having someone to blame for its own failings.
   
   First, it was the previous government that supposedly spent all the money (really, Lehmann Bros. had nothing to do with it…). Then it was the EU with their unelected bureaucrats changing all of our laws.
   
   Then immigrants, then “lefty” lawyers, then unions, then Scottish Nationalists and then the “woke”. The UK government is happy to blame any and all of these groups for anything and everything that goes wrong with the country.
   
   This is the way a fascist government convinces people it’s on their side.
4. Rampant Sexism
   At the time of writing, there are over fifty cases of sexual harassment by MPs open for investigation. I’ll leave you to speculate how many are men. Simultaneously rape convictions are at an all-time low.
   
   The concept of fascism includes the supposition that governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. While not true in the UK, one might believe that the number of sexual harassment cases reported is so large because there are more potential victims to report more offences.
   
   Next up is abortion. We seem to like importing American ideas.
5. Obsession with National Security
   In the UK we have a brown person in charge of homeland security. This person spends all their time telling us to be afraid of brown people from other countries.
6. Corporate Power is Protected
   I don’t know where to start with this one. Cash for influence or it’s more polite name ‘lobbying’ has long been part and parcel of British politics. Under the current Tory government, however, it seems worse than ever.
   
   People are going to freeze to death this winter because of the energy crisis. The billions in windfall profits made by energy companies due to the spiralling cost of energy are apparently untouchable.
   
   Even the energy companies say that the government can take some of it, but the current Conservatives seem to find any reason to protect big business.
7. Labour Power is Suppressed
   Organised labour movements are really the only defence against a fascist government short of violent revolution. In the UK the right-wing work very hard to vilify organised labour as a militant enemy of the people.
   
   Forget for a moment that unions are the reason we have weekends, sick pay, paid holiday, a free health service and so on. People in groups withholding their labour for better pay and conditions is, in fascist terms, tantamount to treason.
   
   Rather than give in to the demands of people who just want to pay their bills, the Conservatives want to change the law to suppress workers’ rights to strike and protest.
8. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
   To fascists, if you’re in the Arts, entertainment or teaching and express anti-government sentiment you are “woke”. As with scapegoating and gaslighting of other groups the government is happy to indulge in a culture war that deems the woke to be unpatriotic and therefore enemies of the people.
   
   There is an important distinction here. Many on the left cast as woke are deemed to hate their country. This ignores the vital distinction between loving your country and despising what a group of extreme nationalists are doing to it.
9. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
   Ladies and gentlemen I present to you Exhibit A: Eton College.

So, that’s where we are in the UK right now. On the evidence above we’re on the cusp of fascism. Many on the right will call me unpatriotic for even producing such a list. Yet all of the above is out in the open for all to see.

So what’s left?

1. Supremacy of the Military
   Like any other UK service, the military has been the victim of Tory austerity since 2010. Cuts to budgets have reduced their numbers even while certain politicians will claim the opposite.
   
   It’s a measure of the success of the current government in tarnishing the left, lawyers, the EU and just about anyone else that there is so little danger of an organised rebellion civil or otherwise.
   
   The Conservatives seem to get by on the premise that they’re not as bad as the alternative.
2. Religion and Government are Intertwined
   Despite its public falling out with the Church of England over its Rwanda policy, I would highly recommend researching the number of evangelical Christians in politics.
   
   Nothing says you’re right about even the most inhumane policy than backing it with some good old fashion Christian values and claims of compassion.
3. Controlled Media
   Does the UK government control the media? Many politicians are happy to brief friendly media outlets, ever has it been so. The key here is to look at who owns the media outlets and to which political parties they donate.
   
   The recent shift that points to fascist tendencies is moves such as the proposed privatisation of Channel 4, open criticism of the BBC and any front page of the Daily Mail for the last twelve years.
4. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
   The only reason I don’t think we’re there on this one yet is that our current police forces seem so lacking in their ability to catch criminals..
   
   Just to be on the safe side though, the government seem happy to keep claiming crime is down. It is unless you include fraud which only seems to be a crime on days when a politician isn’t on the TV talking about crime figures.
5. Fraudulent Elections
   What makes a fraudulent election? Is it just manipulation of the number of votes cast? What about telling such egregious lies that large sections of the public are convinced to vote for something that will never happen? Sunlit uplands of Brexit anyone?
   
   Worth noting that the Tories are currently producing a proposal to redraw the UK’s constituency boundaries. The fact that this will result in fewer non-Tory MPs is purely coincidental.

When these five items move to the first list, that’s when to apply for an Irish passport.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. I won’t apologise for a long and winding article about a subject that scares the living daylights out of me. It’s a huge subject and these are just some randomly organised thoughts.

To finish on a positive note I’ll leave you with this thought. Fascism and many other isms are ideologies. This very week we have a new prime minister who is strong on ideology but seems to possess ambition that far exceeds her ability.

Her big mistake (we’re four days in!) is that she has then populated her cabinet with other ideologues and loyalists as opposed to the best person for the job.

So my belief, because quite frankly the British public is far too apathetic to actually do anything about it, is that fascism will fail in this country because the fascists are just too stupid to know how to fascist properly.

Here’s hoping.