THE Question Time audience applauded a writer as he took aim the Government’s Rwanda plan.
Writer and journalist George Monbiot appeared on the BBC debate show on Thursday evening.
Rishi Sunak was forced into a desperate defence of his latest plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda during an emergency press conference on Thursday afternoon.
“Of all the hills to die on, this has got to be the most ridiculous. I mean it’s just absurd. The whole point of the Rwanda policy is not to try to solve anything,” Monbiot said.
A Goverment of sadists “who want to beat up some of the most vulnerable & traumatised people on earth in order to distract attention from the Goverment’s own failures” @GeorgeMonbiot 🙏👏#RwandaBill pic.twitter.com/WlmJpXza4N
— Aamer Anwar✊🏾🏳️🌈#BlackLivesMatter (@AamerAnwar) December 8, 2023
“It’s to performatively beat up some of the most vulnerable and traumatised people on earth to distract attention from the Government’s own failures.”
His comments were met with applause from the Question Time audience before Monbiot took aim at comments made by Tory MP Johnny Mercer.
The writer continued: “And Johnny says, ‘this is giving the working people of this country something’.
“The only thing this is giving the working people of this country is to show them that somebody else is worse off than they are because that somebody is being performatively beaten up by the Government.
“That’s the point of the policy and we have this ridiculous new bill which is the first one I’ve ever seen which tries to legislate the nature of reality.
“It says we will legislate that Rwanda is a safe country regardless of whether Rwanda is or is not a safe country we will put it in the law that it is a safe country.
“You might as well have a bill which legislates that the moon is made of green cheese. We have reached the point now after 13 years of these fiascos of total absurdity.
“They’re not even intending to put this into implementation. They don’t intend to make this a viable policy. They’re just desperately throwing up clouds of dust in order to distract from the absolute catastrophe that this Government has become for the great majority of the people of this country.”
A number of people took to Twitter/X to praise the writer for his comments, including SNP MSP Maree Todd.
“Well said @GeorgeMonbiot. This clip is well worth a watch.”
Another user said Monbiot had to be “the best guest on Question Time for ages” while a third added that his comments were “just brilliant”.
Elsewhere, one user commented: “An absolute annihilation of this pathetic government and it’s performative cruelty.”
Monbiot added that people who simply wanted “safe haven” were met with a “government of sadists deliberately beating them up in order to show how tough they are”.
Writing on his own social media account after the show, Monbiot said: “Thanks everyone for your support.
“My voice just held out to the end of the show, but now it has almost completely gone. I’m not actually ill: The cold has passed.
“But I’m looking forward to getting to bed. Let’s hope it’s not another 23 years until I’m back on #QuestionTime.”
