JO'S NOT FOR 'SWAMPING'

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George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, made some remarks about immigration this week (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8442662.stm). They were discussed on today's The Daily Politics by presenter Jo Coburn, Fraser Nelson of The Spectator and Kevin Maguire of The Daily Mirror. Fraser Nelson thought Carey's remarks were brilliant, while Kevin Maguire was much less keen. Least keen of all was Jo Coburn, and she couldn't hide her disapproval.
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"I suppose one of the other points was this idea Lord Carey said, immigrants should have an understanding of the country's Christian heritage", she began. I'm sure many viewers thought "And quite right too!" - indeed, surely everyone who lives in the United Kingdom should know about its history (regardless of their own religious beliefs, or lack of them), just as anyone who emigrates to Morocco or Pakistan should have an understanding of their Muslim heritage. An uncontroversial idea then? Well, not according to Jo Coburn: "I mean that was quite a controversial thing to say" - and the way she said 'quite' suggests she really thought it was a 'very' controversial thing to say, and not in a good way.
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When Fraser said that, in order to beat back the BNP, "we need more people to be saying that in mainstream politics", Jo (whose expression strongly suggested disagreement) interrupted, and asked Kevin Maguire "Is it? I mean, is it helpful to say something like that?".
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Maguire brought up all the politicians - from Mrs Thatcher to David Blunkett - who'd used the BBC's bogey-word 'swamped'. Fraser Nelson seized on this to further his argument: "That's the only reason the BNP have got almost a million votes in this country, because people won't say words like 'swamped' now in the way that Thatcher did in the 1970s" (when she successfully beat back the National Front.) Jo Coburn did not look pleased at all, swinging the conversation back to Maguire with "But that is inflammatory language, isn't it? It's not the sort of thing you expect to hear from politicians, and should it be?" Maguire agreed.
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