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Politics
Liam O'Dell
Feb 12, 2023
Related video: RNLI footage captures 'reality' of migrant rescues in channel
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
As if the violence at a Merseyside hotel housing asylum seekers on Friday – and Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s “victim blaming” response to it – wasn’t bad enough, the leader of Ukip (yes, they still exist) is now moaning about RNLI lifeboat crews again.
It was back in 2021 when the heroic Royal National Lifeboat Institution (or RNLI, for short) was subjected to attacks from right-wingers over its rescuing of asylum seekers in trouble on the English Channel, with Nigel Farage – himself a former leader of Ukip – dubbing the charity a “taxi service for illegal trafficking gangs”.
Reassuringly, despite the vitriol from Farage and his supporters, the RNLI saw a record year of donations in 2021, acknowledging a “significant” increase in funding.
Now, GB News – the controversial news channel on which Farage previously took aim at the RNLI – has criticised the organisation again by reporting that 200 lifeboats were sent out to save people from small boats in the Channel last year.
And it was current Ukip leader Neil Hamilton who was particularly incensed by this finding, penning a tweet on Friday fuming at the “madness” he believed is unfolding by RNLI crews saving lives.
He wrote: “The RNLI is a charity. The public donates to it so that it can help with accidents at sea.
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“The public does not donate so that it can rescue those who deliberately put themselves at risk in unseaworthy vessels. This madness has gone on for far too long.”
Thankfully, other Twitter users were on hand to set out the facts:
\u201c@NeilUKIP Quite happy for my donations to be used for the RNLI's objectives in its Royal Charter, which is "to save lives at sea and on inland and flood waters." Doesn't say anything about "but not if Neil Hamilton reckons they did it on purpose."\u201d— Neil Hamilton (@Neil Hamilton) 1676070992
\u201c@NeilUKIP I am the public and I donate so that they do what they have always done - rescued anyone in difficulty without discrimination.\u201d— Neil Hamilton (@Neil Hamilton) 1676070992
\u201cYes Neil, the public donate... how much have you donated to the RNLI Neil?\u201d— Steve Bray on Mastodon @SNB19692@Mastodon.Social (@Steve Bray on Mastodon @SNB19692@Mastodon.Social) 1676149782
\u201c@NeilUKIP Nope. If you went out to sea in a canoe, then got into difficulty, they\u2019d come and rescue you. Same with the emergency services. None of them pass judgement on the scene, just save lives. \n\nYou don\u2019t know why the public donates so stop pretending you speak for others.\u201d— Neil Hamilton (@Neil Hamilton) 1676070992
\u201c@NeilUKIP @SaveBritainUkip The RNLI is amazing. Unpaid volunteers risking their lives to help strangers. They are not politicians, they are not border force, they are heroes.\u201d— Neil Hamilton (@Neil Hamilton) 1676070992
\u201cWay to out yourself as a thoroughly nasty piece of work.\u201d— Elizabeth Ammon (@Elizabeth Ammon) 1676202346
\u201cAbsolutely delighted to see Neil Hamilton take part in a RNLI funding campaign by spouting absolute bile like this.\u201d— Sin\u00e9ad (@Sin\u00e9ad) 1676199086
\u201cOne of the most important things about working in emergency care is that we don\u2019t judge who \u201cdeserves\u201d to be helped.\u201d— Ross Moy \ud83d\udd77 (@Ross Moy \ud83d\udd77) 1676198513
\u201cYou heard Mr Hamilton folks, the beachgoers stuck three miles off the coast on a SpongeBob shaped lilo knew what they were doing, call the lifeboat back.\u201d— Dr Philip Lee (@Dr Philip Lee) 1676198234
\u201cWRONG! I\u2019ve donated to the RNLI on several occasions and I want them to rescue anyone who is in trouble at sea, regardless of how they got there. I\u2019m absolutely stoked that they rescue refugees. Why is your dollar worth more than mine in this scenario?\u201d— sorrel (@sorrel) 1676197554
\u201c"They should be left to die"\u201d— Oli Stirling (@Oli Stirling) 1676195787
And the RNLI isn’t the only thing which gets on Mr Hamilton’s nerves, as he also came under fire back in 2019 for launching what others described as a “personal attack” on the teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.
“It’s shaping up to be the hottest day of the year – please remember: no electric fans, DEFINITELY no air conditioning. Greta has spoken,” he tweeted, attaching a meme of Thunberg with demonic eyes and adding the hashtag “Climate Hoax”.
How pleasant…
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