Politics

Ukip leader criticised for latest attack on RNLI rescuing asylum seekers in trouble at sea

Ukip leader criticised for latest attack on RNLI rescuing asylum seekers in trouble at sea

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:

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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