ALL THIS AND WORLD WAR II: Critics Couldn’t Beat Boris Johnson, So Now They’re Calling Him ‘Hard Right.’

Silly comments are to be expected from silly people. But some of Johnson’s erstwhile colleagues were quick to warn of nascent fascism.

Nick Boles, a former Conservative member of parliament now sitting as an independent, complained, “The hard right has taken over the Conservative Party.” Anna Soubry, another former Conservative member of parliament who is now all that is left of the risible Independent Group, parroted Boles, saying, “The hard right has captured my old party.”

What do you think of when you hear the phrase “hard right?” Perhaps you think of skin heads. Perhaps you think of goons in brown shirts. Perhaps you think of ethnic politics. Calling someone “hard right” is probably the most serious charge there is in democratic politics today. It must be used sparingly, and only when it is actually appropriate.

Curiously, with “hard right,” they’re not implying he’s a libertarian, as a Stalinist smear from the 1930s is still alive in the 21st century. Though Johnson is a Tory Brit fighting against totalitarian socialist forces on the Continent. To place the battle into the Orwellian language of the EU, it’s the latest chapter in “the European Civil War.” As in 1945, hopefully England will win this battle as well.

(Classical reference in headline.)