We had na interwiev with British politician, journalist and publicist Peter Whittle. He is a member of the London Assembly and the founder and director of the New Culture Forum.
Are you the founder and director of the New Culture Forum. Can you outline the activities of your association?
I founded the New Culture Forum in 2006. It is a think tank which specialises in cultural issues – everything from the state of free speech in the UK to young people’s knowledge of the history of communism – and we produce reports and books, with the aim of influencing public debate and hopefully public policy. I started it with the firm conviction that ‘politics are downstream from culture’, and that cultural issues were the most important of our time.
Last year, we made quite a departure in starting a Youtube channel which I aimed to make an alternative to an increasingly biased mainstream media. It’s been a huge success, I’m pleased to say. We have an interview programme, a discussion programme and are now making our own documentaries. So far, it’s had 8.5 million views, and our guests have included well-known and highly respected writers, historians, journalists and politicians.
When I first visited London thirty years ago, there was a lively manifestation of free speech at Speakers Corner in Hyde Park. A few years ago the space was usurped by militant Islamists and radical leftists who prevented others to speak. How could this happened?
Free speech in the UK is under threat from all sorts of directions. The state of Speakers Corner is in some ways emblematic of that. We have ever-expanding Hate Speech laws, and the increasing phenomenon of ‘Cancel Culture’ whereby people can possibly lose their jobs or be professionally damaged by saying the ‘wrong thing.’ This is largely driven by twitter and social media generally. There is a kind of orthodoxy of views which one is expected to sign up to. This is particularly true in London.
Obviously you have the same problem in Britain as we have everywhere in the Western world, cultural Marxism destroying Western traditions and culture…
Oh yes. And what has made it immeasurably worse is that there has been a general collapse in cultural confidence which has been going on now for years. That, and the fact that so many of our institutions are run by people who have the same leftist ideology. Marc Sidwell goes into this in The Long March.
At the same time, there has been no opposition to it from the Conservative party here. They are now in government, with a very secure governing majority, yet they are reluctant to speak out, indeed there often seems to be little difference between them and the left when it comes to cultural issues. We saw this during the recent BLM protests and social disturbances here, when statues were defaced and pulled down. It took ages for the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to say anything.
In recent months, there have been calls for the removal of monuments, the renaming of buildings and institutions and even the cleansing of libraries of everything the left considers “controversial”. Why do most Britons tolerate this violence against their cultural heritage?
Well, they are very angry about it. But as I just said, there currently seems to be little avenue for them, other than signing petitions. And the fact that those doing the damage are actually the powerful people running the institutions – we’ve seen this recently with the British Library, the British Museum, the National Trust and the BBC. In the case of the BBC, they tried to drop the singing of patriotic songs which is a long standing tradition on the Last Night of the promenade concert season. There was such a public outcry, they were forced to reinstate them.
There are, however, signs of a fightback.
You once belonged to the UKIP party, now you are in the Brexit party. Why did you change parties, what happened that most of the former UKIP members left the party?
Yes, I was Deputy Leader of UKIP, and was elected to the London Assembly, London’s government, where I still am. I left UKIP in 2018, and along with my colleague we formed the Brexit Alliance (which is distinct from the Brexit Party).
The overriding problem for UKIP was that after the result of the referendum, it was seen by the public as having done its job – we had voted to leave the EU. In the 2017 General Election, it’s vote plummeted from nearly 4 million at the 2015 election to around 650k. It never really recovered after that.
You are a member of the London Assembly and President of the Audit Panel. What is your job? What is your opinion on current mayor Khan?
Yes – though I’m no longer head of the Audit committee. I am however on the important Police and Crime Committee, which questions the Metropolitan Police.
Basically, the job of the Assembly is one of scrutiny; to scrutinise the actions of the Mayor and hold him to account. Every month, there is a Mayor’s Question Time, held in public, at which he is quizzed by Assembly Members. On the last two occasions, I have challenged him on his terrible plans to ‘revise’ London monuments, street names and statues. I oppose this utterly and will challenge him and resist his plans at every opportunity.
Sadiq Khan is an awful mayor. Violent crime in London has rocketed under him, and he is more concerned with political gestures such as attacking President Trump and campaigning to remain in the EU. He has given no real leadership on Covid, and indeed as a figure appears increasingly irrelevant.
During the terrorist attacks in London, the mayor stated that this is the price of living in a big city and that the citizens must should get used on such attacks. Don’t you think the mayor should resign because of such a statement?
Well, he didn’t resign, and in fact I think there were no calls for him to do so. But yes, as a statement it was indicative of a complacent, passive yet arrogant attitude.
Despite the fact that one of the main demands of Brexit was the end of migration to Britain, these are not diminishing. Does the government cant or wont end migration?
The levels of immigration into Britain remain historically unprecedented. It’s currently running at around 300k a year, which is massive. Around 65% of people when asked in polls have consistently said they want immigration reduced. Yet nothing happens.
I believe that there is not really the will on behalf of the political class to do anything about it. The Conservatives are no different, really, to Labour when it comes to this issue. And yet the effects of it are so wide-ranging, and there is such strong public feeling on it. Britain’s population continues to rise at a rapid rate, even during these economically perilous time, and it is largely due to migration. The argument always used to be that this was as a result of our relative prosperity, drawing people from all over the world. But that argument no longer applies, yet nothing is done to reduce it.
On top of this, an atmosphere has been created whereby people are frightened of being called racist if they voice their concerns.
Johnson won by a nice margin in December but his voters seem to be quite disappointed with his work so far?
As I write this, the substantial Conservative lead in the polls has just turned into a small lead for Labour – the first time in over a year. Yes, there is great disappointment in Boris Johnson, who appeared to start off very well. The government appears chaotic in its policy on Covid and people are losing patience. My view is that it was originally taking the right course (rather similar to Sweden’s) but had a massive collapse of nerve, changed course and imposed a lock down. Right now, there is a sense that Boris is simply responding to events, and not leading. His future looks uncertain.
After the 2015 referendum, UKIP and Farage retreated into the background. Many believe that it was a mistake, that he should »on the wings of victory« demand participation in the Brexit process, what do you think?
I think Nigel Farage will always be there as an effective force to ‘hold the government’s feet to the fire.’
Do you think Brexit will actually be completed by the end of the year, or will there be complications again and an extension of the exit date?
I sincerely hope it is completed. If not, then this government will be out at the next election.
Finally, can you entrust us with short-term plans for the future, both for your party and your personal ones?
I’m very excited about the continuing growth of the NCF Channel (www.youtube.com/c/NewCultureForum) I think the culture war we are now in the middle of is the most important issue of our time. As President Trump said in Warsaw in 2017, the biggest question of our time is ‘Does the West have the will to survive?’
I’m also in the middle of writing a book about London as it changes through these very dark times. I’m a Londoner born and bred, so its fate is very important to me.
Thanks for the interview.
It’s been my pleasure!
PETER WHITTLE’S CV:
Peter Robin Whittle was born on 6 January 1961 in London. After high school, he studied history and politics at the University of Kent and then worked as a journalist primarily in the field of culture. Between 1992 and 2002, he was the producer and director of a cultural program on ITV, Chanel 4 and Chanel 5. He then worked as a cultural commentator and critic on both the BBC television and radio programs. As a cultural and film critic, he has written for the Times, Sunday Times and Los Angeles Times. He founded the New Culture Forum in 2006 and regularly hosts political and cultural talk shows on the Youtube channel. Whittle is also the author of six books.
He was politically active in the UKIP party , where he was in charge of cultural issues. He unsuccessfully ran for parliamentary seat in London’s Eltham constituency in 2015, the following year he was elected to the London Assembly on the UKIP list, where he was also the leader of the party list. He was vice-president of the UKIP party until the end of 2018, when he resigned due to political disagreements with the party leader.
Whittle lives and works in London.