Former British MP and media commentator Douglas Carswell has sparked outrage by saying “let’s make England Abdul free”. Carswell, who regularly writes for the Telegraph, was a Conservative MP from 2005 to 2014, and then an MP for anti-immigration party UKIP until 2017.

On Sunday, Carswell took to social media platform X to share his views on a Daily Mail story about locals in Epping vowing to stop paying council tax after the High Court ruled asylum seekers can stay in a hotel.

“From Epping to the sea, let’s make England Abdul free,” Carswell declared in an apparent spin on the pro-Palestinian slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

The original slogan is often accused of implicitly advocating for violence against Jews, which pro-Palestine protesters strenuously deny. In contrast, Carswell’s version appears to explicitly call for the removal from Britain of everyone called Abdul.

  • ladel@feddit.uk
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    1 day ago

    Carswell hit back against Afzal’s comment - not to deny inciting racial hatred but instead to note that he cannot be prosecuted because he now lives in the US.

    “I live under the protection of a free Republic where free speech is protected and your courts have not held jurisdiction in 249 years, Mr Afzal,” Carswell declared.

      • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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        17 hours ago

        Not if we can get him expelled from the US first! But that’ll have to happen in the post-MAGA era.

        Though a strong argument could be made that living in Mississippi is its own punishment.