The new reality on immigration

The good people of Hungary went to the polls on Sunday and voted by more than 98 per cent against accepting even a few hundred migrants, as per the European Union’s insistence. That poll result must have been gravid with nostalgia for Magyars over the age of about 35. They will remember that sort of election result being de rigueur, rather than astonishing. Indeed, in 1985 the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party succeeded in capturing 98.8 per cent of the popular vote — and even this was a bit of a disappointment, because in 1980 it had pulled in 99.3 per cent. On both occasions the ruling party was aided, of course, by the lack of an alternative on the ballot paper. And indeed by the sort of state thuggery and oppression for which left wing politicians and journos in this country were frequent apologists.

Speaking of which, the Guardian newspaper took a long hard look at the Hungarian referendum result, pursed its lips, nodded its head and wrote the following introductory sentence to its in depth analysis: ‘The Hungarian prime minister has failed to convince a majority of his population to vote in a referendum on closing the door to refugees, rendering the result invalid and undermining his campaign for a cultural counter revolution within the European Union.’

I have to tell you that this does not quite do it for me, as an up sum (as we say in the trade) of that vote. It seems to miss out the fairly interesting 98 per cent figure. But then, the same newspaper was not terribly convinced by our own referendum result and worried about the closeness of the margin and the almost incredible fact that some Leave politicians may have lied during the campaign. What margin of victory would keep them happy, I wondered at the time? Not even 98 per cent would seem to be the answer.

Left liberals take a very selective view of democracy, don’t they? If I had won a referendum with more than 98 per cent of the vote and almost half the electorate voting, I’d feel pretty pukka — as did Hungary’s prime minister, the newish bête noir of pro Euro liberals now Farage is off the scene, Viktor Orban.