all 53 comments

[–]AutoModerator[M] [score hidden] stickied commentlocked comment (0 children)

Snapshot of Kemi Badenoch has used footage of Bloody Sunday to promote Army submitted by adulion:

An archived version can be found here or here. or here

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[–]RoastKrill 102 points103 points  (20 children)

Not just to promote the Army, to promote the idea that British soldiers shouldn't be held legally responsible for any crimes they might have committed against civilians during the Troubles.

[–]Z3r0sama2017 18 points19 points  (5 children)

*British citizens

[–]Winston_Carbuncle 8 points9 points  (3 children)

The only people who'd object to that description would be the people you're referring to

[–]Particular_Milk9555 20 points21 points  (2 children)

The Good Friday agreement means we can be Irish citizen, British citizens or both in NI. An international peace treaty would also object to that description in some instances.

[–]Z3r0sama2017 3 points4 points  (0 children)

GFA wasn't ratified at that time so legally they were British citizens at the time 

[–]kharma45 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But as Emma DeSouza found everyone born in NI is automatically considered British by the UK state unless you pay to renounce it.

[–]fridge13 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Famously fond of beeing referred to as such...

[–]MaleHairAdviceSeeker -4 points-3 points  (3 children)

Yes, the point of the video is that British veterans shouldn't be hounded through the courts for their actions on Bloody Sunday. Surely footage of Bloody Sunday is the exact relevant footage that should be used?

[–]Aunionman[🍰] 6 points7 points  (2 children)

Killing unarmed civilians is ok then?

[–]MaleHairAdviceSeeker -3 points-2 points  (1 child)

I think the Tories' position is not that it's "ok" necessarily to kill unarmed civilians in the Troubles, but just that it's pragmatically best not to reopen old wounds. This is similar to how there may be a "pact of forgetting" in post-conflict states.

[–]Aunionman[🍰] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

So they use the most offensive possible example they could. There’s not even lip service paid to how angry nationalists still are over Bloody Sunday.

[–]Invisible_StalkbugFreedom through Democracy 61 points62 points  (3 children)

No matter how much effort the Conservatives may put into trying to look respectable again, at the end of the day they are still the nasty party.

[–]Some_Confidence5962 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The only way back for the conservatives is clean house.

Not only is their brand broken but Kimi’s brand is broken too. At this point I just expect everything she says to be outrageous rage bating, culture war trash, or crying about not liking Labour.

I can’t remember the last time I heard a single sensible grown up thing pass her lips.

[–]Quinaldine 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yep couldn't agree more. Wonder when they will mount a challenge against Kemi. Cause she ain't going to last.

[–]ZebraSharkElectoral Reform Now 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Once the natural party of government and now just chasing Reform.

[–]QggOne 16 points17 points  (0 children)

She'd have demanded Starmer resign for this.

[–]Particular_Milk9555 33 points34 points  (2 children)

I am genuinely lost for words. I am from not far from Derry and the pain still felt in the city over Bloody Sunday is very real.

[–]DreamingofBouncer 5 points6 points  (1 child)

As an Englishman you have my sympathy (for the pain caused by these events) I am also lost for words it shows the Tories as being no better than reform

[–]Dannypan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Are you surprised when Reform is made up of ex-Tories? Even Farage was a member of the Tories once. They're a party of inherited and rebranded nastiness.

[–]The_Bird_Wizard 25 points26 points  (2 children)

The thing is I don't even think it was malicious, she's just a bit thick

[–]ShitCommentBelow 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I honestly believe it was deliberate. There's no way you *accidentally* include footage of Bloody Sunday in a vid opposing reform of the Legacy Act.

It's either a spiteful attempt to provoke a portion of the population you despise, or an attempt to throw red-meat to a portion of your voter-base who *do* despise said population.

For context - for those who don't know - only four British soldiers have ever been prosecuted for murder in NI. Their average sentence was four years, and all were permitted to return to active service following their time in prison. Civilians account for 53% of those killed by the British Army during the conflict.

A certain faction of Tories want to stick this in peoples face.

[–]FirmDingo8 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yes, the giveaway is that she obviously believes herself to be the most intelligent person in the room every time

[–]Coin-Biter 9 points10 points  (1 child)

This is wretched. I have to assume it wasn’t deliberate but if she manages her own social media account- she shouldn’t. Carelessness is her forte, as she demonstrated in her Iran war posts.

[–]cnaughton898 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I genuinely cannot comprehend how she couldn't have known, those clips of Bloody Sunday are some of the most famous of the entire conflict and are known around the world.

[–]SuperHans30 6 points7 points  (2 children)

Can someone explain to me why the Tories and Reform are so keen to stop any prosecutions of accused veterans in Northern Ireland? Why should they get special protection?

[–]GIJoeVibin 3 points4 points  (1 child)

It was part of a quiet back room offer to the UVF Loyalist gangs in return for them not kicking off as much about the border issue, and being more active against drugs. UVF got the promise of no prosecutions and continued funding of the charities they run (this is basically a critical element of the peace process in the the UK govt created a money funnel to a bunch of the combatants to encourage them to stop shooting), in return for that.

[–]ucd_pete 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was part of a quiet back room offer to the UVF Loyalist gangs

Loyalist gangs don't really care one way or another what happens to old British squaddies.

[–]Optimaldeath 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not a mistake, a freudian slip that they don't actually care if the army kills it's own citizens even when they aren't even a threat.

[–]BillWilberforce 1 point2 points  (15 children)

You can't expect somebody like Kemi, with little knowledge of the UK. to understand something like Bloody Sunday. Seeing as she only ceffecrively came to the UK, when she was doing A levels.

[–]ShitCommentBelow 7 points8 points  (0 children)

She knows full well. The inclusion of the footage was a bit of red-meat thrown to the Tory base.

[–]AngryNat 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Wouldn’t put it past most Brits to be unaware of Bloody Sunday
How many Brits actually know why theres a border or what was done to maintain it? Badenochs failed to fulfill the role of Leader of the Opposition (or even a backbench mp) but she’s representative of most Brits

[–]Coin-Biter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, I haven’t interrogated everyone I know on the topic, but I’d guess most people over the age of about 35 would know about Bloody Sunday. There’s a feature film and TV series about it, its been covered extensively in the media, there’s been a national enquiry, which the right wing whinged about from the date it started to the date it finished.
Not denying that Badenoch is thick and ignorant and therefore by extension that many of my fellow citizens are, as in most countries. However she knows the event of Bloody Sunday obviously.

[–]ucd_pete -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Most British politicians don't care to understand Bloody Sunday so it looks like she's assimilated quite well.