Human beings are far from equal

On 27 November 2013, at an event staged by the Centre for Policy Studies, Boris Johnson gave the annual Margaret Thatcher Lecture.

At one point in his speech, he said this:

"For one reason or another, boardroom greed or... the natural and God-given talent of boardroom inhabitants, the income gap between the top... and the bottom... is getting wider than ever... I don’t believe that economic equality is possible.

Though it would be wrong to persecute the rich... and futile to try to stamp out inequality, we should only tolerate this wealth gap on two conditions. ‘One, that we help those who genuinely cannot compete; and, two, that we provide opportunity for those who can...

I hope that... the Gordon Gekkos of London are conspicuous not just for their greed... as for what they give and do for the rest of the population."

Thing is, Boris, the greedy boardroom Gekkos who imagine their talents are 'God-given', don't believe economic equality is possible, (or, presumably, desirable) and fixed it so that the wealth gap is wider than ever, aren't the type of people who will ever bestir themselves to help the uncompetitive or provide opportunity for a competitor of the future.

So, if you don't mind, could you get on with the non-toleration of the disparity your mates created, please?

Anyone out there think everyone's favourite upper-class clown might go for it at some point? Think again. Boris also said this at the Thatcher do.

"Human beings... are already very far from equal in raw ability, if not spiritual worth... It is surely relevant to a conversation about equality that as many as 16 per cent of our species have an IQ below 85, while about 2 per cent have an IQ above 130... 

Some measure of inequality is essential for the spirit of envy... is, like greed, a valuable spur to economic activity."

Greed is good is good in Clown Town then. As is envy and inequality.

The 12.5 per cent Turk redeemed himself a tad by blowing the whistle on the hypocrisy and self-service of his upper-crust mates in Westminster. .

"I remember once sitting in a meeting of the Tory shadow education team and listening with mounting disbelief to a conversation in which we all agreed solemnly that it would be political madness to try to bring back the Grammar schools, while I happened to know that most of the people in that room were about to make use, as parents, of some of the most viciously selective schools in the country."

Oh yes, if you ever imagined the sense of fair play produced by the playing fields of Eton ever extended beyond the boardroom and corridors of parliamentary power, you are one wide-eyed innocent, that's for sure. By the time the Bullingdon boy gives a damn for the IQ-deficient British thickie, there won't be any of us poor, unequal pikemen left to ward off the increasingly menacing attentions of their immigrant pets.

Speaking of whom, Boris also said this:

"It’s time to sort out the immigration system so that we end the madness... We are claiming to have capped immigration by having a 60 per cent reduction in New Zealanders, when we can do nothing to stop the entire population of Transylvania, charming though most of them may be, from trying to come here."

Once again, Boris, nice of you to point out the corporate 'madness' of your 'viciously selective' peers but, seriously now, you aren't going to do anything about it are you? You'll feign some pseudo-bewilderment when the cameras are rolling but behind the scenes you'll be sniggering along with the rest at the thought of all the cheap Bulgarian gardeners and even cheaper Romanian housemaids.

You're good for a laugh, Boris, I'll give you that. Oh yes, in these foully censorious PC times, we do like a bit of fun.

But you aren't one of us, Boris. You really couldn't give a damn about the long-suffering majority. About those whose hard work, sacrifices and deaths in all the wars gave you, the Gordon Geckos and the Shadow Education Teams the chance to lord it large over the rest of us.

When you see coming over the hill, Boris, we won't be coming to 'persecute the rich,' per se. We'll only be wanting a chat with those whose 'spiritual worth' isn't much above nil.

And, as you, your former classmates and all the clubbably loaded boardroom oiks that populate the corridors of power these days must surely realise, there'll be enough of them to occupy our vengeful attentions for a light year or two at least.

P.S. Anyone out there think that a modern politician is ever going to point out the racial demographic of most of those who comprise the '16 per cent' with 'an IQ below 85?' To make a deceitful point, he may imply that one sixth of the British deserve to be f***ed over by him and his trough-gobbling posse but there's isn't an outspoken Tory man-of-the-people between here and planet ZOG who would dare to tell that truth.