Barack Obama is driving the British right crazy. No wonder they sound like Republicans

Something very strange and rather disturbing appears to be happening to the British right. Or at least to a large and noisy segment of it. It seems to have decided that the Republican party is something to emulate. Of course Ukip has always had a Tea Party tendency but this once-niche persuasion appears to be going mainstream.

The reaction to Barack Obama’s remarks yesterday, in which he suggested that Brexit campaigners were not being wholly straight with the British people (I know! Who knew?) has been as remarkable as it has been depressing. How dare Obama insult Britain like this! How dare he threaten the British people! Why has Britain allowed itself to be humiliated in this fashion! And who is this guy to talk anyway? He’s just a jumped-up, half-Kenyan, lame-duck President whose record is nothing to celebrate anyway. Ya boo, sucks to be you Barack Hussein Obama. You know nothing.

But if what Obama said is a threat or even a humiliation then I’m afraid those words have been stripped of their traditional meanings.