Boris’s miners joke reveals his contempt for the working class

In March this year, 35 years to the month since the end of the miners’ strike, environmentalists were caught dressing up as miners. Their media stunt was intended to protest against a proposed expansion to the Bradley coal mine in County Durham. Martin Raine, a real miner working at the site, was quoted saying: ‘It is our jobs at stake here and instead of allowing us a voice the BBC showed fake miners with fake cardboard helmets and interviewed a student bussed in by Extinction Rebellion who got the basic facts wrong.’

Miners (and former miners) are no more likely to join eco-protests against mining jobs than Thatcherites are to sign up to Extinction Rebellion. Then again, according to Boris Johnson’s latest comments, Margret Thatcher was an early incarnation of Greta Thunberg with a handbag. In an interview, Johnson thanked Thatcher for closing ‘so many coal mines’, paving the way for the ‘smooth’ transition his government are planning away from fossil fuels.