Lee Anderson’s f-word outburst is a low point in the history of political profanity

L ee Anderson, the unlikely deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, is in the news again for saying that any asylum seekers who are reluctant to live in fetid, overcrowded, dangerous conditions on a modern-day prison hulk waiting to become the next Grenfell can ‘ f*** off back to France ‘ if they don’t like it. There are some that are offended by the sentiment, others by the swearing , and yet more by both. It isn’t so much ‘dog whistle’ politics but megaphone messaging. Opinions are divided on whether what Anderson’s colleague the justice secretary, Alex Chalk , calls ‘salty’ and ‘robust’ language actually works for politicians in any case.