‼️ Watching Sir Robin Knox-Johnston defend the @RNLI on @BBCNewsnight is deeply personal for me. I grew up in Porthcawl, the South Wales town whose seafront is shown whenever a great storm crashes into Britain. My mother chaired the local RNLI fundraising committee, fundraising for this cause is central to seaside communities. Many of our friends served volunteered as lifeguards and risked their lives regularly. Those of us who grow up beside the sea know its power. We know that when someone is in danger, you do not first ask where they were born, how they arrived or whether saving them is politically convenient. You launch the lifeboat. RNLI volunteers risk their own lives to save strangers. They do not make immigration policy and they do not control our borders. They answer distress calls and uphold the ancient law of the sea: a life in danger must be saved. For @SuellaBraverman to call this an “RNLI taxi service”, and for Reform and parts of the Conservative Party to turn lifeboat crews into political punchbags, is utterly disgraceful. Britain is an island nation shaped by the sea. For centuries, people arrived here and departed from here by boat. Courage, seamanship and going to the aid of those in peril are woven into our national character. Scapegoating lifeboat volunteers for saving drowning people is not patriotism. It is the absolute antithesis of being British.