Pauline Hanson’s capacity to blame others – long her preferred cover for personal incompetence – has suddenly evaporated.

Her European excursion has revealed that the worst enemy of Hanson is herself.

No one else decided she should go to Britain to be ignored by Nigel Farage but welcomed by the far-right extremist Tommy Robinson, to tour an English community with a television crew to spout shallow insults, then prance around a Mediterranean resort at the beckoning of Gina Rinehart.

But One Nation folk have a tradition, established by their leader 30 years ago, of claiming to be victims of persecution by those who fear their purity.

The latest exponent has been the One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts who sneered at critics of his effusive praise for the discredited – and shunned – American commentator Alex Jones.

On Facebook Roberts wrote: “First they came for Pauline. Then they came for Barnaby. Now it’s my turn.”

It is a laughable response from a minor political creature pretending........

© The Guardian