Katie Hopkins: “I’d shag Nigel Farage, only because I hate him less than I hate Miley”

“I am like, err, an ‘actual proper’ bitch. Stop looking at me. Stop it. I could have you.”

Game of Thrones or Keeping Up With the Kardashians?

Neither. All I ever see is pictures of Kim’s arse. Honestly, if I had an arse that big I wouldn’t show it off. And she is always dressed in horribly, inexcusably awful outfits. 

Shoot, shag or marry: Nigel Farage, Miley Cyrus, or Hugh Hefner. 

Oh that’s hard. Hmmmmm. I’d probably marry Hugh on the basis that he’ll pop off soonest. I guess I could shag Nigel, only because I hate him less than I hate Miley. 

You know when it gets to the point that the best you can do for attention is dress as a chicken and get lowered into the O2 arena on a giant sausage, you’ve pushed it. She’s showed her arse, her crotch, her boobs, and now she’s floated down on a hot dog dressed as a chicken. I think, ‘Yes, Miley. You’re out of ideas.’

Having called yourself a ‘conduit for truth’, the ‘Jesus of the outspoken’ who do you think it is you’re speaking for, and why do you think it’s important that you speak?

Lots of people would rather I shut up. But while it still lasts, I value freedom of speech, and the freedom to offend. Because actually, you can’t give offence, you can only take it, so I blame people who take offence. Typically, people will say, ‘I hate Katie, but at least she’s got the balls to say what we’re all thinking.’ 

You have been accused of trying to create a brand for yourself. Do you take your views to the extreme, like your zero tolerance attitude toward tattoos, in order to fulfil the brand you’ve created?

It’s easy for people to say, ‘Oh, it’s just a parody’, but I do actually think these things. Would I employ a tattooed person? No. Is it an indicator of someone who’s bored and just choosing to vandalise their body? Yes. I think it’s easier for people to excuse my views by saying, ‘She doesn’t really mean that stuff’, but I really do. 

Never one to shy away from a confrontation

“If you are not a Liberal at 25, you have no heart. If you are not a Conservative at 35, you have no brain.” Would you agree?

That is so true, except I think I was always Thatcher’s child. I represent Conservative values, but I don’t imagine they would want anything to do with me. 

Well considering that quote, what do you expect the students’ response will be to you today?

I see this with students a lot – it’s all about equality, absolute social mobility, things should be skewed in favour of state school students. But you’re at the most elite institution we have in this country, so you are going to have a competitive advantage. We should celebrate that, not try to drag that down to the lowest common denominator. The students won’t agree with me on that. They’ll look at me and go, ‘No, you silly cow, that’s nonsense’. 

You recently criticised Channel 4’s decision to broadcast the call to prayer during Ramadan as too ‘Politically Correct’

(she giggles) I was going to stand in my garden with a loudspeaker singing ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ back. 

So you do believe that it is too politically correct, that we celebrate tolerance and diversity on a national scale?

It’s more that I really like the Channel 4 news. But I wish it would stop trying to be so desperately ‘right on’, and just report the news. Where were the other religions? When’s the next Christian thing coming up? Something for the Jews?

You’ve been criticised for being faux posh and faux business woman, because you write for the Sun and your small business’s net worth is negative. Are you trying to build ideals that you can’t actually live up to?

I’ve never really looked at those as criticisms. I celebrate the Sun. It’s the widest read newspaper in the UK, so my column has reach beyond most journalists’. If you can take a news item and rewrite it in Sun-eze, that’s a special sort of skill. I love everything that is White-Van-Man.

And, yes, my business – it’s a very effectively run organisation. I have a good accountant. 

This week is Mental Health Awareness week. What do you think about dedicating a week to starting a conversation about mental health?

My stance on it is, given that Oscar [Pistorius] has now decided he has General Anxiety Disorder, and that’s why he blasted seven bells of shit out of his girlfriend, that sometimes it’s a default position for people who have not been able to get a grip of their lives.

So you don’t think it’s worth talking about?

I think it’s an interesting thing to talk about. Do I think it’s worth dedicating a week to? Well it depends on where it’s going. It’s good to break taboos. Take donkeys. They’re pretty cute and that charity will rake in £28 million every year. An epilepsy charity can’t get cash for love nor money, because it’s not an attractive thing to talk about. There is a stigma to mental health, but I would always challenge people as to where they were taking the debate. 

BFFs

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