Latest James Bond Novel Makes It Abundantly Clear The Villains Are White Men Who Oppose Wokeness

John F. Trent |

Sep 7, 2023

James Bond: Himeros #1 Virgin Cover Art by Butch Guice (2021), Dynamite

The latest James Bond novel, On His Majesty’s Secret Service, by Charlie Higson which arrived on bookshelves back in May features white men who oppose wokeness as the villains.

On His Majesty’s Secret Service (2023), Ian Fleming Publications

In the book’s official synopsis, it shares, “It is the 4th of May, two days before the Coronation of King Charles III and the world’s favourite spy has his work cut out for him.”

It continues, “Bond is sent at the last minute to thwart an attempt to disrupt the Coronation by the wealthy, eccentric and self-styled Athelstan of Wessex, who is on a deadly mission of his own to teach the United Kingdom a lesson. Can Bond dismantle his shady plans and defeat his privately hired team of mercenaries?”

While the synopsis does not make it clear who Athelstan of Wessex is, a screenshot of the book from Leo Kearse and brought to Bounding Into Comics’ attention by X user KenobiStig hints at who the villains are.

The excerpt shared by Leo Kearse is part of Bond infiltrating Athelstan’s organization and more specifically his Anglo-Saxon castle. In order to do so he poses as Peter Sanbourn, the leader of a group of 30 mercenaries.

Albert R. Broccoli’s EON Productions presents Daniel Craig as James Bond in the 007 action adventure CASINO ROYALE, from Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Pictures and Columbia Pictures through Sony Pictures Releasing.
Photo by: Jay Maidment

Kearse’s excerpt sees Bond observing a number of guests who have also been invited to Athelstan’s castle. It specifically describes a man named Roger Birkett, “Birkett was an ex-Tory MP, famous for promoting covid/vaccines/mask-wearing/5G conspiracy theories, which had spilled over into the usual anti-immigrant, anti-EU, anti-BBC, anti-MSM, anti-cultural Marxist, Climate Change Denial pronouncements. It was an anti-trans diatribe that had eventually got him kicked out of the party and he’d soon after set up the ‘New Freedom Party’.”

It continues, “Bond was struck by something. It was a long while since he’d been at any kind of function that was almost exclusively full of men. It felt strange. There was not even a pretence at diversity here. Athelstan hadn’t been the least bit concerned about ensuring that half of the people he’d hired to carry out his coup should be women, or non-white, or disabled. This was an unapologetically old-school gathering. In Athelstan’s world he was king and could do whatever he wanted.”

The latest Bond book. Everything that used to be an escape from conformity and mocked the orthodoxy – Bond, Viz, stand-up comedy – has been neutered, indoctrinated, co-opted, homogenised. Bond is now an HR rep ensuring compliance with the organisation’s values. pic.twitter.com/iALC080UMZ

— Leo Kearse – see me on YouTube & Headliners (@LeoKearse) September 6, 2023

However, this excerpt isn’t even the most egregious part of the book. As Bond arrives for the party, Higson writes, “He wanted to blend in, not draw attention to himself. He was Peter Sanbourne. Someone who was serious about his job. He just hoped to God that everyone else wasn’t going to be wearing cloaks and hoods and jingling about in chain mail.”

Upon entering the main room, Bond observes, “Many of the men in the room could be described as ‘ex’ something – ex-military, ex-politician, ex-media pundit for hire. They’d become more and more extreme in their views and too toxic, unruly and unsafe to remain affiliated with the radical groups they’d joined. When you became too far out for a far-right organisation, you knew you were really on the outside.”

Higson continued, “But just look at them now, with their champagne and nibbles, their shiny shoes, their beaming faces. They were firmly on the inside and loving it. They’d found their tribe, and very soon they were going to announce themselves to the world. No longer outcasts, no longer cancelled, no longer marginalised, they were going to be the new overlords. There was only one person standing between them and chaos. James Bond.”

As Bond made his way throughout the room, he makes further observations about who these men are, “The men he talked to invariably started with what shows they’d been streaming, sport, travel, women, cars, and soon moved on to laughing about how much they hated cyclists and bus lanes and congestion charging, and traffic calming, and how global warming was a con, and sooner or later came round to the Big Woke Conspiracy, Black Lives Matter, the Great Replacement, and what are we going to do about the Muslims?”

James Bond: Casino Royale Hardcover (2017), Dynamite

Still further into the novel, once Athelstan makes his entrance he addresses the party goers, “‘You lot, you guys, are the bloody best.’ A cheer. ‘The backbone of England. Even though half of you aren’t English at all – ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. But you know what I mean. Wherever you’re from, you understand that a country – any country – if it’s worth its salt, must stand for something. Many people think I’m utterly oldfashioned and out of touch, but do you know what? I couldn’t care less. I believe in the idea of nationhood. A country must mean something. Or what is it? Just a place full of random people. A meaningless blob of diverse men and women. Oh, sorry, not allowed to call them that anymore, are we?’”

Higson continues, “But you lot. You haven’t been bamboozled and brain-washed by all this trendy, leftist tommyrot. And you’re prepared to stand up for your principals. You’re prepared to do something. To be something. To stand and fight. You are the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, ready to lay your lives on the line to keep the hated foreign invaders out. You are the boys in red at Rorke’s Drift, holding back an army of Zulus. You are the Paras taking on the Argentines at Goose Green …'”

James Bond: Black Box Hardcover (2017), Dynamite

It goes on, “‘But you also understand one crucial thing. The greatest enemy is not a foreign invader, it’s not a Persian, or a Zulu, or an Argie, it’s the enemy among us. The greatest threat comes from those who try to undermine our great country from within. Be it a biased BBC journalist with a hidden agenda, a beardie from Islington who thinks we should all ride vegan bicycles and worship at the altar of Karl Marx, or a man in a dress who insists we call him ‘they'”

Still later in his speech, Athelstan states, “They’ve taken our history, our culture, our great legacy, and tossed it in the bin. Turned it all into a pantomime, a charade. King Charles III? Perhaps we should better call him “King Charles the Woke”. His great-grandfather, George V, ruled an Empire of over 400 million people that covered nearly 14 million square miles. Nearly a quarter of the world’s population and a quarter of the earth’s total land. ‘And what happened to it all? What did they do with it? They gave it away. Because it wasn’t nice to have an Empire.”

James Bond: Kill Chain #3 (2017), Dynamite

Eventually, Bond begins to tune out Athelstan’s speech and begins to judge those in attendance, “Æthelstan’s private army was a toxic mix. Some were losers looking for validation. Others were thugs who enjoyed violence and wanted justification for it. They were the descendants of all those crusaders pouring out of the west into the Holy lands. Disgruntled ex-military. Professional private security firms looking to make a hit.”

Finally, Athelstan reveals his grand plan, “There are a handful of traffic pinch points around London. Block them and you bring central London to a standstill. At the same time, we’ll shut down the power grid, we’ll cause a computer blackout, we’ll get into parliament, make the Capitol riots look like Aunt Fanny’s tea party. We can do these things, and we will do all these things. We’ll get into the BBC, with its pathetic security system, its guards outsourced to some godforsaken outfit like Rentokil, and once we’ve shut down the hated Mainstream Media, we will shut down Buckingham Palace, Parliament! You, each of you, with your own units know what to do. We will create maximum havoc. We will ensure that Charles is not crowned on the 6th.”

Ian Fleming’s James Bond: Reflections Of Death (2020), Dynamite

What do you make of Ian Fleming Productions and Charlie Higson depicting white men opposing wokeness being the villains of a James Bond story?

NEXT: Idris Elba Says The Idea Of Playing James Bond Became “Disgusting And Off-Putting Because It Became About Race”

More About:Books