So, the riots are over and the wretched foot soldiers of populism are being locked up (it’s like 6 January all over again). Sir Keir Starmer can boast that we have been very tough with the rioters.
Sadly, we are not being tough on the causes of the riots, since some of the real instigators walk free – though, of course, they would deny initiating violence. However, one senses that some of the other commentators are on the back foot, with disclaimers like this being posted:
‘None of the information posted or repeated on this account is known by its author to be false, nor intended to stir racial or any hatred of, nor cause psychological or physical harm to, any person or group of people (howsoever identified)’.
For years the British far-right (which now likes to call itself the centre right) has been stirring up fear and loathing. On the one hand there is the popular press whipping up hatred of foreigners and, of course linking this to the EU. On the other hand there were UKIP/Reform and certain Tories doing the same, though all too many supposedly decent politicians have been happy to rabble-rouse in order to satisfy certain xenophobic supporters – do you remember May’s disgraceful ‘hostile environment’ and Cameron speaking of ‘swarms of immigrants’ as if they were some kind of vermin? And they are by no means the worst offenders.
The Brexit omerta
Where did all this viciousness lead to? Firstly, it gave us Brexit – there can be no doubt that those who fed the fires of bigotry and intolerance caused and then tipped the referendum, but these dangerous people haven’t gone away. On the contrary, Brexit emboldened them and Starmer is now terrified of naming, shaming and combatting them. He knows they are all staunch Brexiters and he has promised – quite absurdly – that he’s going to make Brexit work, so he doesn’t want to offend them and those beguiled by all the hate, anger and false hopes.
We know that those who most vehemently campaigned for Brexit and against immigration because, supposedly, they are bad for workers’ pay and conditions are, in reality, not at all interested in improving life for the less well paid.
A transatlantic phenomenon
There are similarities with the USA – where Trump was recently praising his chum Elon Musk for trampling on workers’ rights. Scapegoating immigrants has always been a chosen tactic to distract the disadvantaged – it made them vote Leave, didn’t it? It was a significant factor making the rust-belt vote Trump. Throw in some additional anti-elite, anti-intellectual, anti-woke rhetoric and a sprinkle of conspiracy theory angel dust and you can get the disadvantaged to vote against their own interests. It works a treat with many members of the provincial middle class as well. Why cannot Starmer say this?
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have the courage – and the foresight – to stand up to populism, but Labour appears to appease the narrative that brought us Brexit and the August riots. There is no readiness to engage in any honest debate about the state of the nation and the real choices that need to be made. Rachel Reeves appears to be espousing austerity and, alongside Morgan McSweeny, happily opposes freedom of movement in order to keep the Red Wall happy. Like Théoden beguiled by Wormtongue, Starmer seems to be under their spell and the new Labour MPs all have to buy in to Labour’s ridiculous new-found enthusiasm for isolation on our own continent. This is not a long or even medium-term recipe for success.
So, we have banged up some of the stormtroopers of the far right in our disgraceful jails and many gullible fools have had their lives ruined, but until our masters have the courage to take on the malign forces who brought them on to our streets the malaise won’t go away.
Brexit and these riots are symptoms of a malaise that has beset England since the second world war, an inability on the part of many to accept what sort of a country we really are. The malaise can be compared to an addiction and Starmer’s answer is no more than waiting on a sunny day whilst continuing to keep pouring the Kool-Aid because the cold turkey will be too painful. It’s no solution.
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