If there is a cause that could be said to unite almost all Labour MPs and members from left to right, it would be equality and anti-racism. Many of them will have spent their early political lives in trade unions, student movements or charities – or working as human rights lawyers.
Over the summer, MPs have agonised about their political futures and that of progressive politics. Missteps on the economy, welfare, Gaza and relations with the parliamentary party have been part of that.
But what has crystallised the sense of crisis for many has been the rapid rise in far-right rhetoric and violence, as well as Nigel Farage’s perma-presence in the media and his plans for mass deportations.
“It is a progressive emergency,” one MP said. “We are at a moment in history where our kids might ask us: ‘What did you do?’”
Yet, No 10 and cabinet ministers had not seemed quite able to speak to that moment – or articulate at all the fear of many MPs that the protests and language now routinely used on the streets, in the media and by some mainstream politicians had gone far beyond the pale of what would have been acceptable even a year ago.
Over the summer, Keir Starmer’s spokesperson seemed unwilling to go much further than saying Farage’s plan to tear up the Human Rights Act might have bureaucratic consequences.
After the UK’s biggest far-right demonstration in decades this weekend, Peter Kyle, the business secretary, suggested it showed free speech was alive and well and would be a “klaxon call” to the government.
MPs were beginning to get highly agitated. For many, it is this issue, not the reshuffle or the defenestration of Peter Mandelson, that is at the real heart of what they believe is going wrong.
So, Starmer’s statement on Sunday, which said there would be “no surrender” of the St George’s flag or British values to the far right, was extremely welcome. Though it did not go as far as some MPs would have liked, including naming the billionaire Elon Musk as one of the agitators, it was unequivocal in defence of a diverse Britain.
Many will hope this is the beginning of a shift in tone. Strategists in No 10 have promised that Starmer will use his speech at the party’s conference later this month to take on Farage and the hard right in the language of Labour values.
One speech that has been doing the rounds on social media and among MPs is that of Tony Blair in 2005, when the then prime minister was unequivocal about the need to tighten immigration and asylum controls but also about the need to condemn and reject racism, calling out the divisiveness of Tory messaging and praising the contribution of migrant communities.
It is the perennial battle for Starmer’s ear among the confidants and strategists: should the government prioritise winning back its Reform-curious voters with a hardline crime and immigration stance, or speak louder to its progressive base to build an angry liberal coalition against Farage?
Some ministers and MPs have begun to speak up louder on this issue. The communities minister, Alison McGovern, said in an interview with the Guardian last week she feared that the progressive cause was at risk of being lost. The former cabinet minister Louise Haigh called for a greater defence of diversity and migration.
The decision by No 10 to put out such strong words from the prime minister on Sunday will ignite some hope that it is part of a sea change.
