Sometimes, all it takes is a hard-hitting phrase in a speech for people to take notice. Keir Starmer’s intervention last week on immigration, where he warned that the UK risked becoming ‘an island of strangers’, achieved exactly that.
Some on the liberal-left have reacted to the PM’s speech in typically hysterical fashion, drawing comparisons between Starmer’s words and the infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech delivered by former Conservative MP Enoch Powell in 1968. Powell made numerous inflammatory claims such as, ‘In this country, in 15 or 20 years’ time, the black man will have the whip hand over the white man’. He also warned of a looming race war. The idea that parallels could be struck between Starmer and Powell is outrageous, particularly as Starmer’s speech was full of praise for the contribution migrants have made to Britain.
