Hundreds were left in shock and deep unease last week as Keir Starmer’s Britain reminded us, yet again, that wolves in sheep’s clothing often make it further than we’d like to believe. In a press conference that echoed the rhetoric of the far right and chillingly mirrored the infamous words of disgraced Tory MP Enoch Powell, the Prime Minister unveiled a sweeping crackdown on immigration.
Cloaked in language about unity, he warned that the UK “risks becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together”. He went further still, claiming that rising immigration has caused “incalculable” damage too, while discussing the current status of our public services.
For many, the speech was an eerie revival of Powell’s “Rivers of Blood”, where he declared that white Britons were being made “strangers in their own country” due to migration. Starmer’s language may be more polished, but the message strikes the same note: deflect blame, stoke fear, and target the vulnerable.