Sir Keir Starmer is waiting for the British ruling class to give his Labour Party their backing, if they lose confidence in the Tory party. This means taking on board much of the Tory agenda backed by the ruling class – subservience to US imperialism, backing for apartheid Israel, Brexit, the state clampdown on protest, upholding their law and order and racism directed against migrants. It has become so blatant that even the BBC ‘news’ service, which has pursued the same path, has felt the need to provide him with some cover. This article by Stephen Topple was first posted in The Canary.
BBC NEWS CHANGED A HEADLINE TO MAKE KEIR STARMER LOOK SLIGHTLY LESS RACIST
People have dragged Keir Starmer over comments he made about NHS workers on Sunday 6 November. However, his broader comments about immigration have also prompted a backlash. People have accused him of not only pandering to racists, but being a racist himself – with Jeremy Corbyn dragging him via a subtweet.
However, always one to be on the side of the establishment, enter the BBC to minimise the damage for Starmer – by changing a headline to make him look slightly less racist.
NHS overrun with foreigners, says Starmer
BBC Scotland‘s The Sunday Show was interviewing Starmer. The host asked him about what his wife Victoria, who works in the NHS, thinks the problems are. Starmer said [2:17]:
“We haven’t got enough people.”
However, the Labour leader’s solution to this was crass at best. Starmer said:
“I think that we should be training people in this country. Of course we need some immigration but we need to train people in this country.”
Starmercalled immigration in the NHS a “short-term fix”. He also went further on immigration, saying:
“We don’t want open borders. Freedom of movement has gone and it’s not coming back. So that means fair rules, firm rules, a points-based system. What I would like to see is the numbers go down in some areas. I think we’re recruiting too many people from overseas into, for example, the health service. But on the other hand, if we need high-skilled people in innovation, in tech, to set up factories etc, then I would encourage that.”
Dog-whistle racism
Starmer’s comments are literally dog-whistle racism – as people pointed out on social media:
Professor of accounting Richard Murphy took the time to take down Starmer in a blog post, saying the Labour leader would not be able to form a “credible government”:
And as a doctor pointed out, contrary to what Starmer says, the NHS does need a quick fix:
The BBC: propping up Starmer’s racism
Then, the dog-whistling, racist BBC aided and abetted Starmer in his racist pandering. It changed the headline on its article about his comments – clearly trying to make the Labour leader look slightly less racist:
So, Corbyn decided to subtweet at Starmer – not exactly subtly, either:
Starmer’s comments once again show that Labour is intent on toeing a right-wing line to curry favour with that voting base. It’s clear why Labour’s doing this: the party has always had a racism problem. But also the right-wing rump of Labour thinks the answer to winning a general election is to copy the Tories. And the BBC will quite happily prop this up – to the ruin of us all.
7.11.22
___________
also see:
Immigration, who benefits, who suffers? – Susan Rosenthal
The great merger: the rise of oligarchal politics – Media Lens
The human cargo of voluntary departure – Mike Small, bella caledonia