Starmer’s appeal to patriotism is a step in the right direction

The history of Britain, and its various Labour movements, has always spoken of the idea of patriotism as something innately connected to our politics.

There runs a deep-rooted and quietly proud patriotism in Britain. The Labour party’s new leader, Keir Starmer, precociously understands this. Last week, The Guardian detailed Starmer’s comments on the subject; asserting that Labour should not “shy away” from the notion in order to gain its lost support. Seldom are the words of politicians comforting or indeed trustworthy, but there is a curious gravitas to this statement.

The history of Britain, and its various Labour movements, has always spoken of the idea of patriotism as something innately connected to our politics; one need look no further than Clement Attlee’s fierce patriotism which led to universal healthcare in Britain for guidance.

For the casual working-class Labour voter, there is a connection to Britain which runs beyond the social contract; a connection which seeps into the heartlands and the fells of the north. The lost Labour voters in the last election are reflective of this, stressing an importance on the peculiar “Workington Man” phenomena. In that very election, the Tories saw a retention of 85% of their votes from the 2017 election, meanwhile, Labour handed around 11% of their 2017 votes to them (in total a crucial 58 seats shifted to the Conservatives). Of these total gains, the majority of the gained Tory seats were in pro-Brexit constituencies.

Source: YouGov.

It is a risk to readily assume the motive of patriotism to all Brexit voters – such claims smear most conversations with reductionism – but it was an important factor to many voters nevertheless. It is no coincidence that the cumbersome electoral losses dealt to the Labour party corresponded with the waning of Jeremy Corbyn’s Eurosceptic tendencies. His 2017 manifesto promised to preserve the so-called “will of the people” (a tired folk-like term) before introducing a second referendum option on EU membership in 2019. The rest, as they say, is history. For many, Corbyn’s decision was a betrayal of his Eurosceptic working-class roots; those roots which are smothered by patriotism.

So, it is right for Keir Starmer to suggest that Labour needs to recapture its patriotic tendencies in order to survive. The only concern now is whether or not Starmer will carry this mantle throughout his time as Labour leader; he was seriously opposed to Brexit after all. This isn’t to say that Starmer’s appeal is enough, evidently, there are mounds of hitches for him to overcome as party leader (see the recently revealed Machiavellian party power war for yourself).

In these confounding times, it is hard to see which direction the Labour party is going. Could it follow the path of Social Democracy to see an end to the crippling austerity which Corbyn so loathed? Or, perhaps, will Starmer and his shadow cabinet opt for a centrist form of appeasement to both sides of the political aisle? His recent PMQ sessions with Boris Johnson suggest a divergent calling, but Starmer can only play the cool and collected role for as long as the ebbs and flows of politics allow him. One thing remains in perpetuity, however, and that is the quiet patriotism that the working class – from Keir Hardie to Keir Starmer – has fed the Labour party for nearly two centuries.