When Will the Labour Party Stop Patronising Ethnic Minorities?

That is a good question, and the answer is not any time soon. The latest example of Labourite condescension comes from the Guardian which reports that there are Labour MPs and activists who are very reluctant to use their party’s campaign literature since Keir Starmer had the Union Jack emblazoned on it. Their reason? They fear that the national flag will alienate ethnic minorities who associate the flag with far-right extremism.

I am not sure about you, but on the few occasions when Labour activists have knocked on my door to canvass my vote, they have never struck me as members of the BNP. The Trotsky lookalike who engaged me on my doorstep recently was a world away from the tattooed baldies usually associated with the far right. I am sure that the distinction is not lost on British minorities either who have lived in Britain all their life and who know, like anyone else with a pulse, that the Labour party is left of centre.

If it were the case that ethnic minorities associate the Union Jack and the English flag with racism, then that would be a problem caused by the liberal left whose dominance in education and the Media has led to a prevailing embarrassment and contempt for patriotism and its symbols. There are notable exceptions, of course, such as the 2012 Olympic Games, England football games and Last Night of the Proms, but by and large the Union and St George flags are absent from the civic landscape. This has made it easier for the far right to appropriate them.

Starmer’s use of the Union Jack does not express an instinctive patriotism that a majority of British people feel. It is a political tactic aimed at assuring the electorate that Starmer and his crew are in touch with the public’s sense of national pride. However, let us not be fooled. There are plenty of ‘Britainophobes’ in the Labour Party for whom Britain is incorrigibly racist.

But what are ethnic minorities themselves saying about this? One of the best writers about ethnic minorities and patriotism is Rakib Ehsan, the author of Beyond Grievance: What the Left Gets Wrong about Ethnic Minorities. He is the son of Bangladeshi immigrants and rejects the grievance culture that the left proselytises among ethnic minorities. The reasons why are his parents’ experiences of coming to Britain and his extensive collection of evidence of minorities’ attitudes.

According to Ehsan, his parents came to Britain because of its stable and democratic society and the educational opportunities that it gave their son. They grew proud to be British because of the quality of their new life and their son’s success at school. Their decision to up sticks and come to Britain was a wise one in the light of Ehsan’s success as a writer.

I too have over my decades met people who have migrated to or have successfully sought asylum in Britain and who are proud to be British because of what Britain has given them. I have an acquaintance who fled the Syrian civil war and now works as a doctor in the NHS. He declares himself a proud Brit whose work is his way of giving back to his adopted nation which he rightly says saved his life. A friend of mine fled Iran after having been tortured for his democratic views by its police. He acknowledges his Iranian heritage but refuses to be called Iranian as he is British. He has legally changed his name to an English one and drives lorries for a living. Neither man is a benefits grifter or dependent on the liberal left to unlock their potential as Jeremy Corbyn once sickeningly declared.

Now do not misread me. I am not advocating mass immigration which is destabilising to local and national unity. What is reasonable to argue is that limited immigration and just asylum policies can benefit Britain as it has done in the case of Ehsan, my doctor acquaintance and my lorry driving friend.

But where is the data I hear you cry? A few examples of patriotic minority voices are not enough. Well, you will find that evidence in Ehsan’s book. Many studies and surveys he refers to reveal that ethnic minorities tend to have a stronger sense of their British identity than white Britons. The reason for that according to Ehsan is that many within minority communities appreciate Britain’s standard of living and freedoms because either they or their parents have fled countries of appalling poverty and political repression and are grateful to be in Britain. They have points of comparison which most native Brits do not have. They are therefore puzzled when the liberal left describes Britain as racist and resent those race baiters who claim to speak for them and unfortunately are given too much media time to do so.

What is more, the Union flag and the Cross of St George are symbolic of the patriotism that can unify a nation and its various ethnic and religious groups. By patriotism I do not mean nationalism with its ‘my country right or wrong’ dogma, but that affection for one’s nation and people and a desire that they will flourish. It is this natural sentiment that the liberal left completely lacks.

So, when Labour MPs and activists go queasy over the Union Jack, it is not only because of their ridiculous fear that they will be seen as far right but it is because they are confronted by a symbol of a justified pride that they cannot feel but which most Brits do. And for that, they should never be elected to power.

Peter Harris is the author of two books, The Rage Against the Light: Why Christopher Hitchens Was Wrong (2019) and Do You Believe It? A Guide to a Reasonable Christian Faith (2020).

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