Keir Starmer said he and his advisors were unaware of similarities between his words and Enoch Powell’s vile Rivers of Blood speech – saying he said it hours after his family home was targeted by arsonists
Keir Starmer has said he “deeply regrets” warning the UK was at risk of becoming an “island of strangers”.
The PM made the remark in a press conference just hours after his family home was attacked by arsonists. The words sparked a fierce backlash amid comparisons to notorious Tory racist Enoch Powell, who said white people were set to become “strangers in their own country” in 1968.
In an interview with The Observer, Mr Starmer said he would not have used the phrase if he or his advisors were aware of the similarities. He said using the words “wasn’t right” and conceded: “I’ll give you the honest truth: I deeply regret using it.”
The PM admitted he should have read through the speech more carefully and “held it up to the light a bit more” before delivering it. He said he was “really, really worried” after the arson attack, and his wife Vic was “really shaken up” – prompting him to consider calling the press conference off.
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He said he just wanted to “get back” to his loved ones as quickly as he could as he unveiled a white paper setting out plans to drive down net migration. The PM recounted: “It’s fair to say I wasn’t in the best state to make a big speech.”
But he said the fault was his own, stating: “I wouldn’t have used those words if I had known they were, or even would be interpreted as an echo of Powell.”
The PM also accepted there were “problems with the language” in his foreword to an immigration white paper which said the high level of arrivals had done “incalculable damage” to the country.
In the days that followed the PM was accused of making “shameful” remarks. Labour peer Alf Dubs, who fled the Nazis as a child, said: “I’m unhappy that we have senior politicians who use language which is reminiscent of Powell, and I’m sorry that Keir Starmer used some of the phrases that you’ve just quoted.”
Three men have been charged over the attack on the PM’s family home in North London, which was being rented by the PM’s sister-in-law and her partner. Mr Starmer said it could have been a “different story” if his wife’s sister had not been awake and able to call the fire brigade.
Ukrainian nationals Petro Pochynok and Roman Lavrynovych, as well as Ukrainian-born Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc are accused of conspiring to endanger life. In the days before the attack on the PM’s family home, a flat he had previously lived at and a car close to his home were also targeted.
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