Keir Starmer Claims He Didn’t Read the Speech – Seriously?

It’s another twist in the Keir Starmer saga and this time it’s over immigration. Just days after he warned the country could become “an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together,” he’s now saying he regrets ever making the remark.

In an interview with The Observer, the Prime Minister claimed he didn’t properly read the speech before delivering it, blaming distractions like the Middle East, NATO, and the G7 summit. It’s left plenty of people scratching their heads – not least because it’s hard to believe a sitting Prime Minister wouldn’t comb through every word of such a sensitive statement before stepping up to the podium.

According to The Mail on Sunday, it’s nonsense. Starmer knew exactly what he was doing, with the paper arguing that the speech was a deliberate attempt to appeal to working-class voters who’ve been shifting towards Reform. It wasn’t an accident. It was strategy, reported GB News.

But as the backlash built, particularly from within his own party’s activist base, Starmer appeared to cave under pressure. Critics on the Left likened his language to Enoch Powell’s infamous “Rivers of Blood” speech in 1968 – specifically the line about white Britons becoming “strangers in their own country.” Powell was forced out of the Shadow Cabinet back then, and though it’s a different political climate now, it seems the echoes were enough to make Starmer backtrack.

The comparison wasn’t just coming from opponents. Even voices who’ve historically campaigned for racial equality have touched on similar concerns. Trevor Phillips, the former Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, made similar remarks two decades ago, saying “We are sleepwalking our way to segregation. We are becoming strangers to each other.” He’s stood by those words ever since and wrote in The Times over the weekend that he wouldn’t change a word.

For those hoping Starmer might finally be taking a firm stance on a tough issue, this walk-back has landed like a slap in the face. The message many voters are now hearing is that when it comes to big topics like immigration, the Prime Minister just says what suits the moment.

So where does this leave him now? With major public spending headaches – from benefits to the NHS – and looming strike action just in time for the party conference season, the pressure is mounting. Add in the growing frustration over migration figures and party unity, and it’s not hard to imagine the murmurs of discontent getting louder.

There’s already speculation that Starmer might not last beyond next May. With elections in Wales and Scotland expected to deliver grim results for Labour, some insiders reckon it might be time for someone to quietly suggest he steps aside.

As The Mail on Sunday put it, maybe he could have held on longer if he’d simply taken the time to read and truly understand his own speeches. Whether it’s on immigration, benefits, fuel bills or gender issues – the pattern is the same. He says what needs to be said in the moment, but doesn’t seem to believe in any of it for long.

And that, they argue, is the real issue. He speaks to the public, but he doesn’t stand with them.

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