Guido has been charting the ways the left-wing group Hope Not Hate has veered from its supposed purpose of fighting racism. The Labour-linked group is now operating at the highest levels of Keir Starmer’s government, and, after the reshuffle, Labour HQ…
Not satisfied with labelling dozens of centrist Tory figures as “extremists“, Hope not Hate also blasted the Conservatives for: “increasingly adopting far-right tropes and conspiracies – “invasion” of asylum seekers, the “misguided dogma of multiculturalism”, trans women having “no place in women’s wards”, lefty “activist lawyers”. Simply put, this empowers the far right, as their rhetoric is legitimised by the political mainstream.” The boy who cried wolf comes to mind…
The only difficulty – and the irony – is that by Hope Not Hate’s definition, that would make Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, and Keir Starmer himself “far-right”. They all on record supporting women-only wards…
Labour’s close links to the group is causing grumbling among realists on the backbenches. Is the relationship sustainable?