The Tories have “lost any right” to call themselves a patriotic party, Sir Keir Starmer has said, as he accused them of denigrating “some of our proudest national institutions”.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, the Labour leader insisted “Labour is the patriotic party now”.
Asking whether Conservative Party was “really capable of serving anything other than itself”, he said: “I don’t think so.
“In fact, frankly, when you’ve trashed the economy, hammered mortgage holders, weakened the union, neglected our forces, repeatedly broken laws you expected others to follow and denigrated some of our proudest national institutions, from the BBC to the National Trust to the England football team, I’m afraid you have lost any right to call yourself a patriotic party.”
In the opinion piece, published ahead of St George’s Day on Tuesday, Sir Keir wrote of his “pride and gratitude” at being English.
He said Labour was “at its best when it has celebrated, defended and served the values of our country and its people” and promised to “always put country above party”.
“To be proudly English means to be proudly ourselves, to hold firm to our convictions and be able to speak our mind – and be civil when others speak theirs. No, Labour is the patriotic party now,” he said.
Over recent years, Tory party figures have criticised the National Trust for examining links between its properties and slavery and colonialism.
Others have condemned England footballers for “taking the knee” against racism.
Sir Keir accused the Conservatives of overseeing a period when pride in British identity had become “more contentious”.
“Shouting ‘woke’ doesn’t just undermine the proud British traditions of free speech, dissent and independent thinking,” he said.
“At best, it suggests they don’t have faith in the strength of our history, identity and flag to withstand discussion.
“At worst, they don’t care if division weakens our nation if it strengthens their grip on power.”
His comments echo remarks by former Labour prime minister Tony Blair nearly 30 years ago when, as leader of the opposition, he accused the Tories of lacking patriotism.
“It’s no good waving the fabric of our flag when you have spent 16 years tearing apart the fabric of our nation,” he told the 1995 Labour Party conference.
