Words matter, they always do. It’s always a good idea to think twice or even three times, before opening your mouth. Moreso if you’re a senior politician on the cusp of becoming prime minister and taking power after fourteen years of being in the opposition party. I am of course referring to Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader and his shocking choice of words at a pre-election event organized by The Sun, the right-wing tabloid newspaper.
In response to a question about Labour’s immigration policy, Starmer said “at the moment people coming from countries like Bangladesh are not being removed because they’re not being processed.” He went on to specifically mention Bangladesh for a second time, in a similar context.
If you happen to be one of the estimated 650,000 British-Bangladeshis, many of whom have deep roots in the country over at least two generations, Starmer’s comments are not only hurtful and nonsensical, but they also represent a betrayal. The vast majority of British-Bangladeshis are Labour supporters, with the left-of-centre party seemingly being a natural ally to all minority communities. However, words have real life consequences and although Labour are widely expected to win this week’s election, perhaps with a significant majority, the confidence in the party from the UK-Bangladeshi community, has virtually collapsed.
Starmer singling out Bangladeshis as potential illegal immigrants is all the more baffling as Bangladesh nationals are not even in the top 10 nationalities that make up the highest number of illegal immigrants arriving in small boats from France.
Starmer’s comments were widely noticed after a video of the election event was posted on WhatsApp groups and subsequently went viral. The video was clearly edited for maximum shock value, and the Labour Party has tried to explain the situation by saying that the comments were taken out of context. Starmer himself, has expressed “concern” about negative perceptions from the Bangladesh community, although notably he has not issued a full apology.
The incumbent prime minister is known to have a robotic style of communication and maybe we should excuse his lapse as a clumsy malfunction -- which is exactly what he wishes us to believe. But even this weak excuse, becomes more implausible when you consider the fact that his comments were repeated, almost verbatim, by other members of the Labour shadow front bench.
Starmer also has a history when it comes to alienating minority groups, through unguarded utterances. He has already lost the support of vast swathes of the UK-Muslim community, when he said that Israel had the right to block water and electricity supplies to Gaza. Similarly, during that incident, he eventually back-tracked but the damage had already been done.
In this light, the most straightforward conclusion must be that in front of a room of people invited by The Sun, Starmer mounted a calculated attack. On a loyal minority community, to attract right wing support ahead of the election. Arguably even more depressing than the sight of the Labour Party pandering to xenophobes, has been the response of the so-called leaders of the British-Bangladeshi community.
Despite British-Bangladeshis being actively involved within Labour politics -- at all levels from local councillors through to elected MPs -- the reaction to Keir Starmer’s comments has been at best weak, and at worst, the silence has been deafening. Rushanara Ali, the former London MP, epitomized the meek response by stating that she would “relay concerns” to the Labour leader. Other politicians of Bangladeshi origin, such as Tulip Siddiq, have simply said nothing. They are the very definition of self-serving career politicians, who only seek political power as an end goal. Too worried about their own position to challenge the status quo.
This vacuum has been gratefully filled by opportunists, seeking to make their own political capital out of the situation. George Galloway, the controversial veteran left winger, has always been quick to seize on the chance to benefit from community discord. Whatever faults he may have, which are many, the heartfelt eloquence of his rebuttal towards Keir Starmer, was moving and struck a chord with many. Although the issue still remains; what does it say about a community when its interests are best represented by an elderly Scottish man with questionable principles?
As the dreary election campaigns near their end, Labour will in all likelihood win a majority and claim the keys to 10 Downing Street, with or without the votes of the UK-Bangladeshi community. Perhaps at the Labour Party HQ, they’ve already made this calculation. But in many respects that misses the point; for a marginalized community to be treated so shabbily is nothing short of betrayal. A Labour election victory used to be met with optimism for most UK-Bangladeshis. This time, if it does happen, a Labour win will be met with nothing more than a collective shrug.
Tawhid Qureshi is a cricket writer and journalist based in the UK, he has contributed pieces to BBC online, Wisden and The Cricketer Magazine. He also runs the Sight Screen Cricket Journal, his twitter handle is @SightScreenCJ.