Starmer accused of echoing far right with ‘island of strangers’ speech – the Guardian Monday 12th May, 2025
By Baldmichael Theresoluteprotector’sson
Keir Starmer has made some sense for once. He
…. has defended his plans to curb net migration after an angry backlash from MPs, businesses and industry to a speech in which he said the UK risked becoming an “island of strangers” without tough new policies.
From
Of course his ‘cunning plans’ come after a drubbing by Reform UK at the local elections and loss of a by-election. The latter was at Runcorn and Helsby after Mike Amesbury, the Labour MP, was caught attacking a man in Frodsham which is in the constituency. He resigned as a consequence.
He was caught on camera committing the offence. There is a video in this link.
It is perhaps not surprising as his full name, Michael Lee Amesbury, anagrams to:
- hi see me bully camera
In fact his name suggests anger issues:
- my clue am bearish eel
But there is hope for him:
- ay see humble miracle
Anyway, back to Starmer. Clearly he has been rattled by Reform’s performance and wishes to take the wind out of their sails by sucking it in and farting it out himself. The Guardian reports that
But in words that could further enrage his critics, Starmer insisted that new migrants must “learn the language and integrate” once in the UK. He said: “Britain is an inclusive and tolerant country, but the public expect that people who come here should be expected to learn the language and integrate.”
Starmer came under fire after delivering a speech on Monday morning that outlined his new language tests for migrants and a crackdown on visas.
At a press conference in Downing Street, Starmer said: “Let me put it this way, nations depend on rules, fair rules. Sometimes they are written down, often they are not, but either way, they give shape to our values, guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to each other.
“In a diverse nation like ours … we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.”
We have a definite problem with migrants and language when they are employed in certain jobs, especially in care situations where confused elderly residents can be even more confused by carers who do not speak English well.
His ‘island of strangers ’ comment is fair. Behind the scenes there has been a deliberate policy to undermine the UK by those who want power and wealth and take it away from its Christian heritage. This has been done in large part by promoting multiculturism with different nationalities, religions and languages to sow confusion.
It is not the principal of immigration so much as the volume; people need time to assimilate, too many strangers at once and the locals can’t cope.
The Guardian mentions a number of people, mainly MP’s, who have been bellyaching about Starmer’s speech. Here are some quotes from the Guardian article:
- Zarah Sultana wrote that Starmer had “imitated” Powell’s speech, which subsequently became a rallying cry for racists and the hard right in the UK.
The independent MP for Coventry South wrote on X: “That speech fuelled decades of racism and division. Echoing it today is a disgrace. It adds to anti-migrant rhetoric that puts lives at risk. Shame on you, Keir Starmer.”
- Zack Polanski, who is running to be the next Green party leader, suggested that Starmer was deliberately echoing Powell’s phraseology. In a post on Bluesky, above quotes from both speeches, Polanski wrote: “Not even subtle.”
- Sarah Owen, the Labour chair of the women and equalities committee, who is of Malaysian-Chinese heritage, said: “Chasing the tail of the right risks taking our country down a very dark path.
“The best way to avoid becoming an ‘island of strangers’ is investing in communities to thrive – not pitting people against each other.”
- Nadia Whittome said anti-migrant rhetoric from the government was “shameful and dangerous”. The Labour MP for Nottingham East said: “To suggest that Britain risks becoming ‘an island of strangers’ because of immigration mimics the scaremongering of the far-right.”
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill, appeared to endorse the message by reposting Whittome’s statement on X.
The reference to Enoch Powell’s speech requires a look at what he said all those years ago in 1968.
Enoch Powell’s speech
The first thing to note was his speech was labelled ‘Rivers of Blood speech’ by others, not him. He called it "the Birmingham speech" according to Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_Blood_speech
As regards the speech, I suspect few have read it in full to understand the context. Here is a link.
https://www.ibtimes.com/enoch-powells-rivers-blood-speech-full-text-290675
The speech came about primarily due to the Labour government's 1968 Race Relations Bill, later the Race Relations Act 1968 which received Royal Assent in October that year.
That expanded on the Race Relations Act 1965 which according to Wikipedia
The act outlawed discrimination on the "grounds of colour, race, or ethnic or national origins" in public places in Great Britain.
See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Relations_Act_1965
To analyse Enoch’s speech would require more space than I wish to give it here at this time, but whilst I would be critical of some aspects I would highlight this he said.
Now we are seeing the growth of positive forces acting against integration, of vested interests in the preservation and sharpening of racial and religious differences, with a view to the exercise of actual domination, first over fellow-immigrants and then over the rest of the population.
And
To claim special communal rights (or should one say rites?) leads to a dangerous fragmentation within society.
These identify the core issues, the claim of special rights rather than responsibilities and which have expanded over the decades to cover all sorts, so that nowadays in the UK we have the Equality Act 2010 which again according to Wikipedia
The act protects people against discrimination, harassment or victimisation in employment, and as users of private and public services based on these protected characteristics: age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, and religion or belief.
See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equality_Act_2010
That act has been subject to numerous amendments with yet more legislation which has kept the civil serpents busy.
And speaking of serpents I see that ‘Race Relations Act’ anagrams to
- correlate Satanic
Which seems suitable. Then, bearing in mind the legislation that has followed, there are these:
- rats acceleration
- race altercations
- caters laceration
- at con create liars
I consider these reflect how the legislation has resulted more in division and deceit rather than a true benefit for peace and harmony, if for no other reason that you cannot change people’s hearts by legislation.
But really the dangers that Enoch Powell considered lay with immigration, lay more with the moral decay, for example the removal of the death penalty where murder became a lesser evil so that today people consider state sponsored murder via the Assisted Dying Bill.
Or murder of the unborn in the Abortion Act 1967 which has led so often in practice to abortion on demand.
Or the legalisation of sodomy in the Sexual Offences Act 1967 which has led to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.
All of which provides us with many areas to go into greater depth. For now I will look at those who were objecting to Keir Starmer’s speech.
Zarah Sultana.
Zarah Sultana (born 31 October 1993) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Coventry South since the 2019 general election.
See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarah_Sultana
She is now an independent following suspension by the Labour Party.
She comes from a Muslim family of Pakistani ancestry.
As far as I can tell she has only been a politician in her working life.
During the 2019 election campaign, The Jewish Chronicle reported that in 2015, whilst she was a student, Sultana made social media posts from a subsequently deleted account which implied that she would celebrate the deaths of the former Labour prime minister Tony Blair, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former US President George W. Bush and she supported "violent resistance" by Palestinians.
I think very many would celebrate the death of Tony Blair, the arch liar.
As for Benjamin Netanyahu, I daresay many would also shout ‘Yahu!’ on his death.
And George W. Bush is one of the ‘buggers’ I mentioned in an earlier post, so I can see many might support Zarah’s sentiments. However
In January 2021, Sultana called for prisoners to be prioritised for COVID-19 vaccinations, describing them as "a high risk setting for transmission" and as such, it would be a "humane approach to a completely disenfranchised population".
Hmm, I don’t think she has studied the vaccine ingredients, and ‘inhumane approach’ is the correct term for her ignorant comment. Prisoners should be very happy not to be prioritised by the vaccine poisoners. Nevertheless
On 24 February 2022, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sultana was one of 11 Labour MPs threatened with losing the party whip after they signed a statement by the Stop the War Coalition which questioned the legitimacy of NATO and accused the alliance of "eastward expansion".
Which shows some critical thinking skills. However, all the MP’s subsequently removed their signatures so it looks like being whipped is their idea of fun.
I see
She also presented the Campaigner of the Year award at the PinkNews Awards, to Nemat Sadat, an Afghan-American queer activist and novelist.
Nemat Sadat will anagram to
- mated Satan
Which might explain him being queer. Of course the Afghanistan background won’t help as, like many –stan countries, Satan resides there, for example, ‘hi fang Satan’ is an anagram of Afghanistan.
And as mentioned elsewhere, Pakistan, where Zarah’s family originates from, anagrams to ‘Satan kip’.
Not only that Zarah Sultana will anagram to:
- uh lazar Satan
I note her birth date makes her a Scorpio. Sounds like a dangerous creature to me.
Zack Polanski
He is on the far left as you look at the picture like his politics.
These are Green Party members. I have mentioned Carla Denyer and Ross Greer elsewhere – see links at end. Apart from Adrian Ramsay about whom there seems to be no personal information, they are all queer/bisexual/homosexual.
And they say greens are good for you, help!
Zack Polanski (2 November 1982) is a British politician who has been the deputy leader of the Green Party of England and Wales since 2022.
See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zack_Polanski
His birth date makes him a Scorpio like Zarah.
Zack Polanski was born David Paulden in Salford. He was born to a Jewish family that had moved to the UK from Europe in the early 20th century and they had adopted the family name of Paulden in hopes of evading antisemitism. Aged 18, he changed his family name back to Polanski, saying it was important for him to find pride, not shame, in his identity.
I see ‘David Paulden’ anagrams to
- Dad a devil pun
So perhaps his father had a wicked sense of humour. Changing his name can give these anagrams:
- pinko Sal Zack
- Nazi polk sack
These may be part of the reason he is gay, vegan and lives in Hackney.
It seems he
worked as a hypnotherapist. In 2013, a newspaper reporter for The Sun requested a hypnotherapy session to increase her breast size and body image self-confidence for an article in the paper.
According to the footnote link her breasts did increase in size for four days before returning to their normal size.
Perhaps they employed him to help hypnotise the nation in 2020 when most people went bananas over COVID 19. It has been over four years, not four days, and still so many people are enormous tits, so the hypnotism must be very powerful.
I think it must be the mobile phones that do it as ‘hypnotherapy’ anagrams to ‘thy phone pray’, i.e. they are told to worship their phones.
I gather Owen Jones who writes in the Guardian endorsed Polanski for leadership of the Green party. He is also homosexual.
Speaking of Owen’s, here’s another.
Sarah Owen
Sarah Mei Li Owen (…born 11 January 1983) is a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Luton North since 2019.
See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Owen
Her mother’s family is of Malaysian Chinese ancestry. She graduated from the University of Sussex like Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology mentioned in an earlier post.
I see she
In 2022, she criticised Tory MP Mark Francois for using a "crass racial slur" in the House of Commons, after he had made a speech referring to "Japs".
There is a footnote link.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63556238
Mr Francois used the term during defence questions, saying: "Given the defence budget is likely to come under great pressure, why does it take BAE Systems 11 years to build a ship the Japs can build in four?"
Sarah Owen raised
…a point of order the following day, Ms Owen, who has represented Luton North since 2019, said: "Mr Speaker, you rightly and regularly remind us to use respectful language in this House, but unfortunately, this outdated and crass racial slur has fallen well below the bar we should expect."
If the slur is outdated what slur should he have used instead? Anyway a Mark Francois said in a statement
"I merely used it as an abbreviation for Japanese, as I had, by then, been asking an admittedly rather wordy question, about naval shipbuilding.
"Moreover, in the course of that same question, as the record clearly shows, I actually complimented the Japanese shipbuilding industry, for building warships much faster than here in Britain."
I would have thought that was obvious but some people are easily triggered.
Sarah Mei Li Owen, her full name, will anagram to:
- A moralise whine
- ie am also whiner
No doubt this governs her behaviour.
Nadia Whittome
Nadia Edith Whittome (/ˈwɪtəm/, born 29 August 1996) is a British politician serving as (Labour) Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham East since 2019.
See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Whittome
She has a Punjabi Sikh father and an Anglo-Indian mother but grew up in a single parent household. She seems to have mainly worked as a politician.
Whittome identifies as queer. She speaks fluent French and German.
And she is vegan. I can’t see that speaking French and German or being vegan are particularly queer
Whittome has led calls for Georgia to be removed from the UK Home Office's list of 'safe' states to return asylum seekers to, saying that it is 'vital that Georgia is now removed from the safe states designation to ensure that the claims of LGBTQIA refugees are properly assessed'.
This is the country of Georgia, not the US state, although as the capital of the state is Atlanta and it has the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which recommend vaccines I am not sure it is that safe anyway.
Nadia Edith Whittome will anagram to
- O hi had twit dementia
- eh oh attained dimwit
- whine at the mad idiot
Rather young for dementia but I daresay the signs start early. Anyway, another whiner perhaps.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy
Bellavia Janet Ribeiro-Addy (born 1 March 1985) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Clapham and Brixton Hill, previously Streatham, since 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Ribeiro-Addy
She is of Ghanaian descent. It looks like has has been principally involved with politics in her working career.
In 2010, she and LGBT+ officer Daf Adley pushed the Durham Union Society to cancel a debate on multiculturalism, threatening to bus coaches of students to Durham for a "colossal demonstration" if British National Party MEP Andrew Brons were to speak on campus.
Which even Wes Streeting, then president of the National Union of Students (NUS), said was
…unacceptable, utterly ridiculous and those responsible had been asked to account for their actions.
according to the footnote link.
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4997928.student-union-apologises-bnp-claim/
In one of her first news interviews as an MP, she called for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ghana, stating that it is her duty to make sure all people are free, and not discriminated against.
Especially immigrants.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020, Ribeiro-Addy called on the government to release people held in immigration detention centres.
But not everyone else.
Ribeiro-Addy supported adopting a Zero-COVID strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote an article in June 2021 in support of delaying the lifting of lockdown, criticised a "vaccine only" approach and called for the continuation of restrictions until case numbers reach zero.
A form of Net Zero where you are caught in a net you will never get out of. No sense here then.
In December 2021, she voted against the introduction of vaccine passports and mandatory vaccination of NHS staff.
So some sense then.
On 24 February 2022, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ribeiro-Addy was one of 11 Labour MPs threatened with losing the party whip after they signed a statement by the Stop the War Coalition, which questioned the legitimacy of NATO and accused the military alliance of "eastward expansion".
Like Zarah Sultana, some more sense.
Wikipedia says she is a Christian. Hmm, well I see Bellavia Janet Ribeiro-Addy can anagram to
- it be AI devil Baal Ardern joy
So many well-known evil ones in one place. Sounds like a wolf in sheep’s clothing to me.
Summary and final thoughts
So we have Keir Starmer doing the usual politicians tactic of reacting to poor election results and in so doing causing upset among Labour politicians.
The ones the Guardian mention include 2 out of 5 Scorpio’s with a sting in their tales (sic), 2 out of 5 a satan/devil, 2 out of 5 vegans, 4 out of 5 homosexual/queer or support the LGBT crowd, and 4 out of 5 female.
And 4 out of 5 have referred to ‘the right’ or ‘hard right’, bringing a divisive language into the mix as is so common.
How much these things are interrelated you can judge yourselves but there is a definite theme.
As to Keir Starmer’s detailed plans others can dissect, but he is right that immigrants need to speak the language to a reasonable level and we don’t want a ‘ghettoization’ of communities which is what has happened in some areas.
The five people who complained about Starmer’s speech are people whose families have come from abroad in recent times. They will be understandably fearful as no one likes to be insecure in a place they have grown up in.
But most of what they have said as reported in the Guardian is itself divisive and lacks consideration of those who have lived in the UK with families going back generations.
And they can’t ignore the fact that the UK is overpopulated and cannot, among other things, feed itself without considerable imports and hasn’t done so for many years.
Nevertheless I think Sarah Owen made a reasonable point when she said
“The best way to avoid becoming an ‘island of strangers’ is investing in communities to thrive …”
To invest includes putting oneself into others wellbeing, not just one’s own. As Keir Starmer indicated “…our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to each other.”
Whatever one thinks of Starmer he is right, we do have responsibilities to each other which are summed up in the second commandment ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
And neighbours can be strangers initially be they on an island or not.
The ‘island of strangers’ is a phrase which contains some interesting anagrams which highlight the dangers. For example
- AD fl transgression
- denigrators fl assn
- ad fostering snarls
- godless RN fir Satan
- ARL dragons infests
- solar fiends grants
That last one might explain the nonsense over plastering the countryside with solar panels!
However, there is some opportunity for good
- for rd angels saints
There is a way for angels and saints to welcome the stranger. As is written
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” Hebrews 13 v.2
- Anglo friends stars
Where English can be a common bond – I say English is Angelish, the language of the angels.
- slants friends Argo
To direct us to the Argo, the ship, the ark built by divine hands
And I say the ark built by divine hands is Jesus Christ, the basis of what is good about the UK.
- also grants friends
Which is a very neat phrase indeed, for who wants strangers to be fiends when you can have them as friends?
P.S. Here are some articles of mine which may be of interest related to the above.
I mentioned Carla Denyer, a Green party member who is in here.
Trans people banned from toilets of gender they identify with, says UK minister - The Guardian
I mentioned Ross Greer, a Green party member who is in here.
Progressive and politics – what does it mean?
George W. Bush is in here.
Assorted buggers and annoyances – a light bite
The nature of left and right.
Left versus right – what are the differences?
And much as I would like to, we mustn’t forget Keir Starmer
I think Britain has always been an island of strangers, even before mass immigration.
So glad you included photographs.
Don't know what to think of Keir, but every photo he looks "stunned".
I happen to use % as a measure:
40% Scorpios
40% satan/devil
40% vegan
80% homosexual/queer, ...
80% female