If there’s one thing this general election has proved beyond doubt, it’s that Starmer’s Labour is a racist endeavour. The party started this political charade blocking Black and brown candidates from standing. Now, Labour is ending the farce much the same way in Farage target-seat Clacton.
Petulant Starmer has thrown his tools out the pram.
Why? Because one of his own candidates was roundly upstaging insipid gammonbot 2.0. Yes, we mean the man, the loser himself, Keir Starmer. However, this charismatic Black candidate also happened to be challenging rabid racism in human form, Nigel Farage in all his milkshake-frothing bigot glory.
Of course, that’s not to even mention the rancid racist shitfuckery Labour has meted out in-between either. This time however, Starmer is baring his fragile white male ass for all the world to see, and then some.
Labour Clacton: party boots candidate taking on Farage
Labour has hung its Clacton candidate out to dry just over a week away from polling day. On Wednesday 26 June, it dropped the party’s Black candidate Jovan Owusu-Nepaul from the ballot in the seat Nigel Farage is angling to win.
As the Guardian reported:
Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, 27, who works for Labour’s equalities team, was installed by the party last month to contest the seat, weeks before Farage changed his mind and decided to stand in the Essex constituency.
Owusu-Nepaul has since been “seconded” to the West Midlands, while the local campaign in Clacton said that it had been banned from printing leaflets, blocked from using campaigning software and had access to the campaign’s social media overriden, with posts deleted on X.
However, this was not the most shocking part of the story:
Owusu-Nepaul attracted attention on social media after he was photographed bumping into the Reform UK leader at an opening of a new food truck in Frinton earlier this month, with pictures going viral.
A campaign source said Labour headquarters had been angry with the traction Owusu-Nepaul was getting. “At one point [Jovan] was getting more retweets than Keir Starmer. The officials were furious with him and said he was distracting [from] Starmer’s campaign,” they said.
So, Starmer and his stooges pulled Owusu-Nepaul because he was upstaging the shallow grifter ahead of the election. ‘Grown-up’ politics is it lads?
Of course, it wasn’t exactly difficult to outshine the shithead, given the Labour leader is about as affable as a turd clogging up Britain’s waterways.
Crucially though, dropping their candidate in Clacton leaves the door wide open to Farage:
the fucking LABOUR PARTY have Pulled Their Clacton Candidate & suspended all resources for local Campaign Members. Where is the Anger from you Centrist Pricks?! Your Man is Purposely Gifting Nigel fucking Farage a seat in Parliament.
— Michael Walsh (@thatbloodyMikey) June 26, 2024
Fuck the Labour Party for not challenging Farage with any meaningful intent. Whether they think the seat is winnable or not, the act of resistance is essential from any who oppose fascism https://t.co/eavNvIAETZ
— Paul Sng (@paulsng) June 26, 2024
In other words, the party is actively avoiding anything that might upset its gammon voter-base. As one person on X suggested, this means letting Farage win:
This Story’s so fucked up & yet, not even Surprising anymore. Labour pulled Jovan Owusu-Nepaul’s campaign against Farage, because Jovan was becoming too popular, & getting more Retweets than Keir Starmer.
They want Farage to win. Labour is a Bigoted, Racist, Zionist Endevour https://t.co/f0TXLMSf6y— Michael Walsh (@thatbloodyMikey) June 26, 2024
Starmer goes full Farage
The reality is, pandering and playing into the far right’s torrid racism is actually very on brand for Starmer’s Labour. We’ve seen it already when the party welcomed hard-right Tory xenophobe Natalie Elphicke to the party. Bigots beget bigots, and Starmer has been no exception – as his blatant racist outburst attacking Bangladeshi citizens demonstrated:
So, the same day Starmer rants about removing Bengalis, the Labour Party withdraws its candidate against Nigel Farage in Clacton.
— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) June 26, 2024
Labour has told their Clacton candidate, Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, who works for them, to leave Clacton as he is gaining too much traction.
They are giving Nigel Farage a free run.
This as they launch their racist ‘we ll fly Bangladeshis back to Bangladesh’ immigration policy.
— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) June 26, 2024
While Starmer scapegoats migrant communities, his authoritarian operation moves into overdrive in Clacton where Labour’s candidate has been deemed ‘too popular’ by HQ.
Hardly surprising given Starmer’s abject failure to mount a challenge to Farage.https://t.co/RE68oPHZLw pic.twitter.com/cKvWmQa3NU
— Coll McCail (@MccailColl) June 26, 2024
What’s more, some on X highlighted the hypocrisy of giving the raging racist a free run, while it’s pouring party efforts into beating leftwing candidates elsewhere:
Labour are putting in more effort to stop Carla Denyer and Sian Berry than Nigel Farage. What does that tell you about Labour’s politics? https://t.co/hQTcpPHxBS
— Nate Higgins (@natehiggins) June 27, 2024
Imagine a Labour Party that’s happy to step back & help Farage become an MP, whilst throwing everything they’ve got at stopping the Greens getting MPs in Bristol & Brighton etc. Oh no wait you don’t have to imagine. Because that’s who they are. #votegreen https://t.co/GCj59txTxP
— CarolineJMolloy Will be Voting Green 💚 (@carolinejmolloy) June 26, 2024
If Starmer were given a choice between Corbyn retaining his seat or Farage finally winning a seat, Starmer would choose Farage. https://t.co/jEGPwXRCK0
— Frank Owen’s Legendary Paintbrush🥀🇵🇸🇾🇪 (@OwenPaintbrush) June 26, 2024
However, again, this isn’t news to anyone who’s been watching Labour’s descent into another political arm of the corporate capitalist establishment. Project ‘purge the left’ has been in full swing, while the party set about parachuting in its neoliberal, rightwing, and Zionist plants.
Double standards expose hierarchy of racism again
What’s more, this from the party that welcomed back the former Labour peer who was simply too tired to conceal her rampant racism on live TV. Yes, the infamous mask-slip moment to beat all mask-slip moments, Lady Angela ‘funny tinge’ Smith is backing Starmer from the unelected crony chamber:
“I was sitting in a seat just like this when Angela Smith turned to me & referred to people of colour as having a funny tinge… she’s back in the party. Hows that for zero tolerance?”pic.twitter.com/FIdEEOFN4o https://t.co/JGMbIVVYYS
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) June 13, 2024
One person on X pointed out the astonishing double-standards of Smith’s Labour repatriation, when it kicks out its minority members for far lesser acts:
So @faizashaheen is booted out for liking a tweet about the Green Party before she’d even joined Labour, but you can leave the party, join another to campaign against it, and then be welcomed back? Something’s got a ‘funny tinge’ alright… https://t.co/mv5BREsrFZ
— Tom Six (@_TomSix) June 12, 2024
So, first it boots Shaheen, then it shelves Owusu-Nepaul – anyone might think there’s something a bit iffy going on here. Of course, there’s a term for it, and Black barrister Martin Forde – who Labour tried to silence – wrote a whole report exposing it:
They let @angelasmithxmp’s ‘funny tinge’ racist ar*e back into @UKLabour because @Keir_Starmer and his leadership encourage a hierarchy of racism. #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/6LRhnPXayC
— John Stealer 💙 (@JohnStealer) June 13, 2024
Racist rejoins hierarchy of racism party https://t.co/FFJNbEv4aJ
— Gerry Looker (@LookerGerry) June 13, 2024
Here’s the tinge privatised water lady back in @UKLabour … she’ll fit right in with the racists as per the #FordeReport
If you’re black or Muslim stay well clear of Labour @angelasmithxmp https://t.co/Urs5ju5SMs pic.twitter.com/1L4iVmR8eQ
— Free Palestine, End Apartheid 🇵🇸 🇬🇧 🍉 (@LeftieShaney) June 13, 2024
We all remember the racist outburst from@angelasmithxmp after she had left Corbyn’s anti-racist Labour Party.
Under @Keir_Starmer her racist outburst was overlooked and she was welcomed back. https://t.co/xajX3dtzry
— Greg Herriett (@greg_herriett) June 13, 2024
Ultimately then, Labour’s treatment of Owusu-Nepaul illustrated this broader issue once more. Specifically, it drew attention to the party’s institutional hierarchy of racism. It’s increasingly obvious that Starmer sees this is a peripheral problem. To face up to it would jeopardise his grab for power. However, it’s glaringly apparent that it’s a deeply systemic issue, as people on X underscored:
They didn’t want a Black candidate upstaging Starmer and even Farage and upsetting their precious gammon vote. That’s it. Pure anti-Blackness https://t.co/qQTxpMAaVi
— 🇧🇧🏳️🌈 / 🆓🇵🇸 m a r c u s (@marcusjdl) June 27, 2024
Labour selected barely a handful of Black men as their candidates
Jovan Owusu-Nepaul was put in an unwinnable seat – now the party is accused of not putting up a fight in Clacton after he bumped into Nigel Farage and viral photos became a distractionhttps://t.co/3I45UM8wIm
— Sophie Huskisson (@soph_husk) June 26, 2024
The Labour Party treats its Black and Asian MPs/candidates HORRIFICALLY. Like, they honestly treat them worse than the Tories. Black and Asian Tory MPs/Candidates are not treated like this by their party. https://t.co/OWw2eJW4Ln
— Ash (@theashrb) June 26, 2024
Tackling racism isn’t a rung on the ladder to power
Starmer’s Labour is more synonymous with institutional racism by the day. Now, it even plans to hand a seat on a platter to head of the bigot brigade Nigel fucking Farage. But then, to a snivelling, spineless careerist like Starmer, challenging the far-right is not a vote-winning rung on the ladder to power.
Most of all though, no upstart MP candidate must take the spotlight off Starmer’s big day. Especially not someone with the integrity and charisma to stand against the putrid bloke his party can point to in parliament and say: we’re a bit racist, but look – we’re not THAT bad.
Feature image via the Canary