Sir Keir Starmer has condemned the Tories’ “McCarthyite” anti-woke attacks on British institutions as he promised to end years of “divisive” culture wars should he win the next election.
The Labour leader attacked Rishi Sunak’s party for “waging war” on organisations such as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), the National Trust and the Trussell Trust, saying “their rhetoric has helped demonise them”.
Sir Keir said that, instead of looking to charities as a model to inspire the country, the Tories “seem set on sabotaging civil society to save their own skins”. In a rare foray into the issue of so-called culture wars, he called for a “reset” of the government’s relationship with the charity sector.
In the speech, in which he set out plans to work with the sector if Labour wins power later this year, Sir Keir also said civil society will be essential to the party’s plans for government.
“If we are privileged to be elected to serve this year, we will work with you on our mission for a decade of national renewal,” he told the Civil Society Summit in central London on Monday.
Taking aim at Mr Sunak’s party, he added: “They’ve got themselves so tangled up in culture wars of their own making, that instead of working with the RNLI, an organisation the late Queen was patron of for 70 years, to find real solutions to stop the small boats. Their rhetoric has helped demonise them.
“Instead of working with the National Trust so more people can learn about – and celebrate – our culture and our history, they’ve managed to demean their work.”
He went on: “In its desperation to cling onto power at all costs, the Tory Party is undertaking a kind of weird McCarthyism, trying to find woke agendas in the very civic institutions they once regarded with respect.
“Let me tell you. Waging a war on the proud spirit of service in this country isn’t leadership. It’s desperate. It’s divisive. It’s damaging.”
The term McCarthyism originates from the anti-Communist witch-hunt against the left led by Senator McCarthy in 1950’s America and is now shorthand all the world over for political purge.
Senior Tories have accused the National Trust of going “woke” for looking at how its properties have links to slavery and colonialism. Sir Keir said the Tories going to war with the National Trust was “what happens when politics of self-preservation prevail over commitment to service”.
His speech was also the first time a party leader had set out a vision for the charity sector since David Cameron set out his vision for the “Big Society”. The idea was meant to see Britons turn away from officials, local authorities and the government for solutions to their problems.
Instead people were to support themselves and their communities, easing the burden on the state.
Sir Keir said it was a “great idea in principle”, but said “when austerity kicked in, we ended up with the Poor Society”.
“Now we need a new vision for a new era,” he added.
The Labour leader also went on to attack the Conservatives for engaging in “sticking plaster politics” since coming to power in 2010, citing Storm Isha and recent floods as an example of the damaging impact of short-term decision-making.
He said: “They’ve just put sticking plasters on problems, which have masked the problem for a short period of time only to come off, usually exposing an even bigger problem.
“We’ve got to get ahead of the storms and put the resilience in place… there is a strong preventative theme running through everything we want to do.”
The Queen was patron of the RNLI
