During the 2010 election campaign, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was questioned by a member of the public about immigration. Shortly afterwards in his car Brown described her as “just a bigoted woman”. Unfortunately the microphones were still on, and his remarks became national news. He subsequently apologised, but of course it remained a very embarrassing moment in a campaign that Labour subsequently lost. This, and similar incidents, are one reason why Labour politicians now go overboard to treat any public manifestation of antagonism or even hatred towards immigrants or asylum seekers as stemming from ‘legitimate concerns’. Another is of course the gradual tendency of working class constituencies (the ‘Red Wall’ in particular) to vote for the right rather than the left. A powerful Labour faction, Blue Labour, is all about trying to retain those voters by adopting right wing policies on social issues like immigration. Labelling any concern about immigration as stemming from racism is certainly foolish. But equally suggesting that all expressions of hostility to asylum seekers must stem from legitimate concerns is just as foolish. Events over the last two weeks in the UK have illustrated where that mistaken tolerance can lead: hundreds of masked men dressed in black, some of whom have criminal records, blocking roads, harassing lifeboats bringing asylum seekers ashore and publishing the names and addresses of RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) volunteers who they call traitors. This is not the sign of a healthy society or of legitimate concerns about immigration or asylum. [1] While it is never sensible to presume racism, it remains the case that a significant proportion of the UK population have racist beliefs. After a world war fought against fascist governments, politicians in many countries went out of their way to tackle overt racism and delegitimise politicians that openly attempted to attract racist or nationalist voters. We seem now to have turned that position on its head, where masked gangs involving former criminals are treated by sections of the media and politicians with kid gloves and in some cases sympathy. In part this transition reflects the memory of WWII fading away, but it also reflects decisions taken by politicians and their media supporters on the right..When the political right encountered falling support for their newly embraced neoliberal economic policies, they switched to campaigning on social issues and that political firewall against far right political views began to dissolve. A charitable view would be that mainstream right wing parties didn’t realise what the consequences would be of their switch towards the politics of immigration and culture wars. I have argued elsewhere that it is a mistake to see support for Reform and far right parties elsewhere as reflecting a rightward shift among the electorate. In the UK at least the population has become more socially liberal over time. Equally, while economic factors can both provide short term support for right wing populist parties and encourage hostility to minorities, I think economics cannot provide an explanation for the continuing core support for the far right. [2] Instead I think there has always been at least about a quarter of the population with pretty socially conservative views, but until the last few decades the political and media elite has either marginalised or disregarded this group. What the mainstream right found was that once you start courting the racist and nationalist vote, that vote will demand more and political actors will meet that demand. In addition, those demands may be encouraged by parts of the media and wealthy political donors. The result in the UK has become a competition between the Conservatives, Reform and now Renew to attract the most socially conservative voters. As David Aaronovitch points out, all three UK right wing parties with MPs in parliament are now committed to mass deportations if they gain power. All suggest we should join Russia and Belarus as the only European countries that are not part of the European Court of Human Rights, and violate international treaties like the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. This right wing competition for the racist vote will not end if either party, or a coalition between them, forms a government. A Conservative government in particular will be terrified of a repeat of 2024, and will therefore do all it can to court the racist and nationalist vote. The combined Conservative, Reform and Restore vote in some recent polls is around 47%. With such competition, it was always foolish for Labour to think it should also try and appease this segment of the electorate by adopting far right policies and rhetoric on immigration and asylum. To do so sacrifices the basic humanity which is at the core of social liberalism. Talk of the legitimate concerns of some should always have been combined with condemnation of racism by others, together with appeals to recognise immigrants as fellow human beings who can contribute a great deal to society and viewing most asylum seekers as a particularly vulnerable group that deserves society's help. What we have now is one side generalising from individual criminal cases to suggest most asylum seekers are similar, and almost no one in the mainstream political class outlining the more realistic positive picture of successful integration. [3] Unfortunately the consequences of that failure have become particularly apparent in the last two weeks. If some political parties continue to not only demonise particular groups of people, but also in their own interests dial up the supposed threat that those groups represent to the rest of society using words like ‘invasion’, then one consequence is to encourage intimi...