Labour left warns Keir Starmer not to wrap the party in union flag

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The proposal has sparked alarm on the Labour left, with one MP telling The Independent that it would be a “foolish strategy” unless combined with firm statements of progressive values of inclusivity, while a former member of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet said it showed “a paucity of vision” at a time of economic and public health crisis. The 2005 film of barrister Starmer shows him saying: “I also got made a Queen’s Counsel, which is odd since I often used to propose the abolition of the monarchy.” At Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons, Boris Johnson tried to capitalise on quotes in the leaked report from voters who said Sir Keir was “sitting on the fence”. Recommending an embrace of patriotic symbols, it said: “The use of the flag, veterans, dressing smartly at the war memorial etc give voters a sense of authentic values alignment.” Richard Burgon, who served as shadow justice secretary under Mr Corbyn, told The Independent: “In the biggest public health and economic crisis for 100 years, is this the best the party can do? People want us to believe in something.” He added: “There is a real danger that the Labour leadership thinks it can take the votes of those who backed Labour in 2017 and 2019 for granted, that it can take the votes of young people and black and minority ethnic communities for granted, and go chasing the votes of people who may well prefer a real Conservative Party.” Clive Lewis, a former soldier and one of Labour’s leading ethnic minority MPs, said: “The Tory party has absorbed Ukip and now Labour appears to be absorbing the language and symbols of the Tory party.