Andrew Grice: The soundbite that haunts the PM
I don't think he meant it literally. But he was trying to send a signal.
Digg
del.icio.us
Facebook
Reddit
Google
Stumble Upon
Fark
Newsvine
YahooBuzz
Bebo
Twitter
Independent Minds
Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Protestors gather at sunrise at the Lindsey oil refinery in North Lincolnshire near Grimsby yesterday.
enlarge
It seemed a good idea back then. At the TUC conference in September 2007, Gordon Brown spoke of "a British job for every British worker". By the Labour conference two weeks later, it had been hardened to creating "British jobs for British workers".
I don't think he meant it literally. But he was trying to send a signal. His words certainly raised an eyebrow or two in his own party. To some, they left a nasty, xenophobic taste. Others detected the "dog whistle politics" they had accused the Tories of importing from Australia – a general message heard more loudly by those you want to hear it most.
In this case, it was assumed, the Prime Minister was trying to reconnect Labour with its traditional white working class base. For good measure, Mr Brown's phrase might also remind more affluent voters that being Scottish didn't mean he wasn't British. In his Labour speech, he used the word "British" 29 times, while "Britain" got a whopping 52 mentions.
The eyebrow-raisers noted immediately that his aspiration could never be delivered because of the free movement of labour within the European Union. For a while, the slogan was forgotten in the frenzy over whether or not Mr Brown would call an election that autumn. But perhaps the phrase was always too clever by half.
It returned to haunt him when the Tories found that the far-right National Front and British National Party had used "British jobs for British workers" and "Keep British jobs for British workers" respectively. Their leaflets in his hands, David Cameron taunted Mr Brown in the Commons.
Ministers scrambled to redefine what Mr Brown had meant. They said it was about training British workers so they would fill the 600,000 vacancies in the economy. Nothing racist about that, they insisted.
It was too late. Mr Brown's original, stark message had stuck. If it was meant as a dog whistle, it failed – everyone heard it. Yesterday, it was certainly in the minds of the workers who staged wildcat strikes about construction jobs going to Italian and Polish workers. Their placards included: "In the wise words of Gordon Brown 'UK jobs for British workers'."
Tim Finch, head of migration, equalities and citizenship at the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank, said: "'British jobs for British workers' was a careless slogan that is coming back to haunt the Prime Minister." Denis MacShane, the former Europe minister, warned: "Nationalist-protectionist rhetoric always does lasting economic and social damage."
The line from Downing Street is that Mr Brown does not regret his language. He doesn't do regrets – or sorry. However, ministers were sufficiently worried by the refinery protests to call urgent talks to try to ensure a level playing field for British workers in the recession.
If Mr Cameron had announced a policy of "British jobs for British workers", Labour MPs would have queued up to accuse him of racism. No one is suggesting Mr Brown has a racist bone in his body. But he was playing with fire and has been burnt.
Mr Cameron chooses his words on immigration carefully. The Tories' previous hardline rhetoric delighted traditional supporters but alienated others, contributing to their "nasty party" image. In fact, Mr Cameron hasn't changed his party's policies much. It is still committed to a cap (as yet undefined) on the number of immigrants coming to Britain from outside the EU. To try to reassure voters, Labour hints its "points system" for skilled workers amounts to the same thing, but does not support a cap.
Tensions over immigration are bound to increase during the recession. They go beyond jobs: research for the Government has found that white working class people believe immigrants get unfair (preferential) treatment on housing and benefits. Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, warns that such fears, however unfounded, should not be branded "racist", since that alienates people even more. The fears could hurt Labour at the general election.
Recently, Mr Brown has cooled on his "Britishness" agenda as he puts his energies into limiting the downturn. Unfortunately for him, the damage had already been done.
View all comments that have been posted about this article.
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP logged and may be used to prevent further submission. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by the Independent Minds Terms of Service.
- Print Article
- Email Article
-
Click here for copyright permissions
Copyright 2009 Independent News and Media Limited
Comments
They have tried to bully us and dictate what we are allowed to think on any subject.
They are now completely out of touch with most of the rest of us - if the comments on these articles in this and other papers are anything to go by.
Their world may be about to implode. They may be about to have a shock if we start insisting that we no longer accept their corrupt and twisted values.
Incidentally, are we allowed to speak of "our people" any more or is that also labelled "racist" by the weirdos currently running this country?
I think Labour is intensely racist.
Labour are legislating against employing white men. That is racist.
As Brown is leading the party he must agree with all the policies - so he must be racist too.
Might I gently wonder if you have been too close to this Labour circus too long to be objective any more? The party and PM that you seem to support Mr Grice is RACIST.
The workers are upset because they think the whole things unfair. Many in the country had been complaining for years before Gordon Brown shed some crocodile tears.
The anger of the workers was not caused by Gordon Brown's speech. Gordon Brown's speech was the result of pressure that had been building up for years.
Cheaper foreign labour has been flooding into the country for years - just as work has also been outsourced out to cheaper foreign countries. All the time, internationalists have denounced ocmplaints as racist and claimed that migrant labour only did the work that locals "wouldn't or couldn't" do.
The chickens are coming home to roost. Ordinary people are feeling just a little desperate.
And those in safe jobs, invulnerable to cheap foreign labour (journalists, politicians) are too quick to denounce and think that workers are so many dogs responding to Gordon Brown's whistle.
And since when did being patriotic become, as the far left would have us believe, xenophobic?
I suspect we shall see something of a revolt as the recession tightens its grip.
There is nothing xenophobic about the right to work in your homeland.
The World recognizes indigenous populations have a right to National identity, to protect their culture and their right to work. FACT
To insist on going this path they are heading for deep water, regardless of how they dress it up in spurious accusations.
i.e. the one against while males
But to imagine that any other major political party would deliver anything substantially different is to be utterly deluded.
No he wanted the electoral credit for saying what people wanted to hear, but he did not want to have to explain the duplicity of his words - as others are now being forced to do on his behalf.
You see, it's not a question of taking his words literally, or otherwise. With Uncle Joe McBroon (and all the other NuLab liars), he wants words to mean whatever he wants them to mean - you know, "this is a different kind of bust" etc.
"Never apologise, never explain and if necessary turn the language upside down".
All that matters to Marxists is that they win the argument - BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
So when you say "I don't think he meant it literally", you are of course being Uncle Joe's very own "useful idiot".
As it stands there are somewhere in the region of 4 million migrants in the UK. Suspect the Britons seem to have an unfair share of them................
Many of us dream of buying property abroad to retire or work,or as a holiday home.We must get this into proportion we can hardly do this,and then expect to be welcomed with open arms by are prospective hosts.
does Brown ever wear a blackshirt?
The protests are mere hypocrisy anyway, I didn't see these people objecting to globalisation when it meant they could buy cheap crap from China. They're a classic example of supporting the fascists right up to the point when they come to take _you_ away.
Just when you think you are reading through sane, rational, and insiteful comment you happen across the dark under belly of 'us and them' comments.
As much as we we might not like it this recession is a World issue (not enginereed by Gordon Brown).
A few months ago no politician hoping for re-election anywhere in the World was ever going to say, 'Hang on a minute, you can't have new cars and houses on credit because that's madness'. Quite simply that would have been the end of their political career and the media would have trashed them.
So, unfortunately we are faced with a situation where ALL of our politicans are working towards getting elected in the short term rather than looking at the long term view, and to be honest none of them seem brave enough or clever enough to really stick their necks out to address the long term economic situation.
No matter who we vote for we always get politicians. Hey ho.
Do you know any of these people? How can you say with such conviction what they think or thought about globalisation? It would be interesting to know how many jobs have been created in the UK as a result of globalisation. I'm sure sublibellous can enlighten us.
Third World immigrants who have graced us with their presence this last 40 or so years have had the very best PR. We are constantly told by the media and the government that we are all "enriched" by their presence, we are not allowed to criticise them or their presence - at the risk of being branded "racist" or "fascist" - if they do something wrong the media do their best to conceal it, a whole raft of new laws have been passed to ease them into our society, commissions and public bodies have been paid for out of our taxes to promote their interests, and to cap it all we are told by the likes of Macphereson an "lord" Parek that there's a lot wrong with us, the indigenous people of Britain! Wow! I think Solzhenytsin was right when he wrote "If decade after decade the truth cannot be told, people's minds start to wander irretrievably, and talking to your fellow man is like talking to Martians".