Bullies can sense weakness – which is why Labour must not shy away from taking on the global far right | Andy Beckett

By paying lip service to extremist narratives around immigration, Starmer is weakening, not strengthening, his government’s position

The rise of the far right is an awful but inescapable fact of modern politics. Across the world, in supposedly stable and moderate democracies as well as volatile ones, in mainstream and fringe parties, new and old media, and the minds of many voters who don’t consider themselves extremists, far-right ideas are circulating and growing.

Immigration is ruining society. Net zero is a conspiracy against the people. Promoting diversity is a perversion of the natural order. Traditional patriotism is the only real patriotism. Liberals should be purged from the state bureaucracy – otherwise, national decline is inevitable.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

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