DA

They were saying that in 2010. I ran for the leadership in 2010 alongside Ed Balls, Ed Miliband, Andy Burham, and David Miliband. And the two Eds and Andy Burham very much thought this was the issue of the day. David Miliband is actually a neoliberal and believes in the free movement of capital, goods and labor — full stop. So apart from him they argued this case very strongly, all of them, including the nice Ed Miliband. But we did fifty-two rallies together and what became clear is that party members where quite hostile to that analysis. Because if you actually take the trouble to join the party, whether you live in London or whether you live in the industrial north, you don’t really want to hear people telling you that immigrants are the cause of all your problems. You have a different sort of moral compass.

These guys were standing on platforms saying this stuff and they could feel the audience moving away from them and I would get up and say I’m a child of an immigrant, and so on, and I could see the audience moving towards me. And so they dropped the argument.

It’s a long-standing thing but it’s particularly annoying coming not just from the Left but coming from people who are loyal supporters of New Labour who, when New Labour were doing a range of things which alienated the party from the white working class, had nothing to say about that. Do not lecture me on immigrants driving down wages if you were not fighting under Tony Blair for trade union rights and freedoms. I’m not interested in what you have to say because if you were so concerned about white working-class wages being driven down you should’ve raised these issues when Tony Blair failed to restore trade union rights and freedoms. That’s my position on that.

So yes, I think moving right on immigration is a theme, but I think it’s wrong and everything that I am saying as Shadow Home Secretary is based on that. Jeremy thinks it’s wrong but sometimes Jeremy and I find ourselves in a minority of two on these issues. We keep plugging away.