Morgan McSweeney was yesterday accused of distancing himself from Keir Starmer’s ‘racist’ charge against Nigel Farage amid fears that Labour’s attacks on Reform are backfiring.
Sources say No10’s chief of staff has privately said he was not responsible for the Prime Minister’s claim that Mr Farage’s migrants policy was racist.
One said: ‘Morgan’s making it clear – he didn’t come up with that attack line.
‘The implication is that it was the PM’s own blunder – not McSweeney’s.’
Downing Street last night insisted Mr McSweeney backs Sir Keir ‘100 per cent’.
But the allegations come amid mounting disquiet among Labour MPs that trying to brand Reform policies as racist will only anger voters inclined to agree with Mr Farage’s stance.
In a BBC interview last Sunday, Sir Keir hit out at Reform’s policy to require migrants who already have right to remain in the UK to re-apply for visas.
He said it was ‘one thing to remove illegal migrants’ but a ‘completely different thing’ to remove those here lawfully.
Sources say No10’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney (pictured) has privately said he was not responsible for the Prime Minister’s claim that Mr Farage’s migrants policy was racist
Downing Street last night insisted Mr McSweeney backs Sir Keir Starmer ‘100 per cent’
The allegations come amid mounting disquiet among Labour MPs that trying to brand Reform policies as racist will only anger voters inclined to agree with Nigel Farage’s stance
Asked if he thought it was racist, the PM replied: ‘I do think that it is a racist policy. I do think it’s immoral – it needs to be called out for what it is.’
Sir Keir then used his Labour conference speech to accuse Mr Farage of not believing in his own country, saying: ‘He doesn’t like Britain.’
But in an apparent sign of nervousness over the earlier jibe, he subsequently stressed that he is not accusing Mr Farage himself or Reform voters of being racist.
But the PM has been warned that even using the term against Reform policies was not a good idea.
Harriet Harman said labelling a policy racist, but not the politicians or their supporters, would not be understood by voters.
The Labour grandee told Sky News: ‘You can’t distinguish between a racist policy from a party and a racist party leader because that’s too subtle and nuanced for the public.’
Dame Harriet added that she thought Sir Keir used the racist attack ‘without planning it, and instead of just going back on it, he slightly doubled down’.
One Labour backbencher voiced what he said were wider concerns over using the racism attack.
He said: ‘The problem with Starmer’s original remark… is that it tars people minded to back Reform with the same brush.
‘Many of them are former Labour voters in our northern heartlands.
‘We should be trying to woo them back, not push them all into Farage’s arms by saying their genuine concerns about immigration are racist.’
Downing Street sources last night denied that Mr McSweeney had tried to distance himself from the PM’s choice of words.
They said that although Sir Keir had come up with the attack himself, his chief of staff ‘backs it 100 per cent’.
