Labour won’t win voters back by denigrating Britain’s past

They never learn, do they? Lisa Nandy, the dark horse candidate in the Labour leadership race, has demanded the word ‘empire’ be expunged from OBE honours and replaced with ‘excellence’ because the reference to Britain’s imperial past offends people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME). This would mean its full name would become the Most Excellent Order of British Excellence. ‘The self-confident, empowered country I will lead will be one that is different,’ Nandy announced at a hustings in Bristol. ‘Where people like Benjamin Zephaniah can accept the Order of British Excellence, not reject the Order of the British Empire. That celebrates those who built us, not seeks to alienate them.’

Doesn’t Nandy realise that one of the reasons Labour did so badly at the last election is because working-class voters believe the party under Jeremy Corbyn has become anti-British? These were people who’d either served in the Armed Forces or were related to someone who had, and they were disgusted by Corbyn’s habit of siding with Britain’s enemies.