Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Peer’s exit ‘should worry Labour’

By Amit Roy

THE Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is becoming fond of us­ing the phrase. “If I were prime minister…,” no doubt to get peo­ple used to the idea.


He used it last week in relation to Priti Patel: “If I were prime minister, the home secretary would have been removed from her job.”

Actually, no. Maybe I am being pedantic but if Sir Keir were to be elected prime minister, Priti, the Tory MP for Witham, wouldn’t be in his cabinet.

What Sir Keir should be deal­ing with is much more serious – Lord Meghnad Desai’s departure from the Labour party after 49 years as a member.

Labour MPs have called for an­other investigation into Priti, but really they should be trying to find out why Meghnad has left after so many years.

As it is, Labour’s appeal among Indians is declining for a variety of reasons. According to Meghnad, Labour doesn’t like immi­grants with ideas above their sta­tion. They want Indians and Paki­stanis to embrace a permanent state of victimhood from which they can be rescued only by La­bour and not the Tories.

What enrages them about Priti is that not only is she a “traitor” to the cause, but she has positioned herself on the right wing of the Conservative party.

Of course, the real situation might not be so black and white, but Meghnad’s resignation is a devastating blow to Labour. If someone as hitherto loyal as Meghnad won’t support La­bour after five decades as a member, it will certainly put off a great many other Indian vot­ers as well.

Meghnad, who helped raise the funds for the Mahatma Gandhi statue erected in Parlia­ment Square in March 2015, is also well known and respected in India. He is a frequent con­tributor to Indian newspapers. In other words, his is an influ­ential voice.

People in India will soon come to realise that the Labour party of leaders like Michael Foot, to which Indians owed their allegiance, is not the La­bour party of today.

Jeremy Corbyn is an hon­ourable man at a personal lev­el, but during his five years as Labour leader, he could not be bothered to visit India even once. His stance on Kashmir contrib­uted to Labour’s defeat at the last election.

I know Meghnad to be a very generous man, who has some­thing good to say about almost everyone. That is apparent from Meghnad’s just published autobiography, Rebellious Lord, which apart from anything else is an entertaining read.

He explains why he did not al­ways do well in exams in India: “One of my problems was that I could not give the standard an­swer which was what got you the marks. I deviated from the straight and narrow and showed off my reading or tried some jokes. None of this helps you in an Indian examination, where you have to display memory and rote learning.”

And on the life peerage he had been promised (and received) in 1991, the first Asian to be so hon­oured, he writes: “For the next few weeks, I felt as I imagine a woman feels who is pregnant but hopes no one finds out nor can she talk about it.”

The autobiography makes it clear that Meghnad has given a lifetime of devoted service to La­bour. Sir Keir should get over his Priti obsession and learn some­thing by reading Rebellious Lord.

More For You

starmer-bangladesh-migration
Sir Keir Starmer
Getty Images

Comment: Can Starmer turn Windrush promises into policy?

Anniversaries can catalyse action. The government appointed the first Windrush Commissioner last week, shortly before Windrush Day, this year marking the 77th anniversary of the ship’s arrival in Britain.

The Windrush generation came to Britain believing what the law said – that they were British subjects, with equal rights in the mother country. But they were to discover a different reality – not just in the 1950s, but in this century too. It is five years since Wendy Williams proposed this external oversight in her review of the lessons of the Windrush scandal. The delay has damaged confidence in the compensation scheme. Williams’ proposal had been for a broader Migrants Commissioner role, since the change needed in Home Office culture went beyond the treatment of the Windrush generation itself.

Keep ReadingShow less
Eye Spy: Top stories from the world of entertainment

Ed Sheeran and Arijit Singh

Eye Spy: Top stories from the world of entertainment

Ed Sheeran and Arijit Singh’s ‘Sapphire’ collaboration misses the mark

The song everyone is talking about this month is Sapphire – Ed Sheeran’s collaboration with Arijit Singh. But instead of a true duet, Arijit takes more of a backing role to the British pop superstar, which is a shame, considering he is the most followed artist on Spotify. The Indian superstar deserved a stronger presence on the otherwise catchy track. On the positive side, Sapphire may inspire more international artists to incorporate Indian elements into their music. But going forward, any major Indian names involved in global collaborations should insist on equal billing, rather than letting western stars ride on their popularity.

Ed Sheeran and Arijit Singh

Keep ReadingShow less
If ayatollahs fall, who will run Teheran next?

Portraits of Iranian military generals and nuclear scientists, killed in Israel’s last Friday (13) attack, are seen above a road, as heavy smoke rises from an oil refinery in southern Teheran hit in an overnight Israeli strike last Sunday (15)

If ayatollahs fall, who will run Teheran next?

THERE is one question to which none of us has the answer: if the ayatollahs are toppled, who will take over in Teheran?

I am surprised that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, has lasted as long as he has. He is 86, and would achieve immortality as a “martyr” in the eyes of regime supporters if the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, succeeded in assassinating him. This was apparently Netanyahu’s plan, though he was apparently dissuaded by US president Donald Trump from going ahead with the killing.

Keep ReadingShow less
Comment: Talking about race isn’t racist – ignoring it helped grooming gangs thrive

A woman poses with a sign as members of the public queue to enter a council meeting during a protest calling for justice for victims of sexual abuse and grooming gangs, outside the council offices at City Centre on January 20, 2025 in Oldham, England

Getty Images

Comment: Talking about race isn’t racist – ignoring it helped grooming gangs thrive

WAS a national inquiry needed into so-called grooming gangs? Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer did not think so in January, but now accepts Dame Louise Casey’s recommendation to commission one.

The previous Conservative government – having held a seven-year national inquiry into child sexual abuse – started loudly championing a new national inquiry once it lost the power to call one. Casey explains why she changed her mind too after her four-month, rapid audit into actions taken and missed on group-based exploitation and abuse. A headline Casey theme is the ‘shying away’ from race.

Keep ReadingShow less
Eye Spy: Top stories from the world of entertainment

Shraddha Jain

Eye Spy: Top stories from the world of entertainment

FUNNY UK TOUR

The tidal wave of top Indian stand-up stars touring the UK continues with upcoming shows by Shraddha Jain this July. The hugely popular comedian – who has over a million Instagram followers – will perform her family-friendly show Aiyyo So Mini Things at The Pavilion, Reading (4), the Ondaatje Theatre, London (5), and The Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham (6). The 90-minute set promises an entertaining take on the mundane and uproarious aspects of everyday life.

Keep ReadingShow less