On Sunday, the first day of Labour Party conference, an angry crowd gathered outside the ACC Liverpool venue. They had streamed across the bridges after a day-long march around the city centre bearing Union flags, St George’s crosses, the occasional Welsh dragon and a multitude of grievances. Their printed signs read “No to Digital ID” and “With our farmers”.
On the green opposite, perched on folding camping chairs and sheltered under the boughs of willow trees, was a group of primarily pensioners, who had come equipped with marker pens and sheets of paper on which they scribbled: “I support Palestine Action.”
“Stick your Palestine up your arse,” the flag-wavers called.
This is Starmer’s welcome to Liverpool. On one hand, furious right-wingers: draped in flags and full of rage. People in this group see themselves as downtrodden. They blamed the government for declining standards of living, the buckling NHS and a failure to halt illegal immigration.
Many were conspiratorial – chanting “Labour is owned by George Soros” – while some were overtly racist. I heard one cry of “Sieg Heil”, although the shouter claimed he was mocking police authoritarianism.
They believe that the UK should focus on “helping our own” before getting involved with the affairs of other countries. This seemed to include taking any action over the devastation happening in Gaza, which the Labour leadership is being urged to label genocide. They argue that after 14 years of failing Conservative rule, Labour is “making it worse”. I ask if they would prefer another politician as prime minister. Unsurprisingly, the name of Nigel Farage came up more than once.
While on one side Keir Starmer faces howls of rage, on the other he faces a quiet scolding. This came from indignant left-wingers: pensioners motivated to protest – some for the first time in their lives – at the government’s response to the plight of the people in Gaza, and in particular the categorisation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.
Retirees spoke with a combination of resignation and disbelief in the government’s inaction. They had seen the arrests of their fellow protesters in London following a similar sit-in and understood that there was a risk that they, too, could be arrested for silently holding their signs. Reclining in a faded camping chair, Edwin, a retired management consultant, told me he was here for his grandchildren. Yet he hadn’t told them he was attending. “It’s just something I have to do for myself,” he said.
Elsewhere in the crowd I spoke to Dee, a retired teacher. Did she know she might be arrested? Yes. Did she want to be arrested? Absolutely not. “I want to go home and sit by the fire.”
These protesters were baffled by the idea that a Labour government could sanction their arrest under terror laws. “I’m not a terrorist,” Dee told me. “I’m just an old lady, I listen to Radio 4. It’s nonsense!”
As the cameras – both broadcast and citizen journalists – hovered expectantly, police marched in to encircle the Palestine Action protesters. All but one ignored my questions. Were they planning arrests? “Not my decision.”
Merseyside police confirmed on Sunday evening that officers were “in the process of making arrests on suspicion of wearing/carrying an article supporting a proscribed organisation”.
Protesters outside conference didn’t agree on much. But they were united in blaming Starmer for everything.
[Further reading: Is the government about to lift the two-child benefit cap?]
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