Labour's 'lanyard classes' have severed party's bond with working people for good

It's official - Labour is no longer the party of the working classes. Polling shows Labour has a big lead when it comes to hoovering up the votes of people who went to private school. Anyone who takes an interest in politics will have suspected this for sometime but More in Common has done the research and the results are fascinating.

It looked at voting intention by school type and adults who went to private school by far favour Labour more than any other party. Some 38% of respondents whose education was paid for said they would pick Keir Starmer if there was a general election tomorrow.

Quite a way behind on 25% was Reform with the Tories in third on 17% and the Liberal Democrats on 14%. Switch it to voters who went to state schools and Reform are way out in the lead on 33% with Labour in second on 20%, the Conservatives on 17% and Lib Dems on 13%.

It's quite something for the Labour Party to have transformed so dramatically from a movement for ordinary people to be streets ahead with those who were kept away from the masses during their childhoods. On the party's own website it says Labour has "always been about people".

"It was formed to give working people a voice and has sought power in order to improve their lives. Labour has changed Britain for the better, through the most progressive governments in our country's history," it adds.

Tony Blair saved the party after nearly two decades in the wilderness with his New Labour revolution. It felt modern and fresh and full of optimism. But along the way it lost touch with what the working classes felt and thought.

Ordinary people had modernised too. They were not the cloth-capped stereotype of the 1970s but the values remained largely the same.

Labour stopped listening. Where was the outrage from the party when mass migration from the European Union undercut the wages of plumbers, bricklayers, decorators and so on?

Is it any wonder that there are no longer enough tradesmen around to build the houses the country needs when we imported so many, they pushed down earnings and many have now returned home. Any concerns about the cultural impact of big demographic change were also dismissed by Labour.

Who can forget Gordon Brown's true feelings about "bigoted woman" Gillian Duffy when she raised her worries. The direction was set so when Brexit happened Labour went into a tailspin over how to respond.

Some listened to the overwhelming demands of their constituents and tried to find a way through even if they personally voted to Remain.

But most did their level best to stop it, including Starmer who was desperate for a second referendum. The Prime Minister talks the language of the technocrat. It's process and procedure, not passion and pride.

His obsession with elevating international law above the clear demands of the British people has inflamed tensions. This week, his popularity fell to its lowest popularity since taking over as Labour leader.

Seven in 10 Britons now hold an unfavourable opinion of Starmer, including 50% of 2024 Labour voters. His net popularity score is down three points from last month and is the lowest the pollster has recorded since he became Labour leader in April 2020.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has a net rating of minus 31, with 61% unfavourable and 30% favourable.

Labour peer Maurice Glasman says voters are turning to the right because the "lanyard classes" have alienated the party's traditional voters. Another term for it would be the finger-wagging classes.

He told the New Statesman, a left wing magazine: "For 20 or 30 years now, Labour culture has been a hostile environment for working-class people. If you say what you think, then you get condemned. The inability to let people express their grief. We see people in pain and we call them far Right or populist or racist or sexist - they are just speaking."

Starmer is not the first football fan in No 10 but he is the first Prime Minister to make playing and watching a regular part of his week while holding the job. He flew to the Women's Euros final in a private government jet despite attacking Tories for using chartered flights.

He took corporate hospitality from Arsenal football club so he could carry on attending matches. A man of the people on paper, but not in practice.

Earlier this month, England fans turned on him, chanting "Keir Starmer's a w*****". He's lost the fans, he's lost the country and Labour will eventually lose him.