David Lammy was forced to make a grovelling apology to Nigel farage today after bizarrely accusing him of having once ‘flirted with the Hitler Youth’.
Amid a deepening racism row between Labour and Reform, the Deputy Prime Minister went on live television to lash out at Mr Farage.
After PM Keir Starmer used his main conference speech to hammer the opposition party, Mr Lammy, who only became Sir Keir’s number two earlier this month, was asked if he believed Mr Farage was a racist.
He piously insisted he was ‘not going to play the man’ – before doing just that.
‘I will leave it for the public to come to their own judgments about someone who once flirted with Hitler Youth when he was younger,’ he told the BBC.
However he was forced into a U-turn just hours later, saying he was referring to claims from more than a decade ago that Mr Farage sank HY songs at school – something the Reform leader denies.
‘I don’t know what songs he sang at school, so I am happy to clarify,’ Mr Lammy told the BBC.
‘I did say it was for the public to make up their mind and I did also emphasise that let us play the ball, not the man, so it is not my intention to play the man Nigel Farage.’
The Hitler Youth was the fascist paramilitary group for children during Nazi rule in Germany. But it was disbanded in 1945, almost 20 years before Mr Farage was even born.
It came as Sir Keir drew a furious reaction from Nigel Farage today after accusing him of not ‘liking’ or ‘loving’ Britain.
The Deputy Prime Minister went on live television to lash out at Mr Farage, after PM Keir Starmer used his main conference speech to hammer the opposition party.
Sources suggested it was a reference to claims Mr Farage had sung HY songs while a schoolboy in the 1970s, something he has previously denied.
The Hitler Youth was the fascist paramilitary group for children during Nazi rule in Germany. But it was disbanded in 1945, almost 20 years before Mr Farage was even born
Despite an election probably being years away, the panicked PM used his keynote speech to Labour conference to talk up the threat posed by Reform and carve deep dividing lines.
Arguing that the UK ‘stands at a fork in the road’ and can move towards ‘decency or division’, he told activists in Liverpool to ‘fight’ against the ‘path of decline’.
He tagged Mr Farage an ‘enemy of national renewal’ and suggested he would say anything for popularity – dismissing the idea that the country is ‘broken’. ‘When was the last time you heard Nigel Farage say anything positive about Britain? He can’t. He doesn’t like Britain,’ he said.
Sir Keir delivered vicious barbs at ‘politicians who lie to this country, unleash chaos and walked away after Brexit‘. He questioned whether Mr Farage ‘wants the country to fail’. ‘Do they love our country? Do they want to serve our country, all of it… ? Or do they want to stir the pot of division?’
In an immediate on-camera response from London, Mr Farage said the attack from Sir Keir ‘will incite and encourage the radical left’. Highlighting the murder of Charlie Kirk in the US, he said the ‘disgraceful’ language ‘directly threatens the safety’ of Reform campaigners.
But deputy PM David Lammy quickly ramped up the tensions even further with his extraordinary jibe about Mr Farage ‘flirting with the Hitler Youth’.
An incredulous Reform source said they had ‘no words’ to describe the Cabinet minister’s intervention.
In other developments at the conference today:
- Sir Keir announced a new ‘NHS Online’ will deliver ‘millions of appointments’ digitally;
- The PM said Labour would drop the goal of half of young people going to university, and instead set a target of two-thirds either going to university or doing a ‘gold-standard’ apprenticeship;
- Sir Keir welcomed Donald Trump’s peace blueprint for Gaza saying ‘all sides’ must now work to implement it, and stressing the UK now recognised a Palestinian state – but did not mention Tony Blair;
- Andy Burnham, whose leadership push seems to have collapsed humiliatingly, was spotted leaving the site minutes before Sir Keir was due to start speaking;
- The PM said the government’s fiscal rules were ‘not a game’ in a reference to Mr Burnham’s suggestion of ignoring the bond markets to borrow more;
- Health Secretary Wes Streeting has told activists he wants Angela Rayner to return to the frontline just weeks after she quit over her tax affairs;
- Sir Keir did not follow many of his Cabinet colleagues in paying tribute to his former deputy from the conference stage;
- Rachel Reeves has told businesses they will not bear the brunt of tax hikes looming at the Budget;
- Labour deputy leadership candidate Lucy Powell has warned the party cannot ‘out-Reform Reform’;
It is not the first time Mr Lammy has drawn a comparison between political opponents and the Nazis.
In January 2019, in response to Donald Trump posting his ‘Make America Great Again’ campaign slogan on social media, Mr Lammy commented: ‘Hitler said the same about Germany in a speech in February 1940… We see you Mr Trump.’
In April the same year, Mr Lammy doubled down on comparing the European Research Group of Tory Brexiteers to the Nazis and proponents of South African apartheid.
As he defended his comments, the Labour politician said they were ‘not strong enough’.
Asked if it was fair to make such a comment about elected politicians, he said: ‘I don’t care how elected they were: so was the far right in Germany.’
Alongside his attack on the Reform leader the premier sounded a tough message that left-wingers must accept ‘uncomfortable’ policies in areas such as immigration to appeal to voters. He nodded to nationalist sentiment by praising flags – wrapping up his address by telling activists awkwardly: ‘Fly those flags!’
And the Labour leader acknowledged the looming spectre of more agonising tax hikes at the Budget in November, saying the government must not try to ‘avoid reality’.
In an apparent hint at a fresh bid to curb welfare spending, Sir Keir said: ‘A Labour Party that cannot control spending is a Labour Party that cannot govern in our times.’
The 54-minute speech was greeted with an ovation in the hall, suggesting the PM might have bought a bit of breathing space after a devastating month that has seen damaging resignations and dire polls.
But his attempts to hammer Mr Farage might yet backfire after Labour figures voiced alarm at his decision to brand Reform’s immigration policy ‘racist’ in an interview on Sunday – a term Sir Keir did not repeat in his speech.
Keir Starmer is using his keynote speech to party conference in Liverpool to talk up the threat posed by Reform
Sir Keir was joined on stage by his wife Victoria after delivering his address to activists today
Ministers have carefully avoided ruling out smashing Labour’s manifesto promises not to increase income tax, national insurance or VAT as Rachel Reeves faces an estimated £30billion black hole in the finances.
However, Health Secretary Wes Streeting did move to quash suggestions that VAT could be added to private healthcare costs this morning.
Allies have been stressing there is no alternative to Sir Keir after Andy Burnham’s nascent leadership push humiliatingly collapsed, and Angela Rayner was forced to resign.
Sir Keir – who was introduced by Hillsborough campaigner Margaret Aspinall – told the conference: ‘We can all see our country faces a choice, a defining choice.
‘Britain stands at a fork in the road. We can choose decency. Or we can choose division.
‘Renewal or decline. A country – proud of its values, in control of its future or one that succumbs, against the grain of our history, to the politics of grievance.’
Sir Keir compared the challenge before Labour now to Clement Attlee’s administration in 1945 as it rebuilt Britain from the ruins of the Second World War.
The PM said: ‘It is a test. A fight for the soul of our country, every bit as big as rebuilding Britain after the war, and we must all rise to this challenge.
‘And yet we need to be clear that our path, the path of renewal, it’s long, it’s difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy. Decisions that will not always be comfortable for our party.
‘Yet at the end of this hard road there will be a new country, a fairer country, a land of dignity and respect.
‘Everyone seen, everyone valued, wealth creation in every single community, working people in control of their public services, the mindless bureaucracy that chokes enterprise, removed – so we can build and keep on building.’
Sir Keir insisted Britain can ‘unite around a common good’.
‘That’s my ambition, the purpose of this government,’ he said.
‘End decline, reform our public services, grow our economy from the grassroots.’
Rebuking those trying to lurch Labour to the Left, Sir Keir said some of his policies might not be ‘comfortable’.
‘Controlling who comes here is an essential task of government and there’s nothing compassionate or progressive in a vile trade that loads people on to overcrowded boats, puts them in grave danger in the Channel and ultimately exploits human desperation,’ he said.
He tagged Mr Farage an ‘enemy of national renewal’ and suggested he would say anything for popularity – dismissing the idea that the country is ‘broken’
The PM was introduced by Hillsborough campaigner Margaret Aspinall
Sir Keir said: ‘I’ve had enough of lectures from self appointed spokespeople for working classes.
‘Politicians who lie to this country, unleash chaos and walked away after Brexit. ‘Labour is the party of working people. Labour is the patriotic party.’
Sir Keir said: ‘I’m not just proud of the Union Jack and the cross of St George, I’m also proud of the Saltire, proud of the Red Dragon, proud of our union – this astonishing relationship between four great nations.
‘Four different nations, yes, but four nations that time and again have been through the fire, together, built so much, together.
‘A country forged by the solidarity of working people.
‘So, let’s fly all our flags, conference, because they are our flags. They belong to all of us and we will never surrender them.
‘And let’s unite our country behind them, because this is no time for dividers.
‘This is the time for bringing the whole country together. That’s how we will fight next year’s elections, as patriots of our great nations.’
But he suggested there was a line where people descended into ‘thuggery’.
‘Free speech is a British value and we have guarded it for centuries, but if you incite racist violence and hatred, that is not expressing concern – it’s criminal,’ Sir Keir said.
‘This party – this great party – is proud of our flags, yet if they are painted alongside graffiti, telling a Chinese takeaway owner to ‘go home’, that’s not pride – that’s racism.
‘And, conference, if you say or imply that people cannot be English or British because of the colour of their skin, that mixed-heritage families owe you an explanation, that people who have lived here for generations, raised their children here, built lives here – working in our schools, our hospitals, running businesses – our neighbours, if you say they should now be deported, then mark my words, we will fight you with everything we have because you are an enemy of national renewal.’
Appearing on camera minutes after the speech, Mr Farage delivered a furious riposte.
‘I don’t normally worry about abuse being thrown at me, I’ve got kind of used to it over the course of the last few years. But to accuse countless millions of being racist is a very, very low blow,’ he said.
‘Why? Well, this language will incite and encourage the radical Left, I’m thinking of Antifa and other organisations like that. It directly threatens the safety of our elected officials and our campaigners and frankly in the wake of the Charlie Kirk murder I think this is an absolute disgrace.
‘I used to think the Prime Minister is a decent man, somebody that I could talk to and chat to. We might disagree on world-view but I thought he was a profoundly decent human being. I am completely shocked at his behaviour. I hope when he wakes up tomorrow he feels ashamed at what he has done.
‘This is a desperate last throw of the dice from a Prime Minister who is in deep trouble, a Prime Minister who can’t even command the support of half of his own. But I am sorry to say I now believe he is unfit to be the Prime Minister of our great country.’
He added: ‘We will teach Starmer a lesson next May, that British political history will never forget.
‘I am now, as a result of this week, of the abuse that has been heaped upon our supporters and our voters, more determined than ever.
‘Don’t underestimate that.’
Sir Keir said the government’s fiscal rules were ‘non-negotiable’, stressing that ‘difficult decisions’ had been made on tax at the last Budget that ‘asked a lot’ of the public.
‘You can choose to rebuild our public service, choose investment over austerity. That’s the choice we made at the last Budget,’ he said.
‘A hard choice. Difficult decisions on taxation. But conference – that’s the choice that we made.’
Although the speech was light on policy, Sir Keir announced that the target of 50 per cent of youngsters going to university would be replaced with a mark of two-thirds doing a degree or ‘gold standard apprenticeship’.
‘Some politicians say, ‘I want every child to have the same opportunities that I had’,’ he said.
‘You hear a lot of that in Westminster, but that’s not me, though.
‘What I want is a Britain where people are treated with the dignity that they deserve for making different choices. Choices our country needs, choices we should value, choices that deserve our respect.
‘And so, conference, while you will never hear me denigrate the aspiration to go to university, I don’t think the way we currently measure success in education – that ambition to get 50 per cent of kids to uni – I don’t think that’s right for our times, because if you’re a kid or a parent of a kid who chooses an apprenticeship, what does it say to you? Do we genuinely as a country afford them the same respect?
‘Because we should, but I can’t help feeling that my dad was right.
‘So, conference, today I can announce we will scrap that target and replace it with a new ambition that two-thirds of our children should go either to university or take a gold standard apprenticeship.’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘Keir Starmer has all but confirmed that tax rises are coming.
‘The Prime Minister could have used his speech to own up to the mistakes he’s made on the economy, admit the country was living beyond its means, and set out a plan to avoid further punishing tax hikes this autumn, but he did not.
‘In Labour’s first year, inflation has doubled, economic growth has halved and unemployment has risen almost every single month. Everyone in Britain will now pay the price for Starmer’s weakness with a smaller economy and higher taxes.’
Fresh divisions have been emerging at the top of Labour over the PM’s claim that Mr Farage’s immigration plans are ‘racist’.
London mayor Sadiq Khan said he would not use the ‘really loaded word’ about Reform, adding: ‘I don’t call the followers of Reform racist, I don’t call Nigel Farage racist.’
But Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, asked whether she thought Mr Farage was racist, said: ‘It’s hard to escape the conclusion that because many of the things that he does and says, I think, drift into racism – it’s hard to escape that conclusion.’
Mr Streeting pointed to Reform leaflets suggesting Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar would ‘prioritise the interests of the Pakistani community’.
‘If Nigel Farage allows that to go out from his party, what does that make him?’ Mr Streeting told Times Radio.
Mr Farage has dismissed Keir Starmer’s claim that Reform’s immigration plans are ‘racist’, branding it an insult to the British public and evidence that the PM is panicking about the polls.
Sir Keir promised a technological revolution for the NHS, with a new ‘online hospital’ for patients in England aimed at cutting waiting lists and providing quicker treatment and advice.
Keir Starmer arrived with wife Victoria to deliver his keynote speech to party conference in Liverpool
The scheme, which will begin operating in 2027, will deliver up to 8.5 million extra NHS appointments in its first three years, Labour claimed.
Those who use the service will be able to access and track prescriptions, be referred for scans and tests, and receive clinical advice on managing their condition.
Patients who require a physical test or a procedure will be able to book them on the NHS app at a nearby hospital, surgical hub or community diagnostic centre.
Sir Keir described it as ‘a new chapter in the story of our NHS, harnessing the future, patients in control’.
