SIR Keir Starmer said he believes in a Britain with the “swagger of Oasis” — as he declared war on Nigel Farage yesterday.
The PM said the Britpop band’s confident attitude — together with the sporting successes of England’s women’s rugby and football teams — showed the nation’s true spirit.
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Sir Keir said Reform boss Nigel hated Britain and branded him an “enemy” in a gloves-off Labour conference speech.
He vowed to “fight with every breath I have” to stop him.
Pitching himself as a true patriot, he said be believed in a Britain with “the grit of the Lionesses, the swagger of Oasis, the strength of the Red Roses”.
Mr Farage fired back, warning Labour would be “taught a lesson” in next year’s elections and accused the PM of whipping up hatred.
The clash lit up Labour’s four-day gathering in Liverpool, putting the fight between the two men at the centre of British politics.
It comes as Reform UK continues to enjoy strong polling numbers, piling pressure on Labour over its promises on tax, spending and immigration.
In his 54-minute speech, Sir Keir barely mentioned the Tories — only as the punchline to a gag — and also sought to deliver some hard truths to his party faithful.
He admitted Labour had “become a party that patronised working people” as he recalled a woman in Oldham who felt she had to prove she was not racist before raising concerns about her community.
But the PM aimed almost all his fire at Mr Farage. He said Britain now faces a “defining choice” as big as rebuilding from the rubble of World War Two.
He told party delegates: “Britain stands at a fork in the road. We can choose decency or we can choose division.”
And he accused Mr Farage of feeding on gloom and grievance, offering nothing but “snake oil” and “quick fixes”.
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.
Keir Starmer
He fumed: “When was the last time you heard Nigel Farage say anything positive about Britain’s future? He can’t.
“He doesn’t like Britain, doesn’t believe in Britain, wants you to doubt it as much as he does.
“So he resorts to grievance. They all do it. They want to turn this proud, self-reliant country, into a competition of victims.”
Sir Keir went further, insisting the Reform UK boss was not just an opponent, but an enemy.
He said to loud applause: “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.
“This 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 if you say or imply that people cannot be British because of the colour of their skin, that people who have lived here for generations — working in our schools, our hospitals, running businesses — 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.”
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Farage hits back
Reform has pledged to axe Indefinite Leave to Remain and force migrants to reapply for visas after five years if it wins power.
Sir Keir branded the plan “racist” earlier this week. Cabinet ministers followed suit.
Minutes after the PM wrapped up his speech yesterday, Mr Farage used a live broadcast to claim the safety of his candidates and activists had been put at risk by Labour’s rhetoric.
This language will incite and encourage the radical Left. I’m thinking of Antifa and other organisations like that.
Nigel Farage responding to the PM’s attack
He said: “Labour says these policies are racist and immoral, and, by implication, Reform supporters, Reform voters, Reform sympathisers, are racist too.
“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.”
Mr Kirk, a conservative activist, was assassinated at a university event in the US last month.
Commentators suggested rhetoric used against him by the far-Left may have encouraged Kirk’s killer.
Mr Farage insisted he was “not a vindictive person”, but his party will “teach Keir Starmer and the Labour Party a lesson” in the country’s local council and mayoral elections next May.
Sir Keir’s conference speech, watched by his Cabinet and wife Victoria, came after weeks of speculation over his leadership, stoked by Manchester mayor Andy Burnham’s claim there is a “climate of fear” inside Labour.
The PM put controlling immigration, growing the economy and restoring pride in Britain at the heart of his offer — and made it clear he thinks those are the themes that will beat Mr Farage.
On migration, he said: “We should always say plainly and with pride, asylum for people genuinely fleeing persecution is the mark of a decent, compassionate country.
“But secure borders are also vital for a decent, compassionate country.
“There’s nothing compassionate or progressive in a vile trade that loads people into overcrowded boats, puts them in dangerous conditions in the Channel and exploits hope.
“So mark my words, we will smash the gangs and we will secure Britain’s borders.”
He also made reclaiming the flag part of the pitch — a clear bid for reclaiming working class hearts.
Recalling Euro ’96, he said that moment “did feel like something was stirring in England that evening, an England that belonged to our grandparents but also our children”.
He told the hall: “So let’s fly all our flags, because they’re our flags. They belong to all of us and we will never surrender them.”
On policy, he ditched a stand-alone target for university attendance and pushed a new goal of seeing two-thirds of young people in university or “gold-standard apprenticeships”.
He also unveiled an “online hospital” to deliver quicker consultations from home and a commitment to a “muscular state” ready to intervene to boost growth and protect jobs.
The PM concluded: “I will fight with every breath I have — fight for working people, fight for the tolerant, decent, respectful Britain I know. People say a nation like ours can’t be a community, that it’s too diverse, too divided.
“I reject that. That goes against everything I stand for, everything I’ve served, everything I understand about this great country I love.”
Last night, Deputy PM David Lammy had to backtrack after telling the BBC he would leave it to the public to judge Mr Farage, who he said “once flirted with Hitler Youth”.
He rowed back, insisting: “He has denied it, so I accept he has denied it. I would like to clarify that because the Prime Minister was keen to focus on the policy, not the individual.”
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