Cynical and inept, Starmer risks unleashing racist hooligans on Birmingham
JVL Introduction
This Morning Star editorial puts its finger on everything that is wrong with Starmer’s intervention to allow Maccabi fans to attend the game against Aston Villa: it is cynical, inept — and extremely dangerous.
No doubt West Midlands police recalled rioting Legia Warsaw fans being prevented from entering the same grounds in 2023 in coming to their view that they could not safey police this event.
But our law-and-order PM can’t abide a perfectly reasonable decision made on safety grounds.
It will collapse Labour’s already declining support in Birmingham and embolden the far right – already Tommy Robinson has pledged to be there in Maccabi colours.
And Reform won’t be far behind. Starmer’s cack-handed intervention threatens to stoke racist violence on the streets, not stem it.
England’s second city is going to have to be locked down so some fascist Maccabi-supporting thugs can be afforded the right to shout racist abuse and intimidate the local residents.
RK
PS: We’ve appended Michael Rosen’s great Starmer speech at the end of this post
This article was originally published by the Morning Star on Sun 19 Oct 2025. Read the original here.
Cynical and inept, Starmer risks unleashing racist hooligans on Birmingham
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Thanks to Michael Rosen for making me chortle. During bad and sad times light relief is sorely needed.
I read on Tommy Robinson’s own “X” account that he is “hoping to attend the Maccabi Tel Aviv match in Birmingham on 6th November”. After their fans rioting in Tel Aviv last night, they lived up to their racist, violent, thuggish reputation. Starmer and all those opportunist Zionist politicians have egg on their face. If these thugs turn up on our doorstep, they should be deported or locked up. No to racists and incitement to violence on our streets. We need protection for the residents of Birmingham, not Israeli thugs. It’s no wonder Yaxley Lennon is praying to be there. Incitement and Zionism are two words that sit comfortably together!
I agree entirely with St. Armer – patron saint of fraudsters – that the McCarby or McSweeney fans can all have the freedom of the streets. Only a convinced antisemite would want to stop thugs shouting racist abuse. I well remember when on November 8th 2024, the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, peaceful McCarby fans singing their favourite football chant “Fuck you, fuck you, Palestine” were set upon by Ajax fans (or vice versa – anyway it’s all on film with a new BBC voiceover and quotes from David Lammy). We certainly don’t want to see scenes (or hear voiceovers) like that again. As the son of a toolmaker I just want to say: “Screw Labour! Dayenu!”
Given that the Maccabi fans are too much even for Israeli police to handle, with the calling off of a local match in Tel Aviv, who does Starmer think he is to act differently? If banning the fans from here is antisemitic, then does Starmer think the Tel Aviv police are also antisemitic? Of course not. Not only should we be banning the fans in the interests of safety, but we should be banning the match in the interests of opposing apartheid and genocide.
What has Israel got on Mr Starmer?
Our Prime Minister appears to doing his upmost to continue alienating traditional Labour voters, that I honestly think that is a question.
He is making things so worse, and increasing the chances of Reform getting in power, due to people being conflicted about who to vote.
Do we vote for Labour at the next election to just hinder Farage and the mayhem Reform will unleash*, or support the Greens, Lib Dems or Your Party, knowing that there is a risk of them not getting enough votes, and thus enabling Reform to win?
Mr Starmer has really scored an own goal.
*Robinson’s support by Israel, causes me serious concerns. I question whether this was vindictiveness in response to Labour finally recognizing Palestine. Does Israel wants the UK to descend into carnage with wide spread hate crimes?
Starmer is truly dreadful. He is now almost beyond parody – but Michael Rosen just about gets it. It is amusing but I am increasingly angry that this idiot is paving the way for Reform.
Starmer’s definition of antisemitism was originally given as “making Jewish people uncomfortable or uneasy” (I paraphrase). But what is it now? Is it anything that the BoD hints as being so? I do recall him telling the BoD shortly after conning party leadership, to let him know if there was anything else he could do. This, after ridding Labour of its troublesome members not close enough to being Tories.
Starmer is totally out of his depth or is there something else on this man who should never have been any where near a real Labour party let alone PM.
Eddie Dougall : if my memory serves, Starmer’s obsequious letter to the BoD was sent on the very day of his election to LOTO? Again if memory serves, my thoughts were “the writing is on the wall”….
I resigned from the Labour Party some months later, but never in my wildest imaginings did I envisage what the next five years would bring….
@ Josh, please see Skwawkbox / Canary articles on Starmer and Israel.
I believe several of Starmer’s initial mega-funders / backers are strongly pro-Israel and Zionist. Also Starmer seems to be recycling (badly)Tony Blair policies and people.
“Byline Times” has just produced an impressive article linking Tony Blair and the Tony Blair Institute to Trump-allied millionaires who are closely allied with Israel and whose AI products (eg “Lavender”) were used by Israel to guide the killing of thousands of Palestinians.