Imprint Academic £14.95 pp256

One issue stands out from canvassing core Labour voters over more than four decades. Many of our supporters hold social views well to the right of the Conservative party and offer opinions on asylum that the British National Party tries to reflect. Yet they vote Labour, not just through habit, but because the party has convinced them it is on their side. The unspoken compact is that Labour voters let the elite peddle social policies that often appal them, in return for the economic protection a Labour government has historically delivered.

Neil Kinnock knew better than most that, if ever Labour ceased to be a credible force, a large part of its poor white vote could find a new political home in a working-class-led party marching to the tune of tough social policies laced with the most spiteful approach to immigrants. Kinnock’s greatest achievement was to prevent this scenario. But might not Tony Blair be sleepwalking into the disaster that Kinnock so skilfully prevented? A basic shift of allegiance could be under way, with Labour’s immigration policy the catalyst. In an entrenched two-party system it is hard for voters to register early warning signals of deep-seated discontent except by not voting. Then change comes quickly, and in earthquake proportions.

It is into this political arena, where a significant proportion of core Labour voters are smouldering with resentment, that Steve Moxon tosses his slow-burn Molotov cocktail on immigration. His revelations in The Sunday Times brought down a minister and confirmed voters’ belief that the government’s managed migration policy is anything but that. The 19th and 20th century were characterised by huge mobility of capital. Our century will be similarly dominated by the movement of people. Cheap travel not only opens up a global holiday trade but also puts Britain within striking distance of poor workers seeking a new life.

Moxon’s book has four themes. First, he enjoys recalling the demise of Beverley Hughes, the immigration minister, as her spinning impaled her on the meat hook that new Labour has designed for ministers, when events overwhelm the robust denial of the obvious. Second is his account of the functioning of the tripartite Home Office’s Immigration and Nationality Directorate, the most serious indictment yet published. Third, he describes in highfalutin terms why an influx of strangers sets up predictable defensive actions from the host community. This is the most unsatisfactory part of the book, yet it is indicative of the non-debate that the liberal elite strives so effectively to prevent. That Moxon feels that this won’t be taken seriously unless it is dressed up in pseudo-social science tells us how far we are from being able confidently to express the obvious. The final theme is the shortest, but politically the most explosive. Should a British government have a policy that encourages immigration?

If anyone can hold the line, it is David Blunkett, more trusted by Labour’s white working-class vote than any other minister. But No 10’s insatiable appetite for the tacky super-rich is an almost daily reminder to this group that Labour is ceasing to represent their aspirations. What would strengthen Blunkett’s hand immeasurably is a promise that after the election the government will establish an all-party committee to consider all options for immigration policy, including emulating most countries who do not actively encourage immigration as we do. Blunkett is the only person who might convince Labour’s core voters to keep the faith one more time. At the last election, I found the Tories won the campaign (on tax cuts and asylum) but voters concluded they were unelectable. Labour might not be so lucky next time.

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