Chuka Ummana is the only mainstream politician with the guts to take on Ukip. Good for him

By Dan Hodges

Chuka Umunna is starting to break the rules. Up until recently Labour’s
shadow business secretary had become a byword for political caution and
calculation. “He’s good, but it’s not clear what he stands for”, a shadow
cabinet colleague told me a few month’s ago.

Well, Umunna is taking a stand now.
Last week he wrote an article in the South London Press on Ukip.
And it was definitely not a pat repetition of the current Labour line to
take.

“We hear the rhetoric that is being used about people from Eastern Europe …
and we recognise it as the same language used in the past against the
parents and grandparents of people who’ve now been living in our area for
decades.

“We have heard this rhetoric before, and will not stand for it. If Labour does
not make the case then there is no one else in politics who will do so, so
that is why in six months time when I am campaigning for re-election, I will
be seeking a mandate that stands up to racism and fear, and values the
diversity of our area – Not fear of ‘the other’, but faith in one another
and in our ability to build a common future together.”

The first rule Chuka Umunna has broken is the obvious one. He has accused Ukip
directly of “racism”. Politicians are not allowed to accuse Nigel Farage and
his party of that. For all their talk of an “honest debate” about
immigration and race, Farage and his supporters do not like it when the
extremism and prejudice of their party is called out for what it is. Anyone
who does so is immediately charged with trying to “shut down the debate”.
Taboo number one broken.

The second rule Chuka Umunna has broken is to expose the fake distinction
between the “old immigration debate” and the “new immigration debate”. The
“old” immigration debate, we are told, was based around colour. It was
targeted at “the Blacks” and “the Asians”. That was the wrong sort of
debate. But the “new” immigration debate isn’t based around colour. The
Poles, the Romanians the Roma – they’re white, just like you and me. They’re
European – just like you and me. So it’s not racism. It can’t be. It’s just
plain common sense.

Umunna refuses to differentiate between the new migrants and the old migrants.
He’s not prepared to indulge Ukip’s game of playing one group off against
the other. Taboo number two broken.

The third rule Chuka Umunna has broken is to implicitly criticise his own
party. That’s always a no no, especially with an election only six months
away. But it’s there. The statement “If Labour does not make the case then
there is no one else in politics who will do so” is a clear rebuke to those
in Labour’s ranks who are seeking to deal with Ukip via a policy of
appeasement. It’s a rebuke to his own leader, who is currently trapped by
his own liberal instincts, the collapse of his precious “35 per cent
strategy”, and hasn’t got the faintest idea how to confront the People’s
Army. And it’s also a full-on rebuke to those Miliband strategists who have
been encouraging Labour voters in Rochester to vote Ukip to give David
Cameron a bloody nose.

Umunna is no longer prepared to toe the line on Ukip. Taboo number three
broken.

The fourth, and in many ways most significant, rule Chukka Umunna has broken
is the rule that says an ambitious, black politician has to steer clear of
issues of race and immigration. They are entry level issues. By all means
talk up your colour to get your foot on the political ladder. But once it’s
there, to talk about race is to run the risk of defining yourself by your
race. And to be defined by your race, if you’re black, is political suicide.

Umunna is prepared to talk about racism. He’s prepared to talk about the
historic prejudice experienced by black Britons, including his own family.
Taboo number four broken.

Our political leaders are currently trapped in the purple headlights. Ed
Miliband doesn’t know how to take on Ukip. David Cameron is too scared to
take on Ukip. Nick Clegg is too irrelevant to take on Ukip.

Which leaves Chuka Umunna as the only high-profile, frontbench politician
currently prepared to take an overt stand against Nigel Farage and the toxic
populism of prejudice. In doing so Umunna is finally making his own rules.
Good for him.