00:00Comments regarding Nigel Farage at Labour conference have reignited debate about the tone of political language in Britain.
00:08Sir Keir Starmer accused the Reform UK leader of fueling division, remarks that supporters of Mr Farage say were inflammatory and dangerous.
00:18The exchange has sparked a wider question whether the growing aggression in politics is turning people away from voting and taking part in public life altogether.
00:28The fact that politics has become much more febrile and, dare I say it, much more tribal than it's always been is nothing new.
00:37We've had that rivalry over the many generations, if you will.
00:43And indeed, in the 1970s, some politicians were assassinated, most particularly by Irish Republican groups.
00:49And we had the death of Joe Cox and David Amess a couple of years ago who stabbed his death in his constituency.
00:54So politics has become a much more dangerous profession in that sort of sense.
01:00And the fact that sort of politicians, even sort of not household names, have to employ private security to look after themselves.
01:08And indeed, you know, if they were walking through the streets, get accosted by people is somehow not new.
01:13But nonetheless, it seems to be sort of ratcheted up a couple of notches recently.
01:19And indeed, I suspect it's going to get even worse coming into the next election.
01:22Now, of course, the sort of the whole Farage aspect, dare I say it, I mean, I have great sympathy for sort of his views.
01:29But of course, he must take some degree of responsibility for the sort of the climate that's been created.
01:35He comes out of the Trump mode and we know where sort of American politics has gone.
01:39And that has become sort of, you know, really sort of nasty.
01:42So I do sort of see the sort of the it getting worse before it ever gets better, if at all.
01:49A YouGov poll conducted in September found that more than half of respondents believe political debate has become too personal and hostile.
01:57That finding suggests frustration is not limited to one party or camp.
02:02Now, again, you know, it is strangely ironic that sort of what Labour want to induce are policies which are not sort of too far in line with what reform want to do.
02:11Now, Farage has a whole sort of history of sort of his stunts, if you like, with the sort of the media.
02:17But, you know, this name calling becomes, you know, very, very sort of difficult.
02:22And indeed, of course, you know, dare I say it, Farage likes this because he is a sort of a creature that sort of thrives on controversy.
02:28And dare I say it, let's face it, if you ask the sort of the average person in the street, you know, what do they make of the Labour Party conference,
02:35they're probably not going to remember very much, apart from the fact that Farage, if you like, was the sort of the elephant in every room.
02:41So Farage now has become sort of, you know, he's the sort of the real deal in that sort of sense.
02:45He could potentially become the next prime minister, regardless of whatever sort of Keir Starmer calls him.
02:50And indeed, there are probably many people in the Labour Party who probably think that what they should do is just ignore Farage in the hope he might go away.
02:56But that's not going to happen either.
02:58But of course, it comes back to the old maxim.
02:59They can either love you or they can hate you.
03:01The worst thing they can do is to ignore you.
03:03While heated debate has long been part of politics, many observers believe the volume and frequency of hostile exchanges has increased sharply in recent years.
03:12The challenge now, they say, is restoring space for strong disagreement without descending into insult.
03:18If politicians and parties can shift focus towards respectful argument and accountability,
03:24it may help reconnect with voters who feel shut out by the current tone.
Comments