ABSTRACT
In the early autumn of 2016, a spate of highly publicised interventions by senior Labour politicians highlighted deepening divisions in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on the question of immigration. The issue of immigration had played a key role in the referendum campaign – during which a Labour MP, Jo Cox, was murdered by a far-right nationalist – and, in the aftermath of the vote, researchers were quick to identify immigration as a key issue for many of those who had voted to leave the EU. On close inspection of the talk uttered by Labour Party members during interviews, a number of interesting themes emerge, revealing much about the ideological assumptions underpinning contemporary political debates on immigration and racism, as well as the ideological dilemmas facing party activists who are committed to both anti-racism and majoritarian democratic politics.
