Nearly Half of Labour Party Members ‘Ashamed’ of British History, 53 Per Cent Back Abolishing Monarchy

CROYDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 06: Supporters cheer during a Labour Party rally in Park Hill park
Jack Taylor/Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

A poll has found that almost half of Labour Party voters are ashamed of their country’s history and the majority are in favour of abolishing the monarchy, demonstrating the party’s leftward shift out of the mainstream of British politics.

The poll conducted by YouGov found that 48 per cent of Labour members are ashamed of the past 300 years of British history. Only 29 per cent said they were proud of their country’s history, compared to 53 per cent of the general public.

The majority of the public, 63 per cent, support the British Monarchy. However, the majority of Labour members are in favour of abolishing the institution, with 53 per cent saying they would replace the Queen with an elected head of state, according to a poll reported by the Mail on Sunday.

Labour voters refused to blame Jeremy Corbyn, the septuagenarian socialist leader, for Labour’s historic defeat to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the party’s worst performance in a general election since 1935. The poll found that just 36 per cent blamed Corbyn for the loss compared to nearly half of the public, who pinned the defeat on the ageing socialist.

Members also refused to reckon with the problem of antisemitism within the Labour Party, with 78 per cent saying the issue was either exaggerated or that the party had no problem with antisemitism at all, despite the Chief Rabbi of the UK, Ephraim Mirvis, proclaiming in November that Jeremy Corbyn was “unfit for office” because of his handling of antisemitism allegations in the party.

In response to the poll, former Labour MP Ian Austin said that it will take the party years to recover from the “toxic legacy” of Jeremy Corbyn, saying that the party has been “gripped by extremism and poisoned by antisemitism”.

“Almost half of Labour members are ashamed of Britain’s history and more than half want to do away with our Monarchy,” Austin said.

“Contrast that with the values and views of the general public — a nation proud of its rich heritage and history and supportive of the Monarchy — and you will see what a toxic legacy the new Labour leader will inherit from Jeremy Corbyn next month,” the former MP warned.

Speaking ahead of the General Election in November, the leader of the Brexit Party, Nigel Farage, called on the Labour Party to stop “apologising” for the history of the British Empire.

Mr Farage was referring to a proposal in Jeremy Corbyn’s election manifesto that pledged to “audit” the impact of British Colonialism and the “legacies” associated with it, a move that would have laid the groundwork for reparations.

“I think if we obsess about the past, different times and different cultures, it can be very difficult to move forward. So I think some of this stuff is just not helpful. I don’t think I should apologise for what people did 300 years ago. It was a different world, a different time,” Mr Farage said.

“You could apply that argument to any civilisation, any country and we seem to be terribly keen to apologise for the past and a bit less worried about creating a good future,” Farage concluded.

Follow Kurt on Twitter at @KurtZindulka

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