Sir Ed Davey has accused Nigel Farage of helping to fuel a far-right movement whose modern-day “blackshirts” are marching on Britain’s streets, as he said the country must reject fascism like it did at Cable Street.
In an attack on the Reform UK leader, the Liberal Democrat leader told his party’s conference that Farage was “fanning the flames” of intolerance.
Davey drew a direct comparison between balaclava-clad anti-immigration demonstrators in Dover and Portsmouth and the fascists led by Oswald Mosley in the 1930s.
Opening his speech on Tuesday in Brighton, Davey said: “Something big and dangerous is happening in our country. Hundreds of thugs, in black shirts and balaclavas, are marching on our streets. First Dover. Then Portsmouth.
“Their aim? To intimidate. To spread fear. To stoke racism. They may call themselves patriots, but they would tear our country apart. We must not let them.”
Invoking the resistance to Mosley’s Blackshirts at Cable Street 90 years ago, Davey said Britain must once again refuse to accept fascism.
“Mosley’s fascists in the thirties. The National Front in the seventies. Nick Griffin and the BNP just two decades ago.
“Each time, they tried to turn neighbour against neighbour, tried to pit community against community, tried to turn our streets into battlegrounds. But we didn’t let them. The British people said no.
“The East End stood firm on Cable Street. Lewisham and Wood Green turned them back. Voters shut the BNP out.”
“But something feels different this time,” Davey warned.
“Because the blackshirts marching today aren’t doing it in isolation. “They are just the most visible part of a far-right threat that is extremely well-funded.”
Turning his attack on Farage, Davey accused the Reform leader of giving encouragement to that movement.
“This is a far-right movement that is given oxygen, and heat, and fuel by politicians and parties who claim to be serious contenders to lead our country.
“Cynical politicians like Nigel Farage. Not just willing, but eager to fan the flames of hatred and intolerance.”
He claimed Farage is “Trying to create a nation of division and fear – because that’s what keeps him going.
“It is the worst of Trump’s America, we must not let it become Farage’s Britain,” he said.
Davey said his party is “utterly united in condemning racism in all its forms”.
His reference to Cable Street did not explicitly acknowledge the Jewish role in resisting Mosley’s planned march through London’s East End in 1936. Local Jews mobilised alongside Irish dockworkers, communists, socialists and trade unionists to block the route through the area which had a large Jewish population.
The speech also targeted technology billionaires, with Davey naming Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman as he called for international action on artificial intelligence.
He warned that decisions about the technology’s future were concentrated in too few hands, with technology companies “Racing each other with no guard rails and no one to slow them down.”
“We would never accept that with any other existential threat. And we must not accept it when it comes to AI”.
He said he was afraid that Andy Burnham’s approach – a partnership with Trump’s Department of War – “risks making us more dependent on a Trump administration in the pocket of the tech bros.”
Calling for a halt to the development of super-intelligent AI, he said: “So it’s up to us to rise to this challenge, friends. We need a global treaty to press pause on super-intelligent AI now, before it’s too late.”
Davey also argued that closer ties with the European Union were essential to Britain’s economic growth, placing Europe at the centre of his pitch for “British values, liberal values.”
Saying his party would support rejoining the single market, he affirmed: “Fixing our relationship with Europe is the only way to get our economy back on track. And we are fighting to do just that. To put Britain back where it belongs. Back at the heart of Europe.”
On the economy, Davey said that if it was in power, the Liberal Democrats would cut income tax, raise the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 and hike the higher rate tax band threshold to £56,000.
To get more Politics news, click here to sign up for our free politics newsletter.