Keir Starmer was an active socialist when E P Thompson spoke the words below from the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury. Thompson a key figure in CND wanted an end to nuclear weapons but he was not a pacifist. He has been a tank commander in World War Two and sometimes wrote of some form of European federal defence force (not NATO of course)
Starmer’s was part of the Editorial Board of Socialist Alternatives which had broadly that perspective.
A generation (or perhaps two depending how you count) has passed and Starmer is promoting a military focused future for Britain. As E P Thompson knew that is a central part of British history. He hoped for a different future…
Likening the crowd to a medieval army “with its tents, all over the fields” he argued “this has not only been a nation of money-makers and imperialists, it has been a nation of inventors, of writers of activists, artists, theatres and musicians. Looking directly at the assembled crowds he told them “it is this alternative nation which I can see in front of me now.”
E P Thompson, Glastonbury, 23rd June 1984
a battle-ready, armour-clad nation
Keir Starmer, Govan, Glasgow, June 2nd 2025
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