Paul Embery, a firefighter, trade union activist, and Blue Labour thinker, analyses the profound schism between the traditional British working class and the modern political left in his book Despised: Why the Modern Left Loathes the Working Class. Embery argues that the left has abandoned historical materialism and class analysis in favour of cosmopolitan liberalism, open borders, identity politics, and personal autonomy. As the Labour Party became dominated by middle-class social activists and urban professionals, it grew increasingly out of touch with ordinary blue-collar communities, eventually treating working-class voters with scorn and dismissing their economic and cultural concerns as bigotry. This ongoing betrayal drove working-class voters to revolt through democratic actions like Brexit and by shifting their tribal allegiance to the Conservative Party in the 2019 general election. Embery contends that unless the left abandons its toxic moral lecturing, acknowledges the real economic impacts of unmanaged migration, and reconnects with the values of community, place, and belonging, it will remain politically irrelevant. Furthermore, he critiques how unregulated migration serves as a boon for big business while suppressing wages and undermining technological investment, urging a return to sensible market regulation and true solidarity with working people.
