Finding the white working class in multicultural nationalism
As Reform UK gains traction among white working-class voters, Labour faces renewed pressure to define its national story. With the revival of ‘Blue Labour’ social conservatism, the party faces a defining challenge: can it tell a national story that includes everyone?
This event explores how Labour’s electoral strategy reflects a zero-sum approach that struggles to hold together its diverse coalition. It develops the idea of multicultural nationalism as a more inclusive framework – one that seeks to bring both ethnic minorities and disaffected white working-class communities into a shared sense of belonging. Can Labour move beyond choosing between factions to build a pluralistic and cohesive vision of Britain?
Our panel will discuss these questions and consider the possibilities of building a national project that truly reflects the country’s diversity.
Meet our speakers and chair
John Denham is Professorial Research Fellow and Director of the Centre for English Identity and Politics at Southampton University. He was a Labour MP from 1992-2015, serving as a Minister under Tony Blair and in Gordon Brown's Cabinet where he was Communities Secretary. He also Chaired the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Sara Hobolt is the Sutherland Chair in European Institutions and the Head of the LSE Department of Government. Her research focuses on elections, referendums, public opinion and political parties. In her forthcoming book, Tribal Politics. How Brexit Divided Britain (Oxford UP, 2026), she examines how the Brexit vote gave rise to new political identities in Britain. She is the President of the European Political Science Society (EPSS) and the Chair of the European Election Studies.
Anand Menon is Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King's College London and Director of the UK in a Changing Europe, a unique initiative funded by the Economic and Social Science Research Council based at King’s College London. He is an associate fellow of Chatham House and Senior Associate member of Nuffield College, Oxford. He is also co-editor of the journal West European Politics.
Sam Taylor Hill is Programme Manager of the Orwell Youth Prize, IR Teaching Associate at University of Bristol, and author of Challenging Alienation in the British Working Class: Building a Community of Equals. His research focuses on working-class issues in contemporary Britain.
Mike Savage joined LSE in 2012 and retired from the Department of Sociology in 2024. He is now Professorial Research Fellow at LSE’s International Inequalities Institute, from where he retains active collaboration with the Department of Sociology. Mike was Head of Department between 2013 and 2016. Between 2015 and 2020, he was Director of LSE’s International Inequalities Institute.
More about this event
The International Inequalities Institute at LSE brings together experts from many of the School's departments and centres to lead cutting-edge research focused on understanding why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.
Read the article Multicultural Nationalism: Saving the White Working Class from Blue Labour? by Sam Taylor Hill, Tariq Modood, and John Denham here.
Featured image: Photo by Carlos Castilla on Shutterstock
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LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.