“Island of Strangers”

 Recently PM Sir Kier Starmer has used the phrase “Island of Strangers” in a speech about migration. Here I explore the potential origins of the phrase most possibly from a children’s story.

In exploring the phrase I have looked at the speeches of various politicians in the twentieth century. Similar words can be found in speeches by Hugh Gaitskell, Enoch Powell and Oswald Moseley. Yet, the most likely origin of the phrase  is the children’s book “Island of Strangers” by Catherine Sefton – the pen name of Irish author Martin Waddell. He was born in Belfast and you cannot help that this story, published in 1983, is strongly influenced by the sectarian differences in the Troubles.

It is only when you read the story that you can fully understand that this children’s story with a moral fits the discourse around migration. The story is set in the rural village of Ballyhannis which has a neighbouring island that is accessed via a tidal causeway. They are visited by a group of children on a school trip from Gobelier Street School referred to by the local children as “Gobbers”.  The story revolves around Nora a local girl who refuses to hate the incomers, but gets caught in the conflict between the local children and the Gobbers.

Of particular note are the words of Nora’s friend Orla , “ They’ve no right coming here and fighting us. Nobody would ever fight here if it wasn’t for people coming in from outside.”

Nora believes Orla to be wrong, “If it hadn’t  been the Gobbers it would be somebody else, somebody who was the least bit different from the rest of us so that we could pick them up.” Shen then refers to past experiences with visiting Spaniards  and the people that built the pier suggesting this applied as much to adults as it did to children.

The conflict between the locals and the incoming Gobbers escalates and the Gobbers make the island of Inishnogal their own with the peninsular effectively becoming cut off from the mainland and they make their mark with slogans in stone and sand “Gobber Rule” and “Celtic are the Champions”.   It is now referred to as “The Island of Strangers”. As the violence between the children increases Nora gets to know Crystal, a Gobber girl and after some conflict have a mutual respect for each other. This contact results in Nora being isolated from her school friends as a “traitor”.

However, Nora’s school friend, Brendan escalates it further as the story climaxes with stone throwing being cut short by Brendan producing a home made gun. This explodes severely injuring one of his friends and Nora breaks a leg. Peace results with the Gobbers returning home. Brendan becomes a scapegoat for the whole conflict and is blamed which in Nora’s words, “was very convenient for all of us.”

So understanding this story perhaps gives insight into Kier Starmer’s phrase and “Island of Strangers”. However, it is perhaps a sign of how out of touch he is with ordinary people and how naïve he is about how this would be seen by those opposing him.  Whilst I think it unfair to compare these words to Enoch Powell’s speeches or those of Oswald Moseley in the 1930’s I have little sympathy with how he has walked into this.

The reality is that Labour under Tony Blair created the largest influx of people in a short period (see connected post “Migration – Two Great Lies” Migration in the Fens - Two Great Lies  ).  The ignoring of people’s concerns was illustrated in Gordon Brown’s calling Pat Glass a “bigoted woman” , something he apologised for despite the fact that he most probably meant it. Kier Starmer is of that same class of educated Labour that George Orwell refers to in Road to Wigan Pier that are out of touch with reality, the working class, and now much of the middle class. The fact he has used this phrase possibly illustrates it. It also means he possibly shares the same view as Nora in that story in that an attitude against incomers is ingrained within the locals. Even if this view is correct  the continued ignoring of people’s concerns, or at best paying lip service to them is not sustainable.