Andrew Eborn Reports From Inside the Unite the Kingdom Rally That Keir Starmer Called Extremist

[00:00] Joining me now is barrister and

[00:02] broadcaster Andrew Eborn. Andrew, we saw

[00:05] huge numbers marching against mass

[00:08] immigration and against the leftist

[00:10] government of Kier Starmer, the

[00:13] the Kingdom rally over the weekend. And

[00:15] the huge numbers showed up even after

[00:18] Kier Starmer and others on the left

[00:20] tried to categorize this rally as racist

[00:24] and divisive and led by thugs and

[00:27] extremists. Andrew, people still showed

[00:29] up.

[00:31] Oh, absolutely. And they always say,

[00:33] George Orwell says, "Look, if liberty

[00:34] means anything at all, it means the

[00:35] right to tell people what they do not

[00:38] want to hear." And I can tell you, I

[00:40] have on my show many people from all

[00:42] sorts of political persuasions. I went

[00:44] down to the rally. I was given a

[00:45] backstage pass and interviewed a lot of

[00:47] the key speakers, basically to clarify

[00:50] what happened. Kier Starmer, you

[00:52] remember, he went to the Oval Office. He

[00:54] meant met with Trump and reassured Trump

[00:57] in February 2025 that freedom of speech

[01:00] is alive and well in the UK. Well, I can

[01:03] tell you it's in a critical condition

[01:05] because he actually banned a number of

[01:07] the speakers who were going going to be

[01:09] coming over here. People who are MEPs,

[01:11] people who had so on and so forth. And

[01:14] his justification was that there were

[01:16] going to be extremist views and so on

[01:17] and so forth. And what happens, Rita, is

[01:19] they shut down debate by labeling it as

[01:23] far right. And I put it to a number of

[01:25] the people, including the organizers,

[01:27] basically, "Okay, this is Unite the

[01:29] Kingdom. Which part of the kingdom is

[01:31] welcome in this discussion?" And I

[01:34] looked at the crowds and interviewed

[01:35] people. They were from all

[01:37] races, all creeds, all persuasions, and

[01:40] so on and so forth. There were family

[01:41] members there with their children, and

[01:43] so on and so forth. And it was a very

[01:45] friendly event. And they had a similar

[01:47] event in Christmas when they were

[01:49] putting Christ into Christmas. And they

[01:51] had gospel singers. They had black

[01:53] gospel singers. They had preachers

[01:55] there. They read from the scriptures,

[01:56] and so on and so forth. So, to label

[01:58] thing as far right is just to dismiss

[02:01] that argument. And it's not far right to

[02:04] turn around and question and be

[02:05] concerned about things. And I always

[02:07] say, "Look, truth is the best

[02:10] remedy, if you like. My only mistress is

[02:12] the truth. And when I interview people

[02:14] from all political persuasions, it's to

[02:16] look at that sort of side. Sunlight is

[02:18] the best disinfectant. Let's look at the

[02:20] real issues and try to find out causes

[02:23] and also resolution because uh jaw, jaw,

[02:26] not war, war has to be the key message."

[02:30] Well, there were uh people from all

[02:32] sorts of backgrounds at these rallies.

[02:34] We played a number of clips yesterday

[02:37] showing people from all across the uh

[02:40] ethnic spectrum uh showing up. But, one

[02:43] of the things that I noticed, which I

[02:45] guess surprised a few people, was the

[02:47] amount of Christian symbolism that was

[02:50] there, Andrew. Tell me about that.

[02:52] Well, it is interesting you say about

[02:54] surprising people. I think that's right.

[02:56] What happens is when you label something

[02:58] as far right, people don't even bother

[03:01] to listen to it. They assume that that's

[03:03] right. And there is so much

[03:05] misinformation and disinformation. We're

[03:07] drowning in a sea of fake news, if you

[03:10] like, where debate is shut down by these

[03:13] uh labels. And they're basically smears.

[03:15] And what happens is a number of the

[03:17] people who were banned are going to

[03:18] threaten to sue uh Keir Starmer as a

[03:20] result of it. We have a an MEP from a

[03:23] Polish MEP uh basically threatened to

[03:26] personally sue Keir Starmer once he's

[03:28] out of office. And I interviewed, as I

[03:30] say, a number of the people behind there

[03:32] cuz I always think it's fair. Rather

[03:33] than listening to what other people say

[03:35] they're saying, uh ask them directly.

[03:37] So, Glenn Beck, for example, the

[03:39] American conservative political

[03:41] commentator, I interviewed him. He was

[03:43] telling me that he managed to get his

[03:45] visa, but he was threatened that but if

[03:47] he said anything on stage which was

[03:49] controversial or whatever, they would

[03:50] ban him in the future. And we had that

[03:53] discussion about freedom of speech, but

[03:55] not freedom from consequences, because

[03:57] you work out where is the line? And

[04:00] obviously inciting violence and inciting

[04:03] anything which is criminal is clearly

[04:06] not acceptable. Defamation has its own

[04:09] laws and people will basically have to

[04:11] respond to that as as well. But

[04:13] basically asking people to question

[04:15] things, to use their own minds, to

[04:17] gather their own intelligence has got to

[04:20] be right. But he was very concerned

[04:22] about that. I also talked to a number of

[04:24] other people. There was a deputy leader

[04:26] of

[04:27] well, the old previously of Reform UK,

[04:29] now the leader of Advance, a chap called

[04:32] Ben Habib, who you may or may not know.

[04:34] He had a big spat with Piers Morgan,

[04:37] because he used the phrase homegrown

[04:39] culture.

[04:40] And Piers Morgan ranted and raved and

[04:42] said, "Well, that's racist and so on and

[04:44] so forth." And I clarified on my show

[04:46] basically, "Well, what did you mean,

[04:47] Ben?" And when he talks about homegrown

[04:49] culture, because his own father is

[04:52] Pakistani. He's from Punjab. He's over

[04:54] here in his 90s. And he's not saying,

[04:56] "Of course we're not talking about

[04:58] deporting him. We're talking about

[04:59] assimilation. If people come over here,

[05:02] it's basically making sure you respect

[05:03] the culture and so on and so forth.

[05:05] You're not trying to fight against the

[05:06] government." And so people are welcome.

[05:09] And I think that's what we have to try

[05:10] and do. Get away from the rhetoric. Ask

[05:12] people directly what they mean. Get

[05:14] those views clarified. And that's what I

[05:16] say, George Orwell, not war war. That's

[05:18] how we do it. And as he said beforehand,

[05:21] basically I I put it this way is that

[05:23] when the love of power is surpassed by

[05:26] the power of love, that's how you get

[05:28] peace.

[05:31] Now, before you go, I want to play you a

[05:32] clip from Australian actress Holly

[05:35] Valance, who was at the rally, and she

[05:38] had this to say.

[05:39] And don't be embarrassed and don't be

[05:41] too scared to stand up for your country.

[05:43] The place that you love that's given you

[05:45] everything, that's given you your

[05:46] freedom, that's given you the great life

[05:48] that you have respected,

[05:50] uh respect the culture, respect the

[05:52] flag. Don't be embarrassed to fly the

[05:54] flag. Be patriotic, stand in that, and

[05:57] don't let anybody tell you that you're a

[05:59] racist for doing so. It's disgusting and

[06:01] treacherous and treasonous and all of

[06:02] that. And Holly also said that she's

[06:05] proud to be right-wing. It's a very uh

[06:09] unusual position when you're from the

[06:11] entertainment industry, but she's owning

[06:14] it.

[06:15] Well, I think that's right. Well, I

[06:16] think people being proud of their

[06:18] country, being proud of their flag, and

[06:20] so proud of their culture and rich

[06:22] heritage is not a bad thing. And it's

[06:24] slightly tongue-in-cheek. I saw Holly

[06:25] there as well. As I say, I spoke to lots

[06:27] of people uh to get lots of different

[06:29] views. And she's right in terms of I

[06:31] think she was basically dismissing the

[06:33] label. If people are saying, "Look, this

[06:34] is just a smear. Call me what you like,

[06:37] but these are my views." And that's my

[06:39] point, Rita. You're turning around and

[06:40] saying to people, rather than put a

[06:42] label on them, ask them what their

[06:44] actual views are. Because you'll find

[06:45] that most people, when you unpack it

[06:47] sensibly, would not disagree. Being

[06:50] proud is not a sin. Being concerned

[06:52] about some real issues is also not

[06:55] racist and shouldn't be dismissed on on

[06:57] that sort of basis. It was a

[06:58] multicultural event. It was a joyous

[07:00] event. Lots of people were very happy to

[07:02] be there. It was very peaceful. There

[07:04] was singing. There were lots of

[07:05] Christian symbols, as you say. And every

[07:07] color, every creed, every possible uh

[07:10] persuasion, young and old were there

[07:13] celebrating uh freedom of speech. Let's

[07:16] not let freedom of speech die. Uh it is

[07:18] our fundamental right. We must continue

[07:20] not just asking the questions, but

[07:21] questioning those answers.

[07:23] >> Absolutely.

[07:24] Andrew Eborn, thank you so much for your

[07:26] time tonight.