Like Zoe Williams (I will never leave Labour – but my new membership card makes me uneasy, 9 October), I was disconcerted to be alerted to the ersatz patriotism of the new Labour membership card, with its incorporation of the union jack. On the reverse, the new heading “country first” dominates.
I understand the intention was to signify putting the interests of country above party, but this is nowhere explained on the card itself or in the accompanying email. In the absence of context other than the flag, the phrase conjures up the nativist, isolationist and white supremacist tendencies exemplified by the Australia and America First movements, culminating in the resurrection of the latter by Donald Trump.
