Sir Keir Starmer mentioned “Brexit” just once in his speech to the Labour Party Conference this week - in the context of immigration.

It was unsurprising, given the Prime Minister’s track record of ignoring the same elephant in the room about which he previously shouted so loudly when he vehemently opposed Brexit back in late 2019.

However, it was dispiriting nonetheless.

Sir Keir did not mention "Europe", or the "European Union", in his speech.

The single mention of "Brexit" came in this section of the Prime Minister's speech: “The debate is not about the worth of migrants. That is toxic and we must move beyond it. It’s about control of migration. It’s always been about control.

“That is what people have voted for time and again. And look - they weren’t just ignored after Brexit. The Tories gave them the exact opposite. An immigration system deliberately reformed to reduce control.”

Read more: Denial after denial from brass-necked Tory arch-Brexiter

It seemed like so much playing to the gallery, to those red-wall voters who swept Boris Johnson to power in December 2019. The same voters that Sir Keir and his Government now seem so desperate to pander to at every opportunity after winning many of them back over in the July 4 general election.

European Movement UK, which was formed by Sir Winston Churchill in 1949 to prevent further conflict between European countries and has former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Heseltine as its president, summed up the situation rather well this week. It quite rightly portrayed Brexit as “the underlying crisis facing this country”, declaring: "Shhh. Just don't mention the EU." And European Movement UK observed: "PM ignores EU........

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