Is this Keir Starmer's golden ticket to beat Reform? Inside PM's risky bid to outflank Nigel Farage

In his Policy Exchange speech on Wednesday, Glasman claimed Labour had isolated its core voter base by dismissing concerns about immigration by branding them as “far-right” or racist.

Lord Glasman said: “It’s been the case for the last 20 to 30 years that I would say that Labour culture has been a hostile environment for working-class people, because if you actually say what you think, you get condemned.

“And the inability to express the grief ... this is a huge part of the story, is that we see people in pain, and we call them far-right or populists or nativists or racists or sexists, but no, they’re just speaking.”

He added: “Obviously, the first part of the argument is that if we’re a patriotic party that’s pro-industry, pro-army, pro-police, we will attract working-class support hugely.

“But there’s got to be a cultural change where this thought policing of what is acceptable discourse, the power of HR departments, has got to be targeted ... to create a political space once more in which the people who created our movement are allowed to speak.”

Glasman, who attended Donald Trump's inauguration in January, has already dissented from Starmer on a number of issues.

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He led Labour calls for a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal and warned against handing the Chagos Islands over to Mauritius.

Starmer has already pivoted his position since entering the House of Commons in 2015, receiving backlash from hard-left Labour members over the commitments he rolled back on following the 2020 leadership contest.

The Prime Minister, who was accused of flip-flopping during his sparring days with Boris Johnson, went from demanding the restoration of freedom of movement to committing to reductions in net migration.

He also went from being unable to confirm whether a woman can have penis to supporting the Supreme Court's ruling.

Despite being steered by Morgan McSweeney, Starmer is struggling to outflank Farage and is instead blasts Reform UK over Ukraine, the NHS and workers' rights.

Speaking to GB News ahead of the Local Elections, polling guru James Johnson said: "The struggle Labour has is that the values it has that are disconnected from voters, especially on immigration, patriotism and being straight-talking, matter more than the issues around the NHS, workers' rights and foreign affairs."

Starmer is also at risk of facing a rebellion from his own MPs, especially those who sit on the left of the parliamentary party.

After being forced to suspend seven Corbynista MPs following a rebellion on the two-child benefit cap last summer, undeterred Labour MPs have grown increasingly frustrated about the decision to axe Winter Fuel Payments.

Ex-Tory Minister Ann Widdecombe, who joined Farage's ranks during Reform's previous incarnation as the Brexit Party, also cautioned Starmer against parking his tanks on their turquoise lawns.

Writing for GB News, Widdecombe said: "Starmer’s problem is that his party may well come to have other ideas.

"They do not much like the direction of travel, but a lot of them are too new to have the confidence to rebel, and most threatened revolts prove to be just that: threats rather than actions.

"It is still early days but if Starmer continues to lag in the polls or his followers begin trekking towards Reform then the compliance he is expecting from the overcrowded benches behind him may wane."