Skip to main content
Advertise with the Morning Star
The phoney ‘war on motorists’ is a painful farce
Rishi Sunak’s propaganda glamorising car culture aims to whip up anti-green backlash from a fantasy world of tweed caps and open-top Morgans in a cynical vote-grabbing ploy, writes SALLY WILTON
A man driving a car in traffic at night

PRIME MINISTER RISHI SUNAK took some clever advice from his spin doctors when in 2023 he decided to rename certain gullible folk who sit behind the wheel of a vehicle “motorists.” Using this rather old-fashioned word he triggered one of the most blatant uses of propaganda in recent years in Britain, clearly spun for one purpose only — to win votes.

Sunak went on to portray “motorists” as some sort of persecuted group, a minority who are discriminated against, when in fact many of us travel in cars from time to time without feeling we are treated unfairly and would not want to include ourselves in his gang.

This irritating trope hasn’t yet faded away; it has grown into an anti-ULEZ monster that is set to be perhaps the only populist Conservative policy that is garnering support for the forthcoming general election.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
House of Commons House of Commons handout photo issued of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the House of Commons, London, during Prime Minister's Questions, September 10, 2025
Aw That / 13 September 2025
13 September 2025

The Prime Minister’s hamfisted promotional video promising to go ‘further and faster’ coincides with Angela Rayner’s resignation over tax dodging and Mandelson’s long overdue departure over Epstein — incredible timing, writes MATT KERR

MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS: AI Truth Machine / LIT Law Lab,
Features / 12 April 2025
12 April 2025
ANSELM ELDERGILL asks whether artificial intelligence may decide legal cases in the future, in place of human judges, and how AI could reshape the legal landscape
Dame Andrea Jenkyns, Reform UK Chairman Zia Yusuf, and Refor
Eyes Left / 10 December 2024
10 December 2024
From boozy banker renegade to man-of-the-people populist, Farage’s evolution continues — if he can win constituencies like the Welsh mining areas, the left will need new and better answers, writes ANDREW MURRAY