stoke up

"I have watched with dismay how racist rhetoric has flourished on the internet, across social media sites, spreading disinformation to deliberately stoke up division," they said.

SNP MP Alison Thewliss said Mr Sunak had "repeatedly, and very deliberately, sought to stoke up divisions, pander to the far-right and pit communities against each other for electoral gain".

With the focus on the Bidens, McCarthy “has strategically taken the position that he is going to stoke up the base in a lot of the rural, red-state areas,” Carrick said.

"British Hindus and British Muslims have far more in common than that which divides us - and we should be eternally on our guard against extremist forces who seek to stoke up tensions between our communities for their own selfish ends," he said.

“I don’t expect to see too much ‘identity’ politics in the short term, although if she needs to boost her popularity she could stoke up a battle against immigration,” he said.