Keir Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has called on Boris Johnson to impose a nationwide “circuit breaker” lockdown after criticising the government’s three-tiered system. In a turbulent session of Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Sir Keir claimed the prime minister’s latest lockdown approach was ineffective. “Yesterday, the prime minister produced heat maps of the country showing infection rates going up in […]

MARTYN SLOMAN on the furore over an advert which revealed an underlying political issue. Rarely does an issue on skills training cause public controversy.  There has however been a recent exception.   A high-profile government-sponsored advertising campaign suggested that a young ballerina’s next job could be in cyber (“she just doesn’t know it yet!”). It […]

Diane Abbott has accused Sir Keir Starmer of plotting to become Labour leader while he was Brexit minister in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, and suggested the new leader had used the Remain platform to achieve his goal. The former shadow home secretary said Sir Keir’s ambitions were “fairly apparent” and accused him of running “a project of […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on Boris Johnson to deliver the “oven-ready” Brexit deal he had promised. Sir Keir told the BBC’s Politics Wales show the UK gGovernment should sit down and talk to the EU about differences on fishing quotas and state aid. “I think it is very important that the remaining […]

Sir Keir Starmer faced a series of resignations as he suffered a major rebellion over the so-called “spy cops” law. The Labour leader ordered his MPs to abstain on the third reading of the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) Bill. But 34 decided to oppose the legislation, including former leader Jeremy Corbyn, ex-shadow chancellor John […]

A Labour MP has offered his resignation from opposition front bench after pledging to vote against the so-called “spy cops” Bill. Liverpool Walton MP Dan Carden wrote to party leader Sir Keir Starmer, offering to resign as shadow financial secretary to the Treasury over the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) Bill. Carden said that, as a […]

The majority of the public back the introduction of a circuit-breaker lockdown over the October half-term, as proposed by Labour’s Keir Starmer, according to a new poll. YouGov asked more than 3,390 adults in Great Britain whether they would support or oppose two weeks of tough restrictions later this month. Some 68% of respondents said […]

Boris Johnson has been told to “keep up” with the latest lockdown announcements after he appeared to lose track during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Defending his three-tiered lockdown approach, the prime minister said: “The disease is appearing much more strongly in parts of the country than in others. “In Liverpool, for instance, alas, the figures are […]

Sir Keir Starmer has labelled Boris Johnson an “opportunist” after he tried to attack Labour for not supporting the government’s latest Covid-19 strategy during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Sir Keir accused Johnson of ignoring Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) advice on introducing a nationwide two-week “circuit breaker” lockdown put forward on September 21. The […]

Boris Johnson is under pressure to implement a “circuit-breaker” lockdown, which scientists calculate could save thousands of lives by the end of the year. Downing Street is understood to be keeping the idea on the table, after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said a two to three-week national lockdown over the October half term was needed to […]

Sir Keir Starmer has called on the prime minister to impose a national “circuit-breaker” lockdown following reports the government ignored advice to implement one back in September. The Labour leader has broken ranks to criticise the government over its latest lockdown measures. Speaking at a press conference, Starmer said: “There’s no longer time to give […]

Labour leader Keir Starmer is to hold his first televised press conference in response to Monday’s Downing Street press briefing. Whilst Johnson fronted this week’s event alongside chief medical officer Chris Whitty and chancellor Rishi Sunak, he is not expected to front the new ‘White House’ style press briefings starting soon. Johnson has hired former journalist […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has criticised proposals for MPs to receive an inflation-busting pay rise next April. The independent body which sets MPs’ salaries has proposed continuing to link their pay packets to wage growth in the public sector. That could result in a pay rise of more than £3,300, taking their salaries to […]

A former Tory chancellor has said Sir Keir Starmer is more than ready to become prime minister as he issued a stark warning to former colleagues on the threat Labour’s new leader posed.  George Osborne said Boris Johnson and the Tory ministers faced a “plausible opponent” in Sir Keir. Speaking with Fraser Nelson for piece in the […]

Readers have their say on Keir Starmer’s performance on Brexit and Europe. A lot of us are trying to get our heads round Keir Starmer’s “the debate between Leave and Remain is over” (it certainly isn’t) and “we are not going to be a party that keeps banging on about Brexit” (yes we are). We’re […]

How did it come to this? We are a moderate nation; most of us stand somewhere around the centre politically. Get on with your life without too much interference from the state, work hard, pay your taxes, be tolerant, do what you can to help those worse off than yourself, create safety nets for the […]

Labour’s Keir Starmer has called on Boris Johnson to guarantee high food and farming standards after Brexit by putting protections into law through the government’s agriculture bill. Ahead of a visit to National Farmers’ Union president Minette Batters’ farm in Wiltshire, Starmer warned that without action to protect standards there was a “real risk” of […]

Boris Johnson has been accused of “hurtling towards a crash crash” after “ignoring the warning signs”, follow scrutiny of his new coronavirus measures during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Taking to the despatch box, the prime minister argued that the 16,000 positive coronavirus cases that went unreported due to a “technical glitch” did change the “basic distribution” […]

Unite the Union, Labour’s biggest financial donor, is reducing affiliation with the party by about 10% after a vote of its executive. The union’s boss Len McCluskey, an ally of Jeremy Corbyn, has warned Sir Keir Starmer not to move Labour too far from the left, warning of further cuts to the multi-million pound funding if […]

The Labour leader’s first conference speech was light on detail, but in an earlier presentation clear contours of his vision could be made out, says FLORENCE SUTCLIFFE-BRAITHWAITE. Earlier this month, Keir Starmer addressed the Trades Union Congress annual conference for the first time as Labour Party leader. Just over a year earlier, as shadow Brexit […]

Labour activist MARTYN SLOMAN on Keir Starmer’s first party conference speech as leader. As a seasoned and highly professional politician, Keir Starmer will have recognised that not being able to hold the traditional Labour Party Conference had many advantages.  True, it denied him the images of cheering supporters transmitted as the first item on the evening […]

Sir Keir Starmer has slammed Boris Johnson for not understanding his own coronavirus restrictions during this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), as the prime minister called for more support from the Labour leader. On Tuesday, the prime minister contradicted government advice and told people in the North East they could continue to socialise in groups of six […]

A new poll from YouGov has seen Keir Starmer’s perception with the public rise again with 37% now believing he would make the best prime minister. It is an increase of two points compared to a week ago, whilst Boris Johnson has failed to change opinion this week, remaining static on just 30% of support. The […]

Labour MP Claudia Webbe has been suspended by Keir Starmer after being charged with harassment. Reports suggest that the Labour leader made the decision after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced the charge against the 55-year-old, who represents Leicester East, after being passed a file of evidence by the Metropolitan Police. Webbe is due to appear […]

There was a lot to applaud in Keir Starmer’s virtual conference speech and I understand why he says Labour will no longer “bang on about Europe”. Yet on Brexit, as with other aspects of policy, the party must do far more than keep schtum and hope that the Tories continue to make unforced errors all […]

Research by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) has found student support for Labour has risen during Keir Starmer’s leadership. The new YouthSight data on voting intentions found that Labour was the most popular party among students, with 62% saying they would vote for the party. Labour’s student backers have risen considerably under Starmer, after […]

The government has criticised the BBC for allowing Keir Starmer a “right of reply” broadcast on prime time television. The leader of the opposition was allowed to speak to the nation a day after Boris Johnson’s address was broadcast on all of the major television channels. Under BBC guidelines it is standard for the Labour […]

Few political autobiographies contain actual revelations. The occasional tit-bit, perhaps, a humorous aside from a foreign dignitary. Which is why the one which comes in the memoirs of Carwyn Jones comes as almost a lightning bolt: that, throughout his final year in office, the former Labour first minister of Wales was battling severe clinical depression. […]

Three Labour MPs have lost their junior roles after defying the party whip to oppose a controversial bill, backing Jeremy Corbyn rather than Keir Starmer. The MPs went against instructions to abstain on the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill, which Tory ministers insist is aimed at protecting armed forces personnel from “vexatious prosecutions”, […]

Coronavirus restrictions are a “failure of government”, Labour’s Keir Starmer has claimed as he called for a ‘Plan B’ for the economic response. The Labour leader used a televised address to the nation on Wednesday to stress he supports new restrictions being brought in by the government, but that help aimed at keeping people in […]

Richard Leonard was elected as Labour’s leader in Scotland in November 2017 with a brief to re-establish his party as a force in Scottish politics. However, he has been unable to do so. Just as before, Scottish Labour have not threatened the SNP’s monopoly on power. Instead, it competes, a diminished force, with the Scottish […]

In July 1995, Tony Blair flew halfway around the world in his attempts to detoxify the brand of the organisation he had just taken over. The Labour leader decided that he needed to do whatever it took, wherever it took, to convince those with power and influence that his party had shed the extremism of […]