Starmer: Holiday PM a picture of complacency
Labour leader savages Johnson over his painting break at Marbella villa
EXCLUSIVE
Deputy Political Editor and Chief Reporter in Marbella
BY
BORIS Johnson skulked back home last night after his Spanish painting holiday as Keir Starmer accused him of failing to tackle the crises gripping Britain.
The Prime Minister flew into Heathrow Airport following a week-long stay at a luxury villa in the hills above Marbella. He is expected to host a meeting of top ministers at a Cabinet away day in the South West this afternoon.
But as the PM returned, the UK was battling soaring energy prices threatening to shut factories, warnings of shortages of Christmas food and toys and a deepening cost of living crisis. As families feared for their household budgets this week,
Mr Johnson was twice pictured painting at his Tory pal Lord Zac Goldsmith’s 600-acre luxury estate.
He was dubbed the “weasel with his easel” after the pictures emerged.
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Mr Starmer blasted the Tory chief for failing to “step up to the plate”.
The Labour leader said: “We’ve just got a picture of the PM painting in Marbella – utter complacency.
“It’s the same old, same old, which is a failure to plan and abdicating responsibility for the inevitable consequences of failing to plan and blaming somebody else while sitting on a sun-lounger.
“It’s all summed up in that picture, really.
“We’ve had a fuel crisis, we’ve got a food price crisis, we’ve got a cost of living crisis, we’ve got families worrying about bills, worried about what’s going to happen going
into Christmas. And you’ve got a Prime Minister who is effectively sending pictures to say, ‘It’s not my problem, it’s somebody else’s fault’.
“It exemplifies everything that is wrong with this Prime Minister.”
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said it is an honour to be in No10 and “you should take that job seriously”.
Mr Johnson was whisked from the sun-kissed villa in a blacked-out minivan to nearby Malaga Airport.
At one stage it appeared his driver had become lost as he struggled to find the correct security entrance to drop off the PM. Meanwhile, it was last night claimed papers indicate the villa is held through an offshore structure based in tax havens.
Files suggested Lord Goldsmith and his family may have owned the property through a Maltese firm.
It is held by companies in the Turks and Caicos Islands and administered by a wealth-planning business based in Switzerland, the Guardian said.
There was no suggestion of wrongdoing and the peer, a former MP, had declared his interest in the property. The paper added he refused to answer questions about the arrangements, and his spokesman did not issue a denial. The PM stayed at the villa with wife Carrie and baby son Wilfred.
It’s the same old, same old.. blaming somebody else while sitting on a sun-lounger
@benglaze VOICE OF THE MIRROR: PAGE 10
KEIR STARMER HITTING OUT AT BORIS JOHNSON YESTERDAY