Starmer: My goal is to play footie every week
Games help Labour leader relax
FOOTBALL-MAD Keir Starmer aims to keepy-uppy up his weekly game, even if he becomes Prime Minister.
The Labour leader, 61, says a match with friends away from the stresses of daily political life helps him relax.
He said: “I play every week. I love it. And it’s 90 minutes where you go on the pitch, just with mates now, I mean, I’m not playing anything serious any more.
“Nobody gives a stuff what you do for a living. The only rule now of our game is, ‘Don’t be an ass’.
“It takes you away from politics, away from everything. I’ve been playing every week pretty much since 10, so I’m gonna keep that going as long as I can.”
Season ticket-holding Arsenal fan Mr Starmer was asked on Sky’s Fantasy Football League how he would feel if Rishi Sunak and his family bought the club, and joked: “I want my club to win.”
And in a dig at the Tory leader, Mr Starmer said of Southampton fan Mr Sunak: “I think he went once last season and he carefully chose the game, which is the game they got relegated in!
“If you’re looking at the programme, you probably think that isn’t the game to go to.” Mr Starmer, appearing alongside Chelsea FC Women manager Emma Hayes, also praised manager Mikel Arteta for rebuilding the Gunners when people said there was no turning things around – just like him with Labour.
He told fellow Arsenal fan Matt Lucas and comics Andrew Mensah and Elis James: “He’s done a fantastic job and we’ve turned Labour round. So there are some similarities.” Mr Starmer also likened Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons to football, saying: “There’s a wall of sound. Two sets of fans. Blues and Reds.”
■ Mr Starmer is on today’s Fantasy Football League, on Sky Max and NOW