The Scottish Mail on Sunday

Starmer ‘spoiling for fight’ with Left

- By Brendan Carlin

KEIR STARMER was last night accused of ‘spoiling for a fight’ with Labour’s Left.

The party leader was told he had ‘no chance’ of becoming Prime Minister if he did not keep faith with Jeremy Corbyn’s legacy.

Unite boss Len McCluskey last week warned that the Labour membership remained ‘wholeheart­edly behind the radical nature of the policies’ developed under Sir Keir’s predecesso­r. And the union firebrand, who is understood to be furious at the party leader’s sacking of Left-wing frontbench­er Rebecca Long Bailey, warned that Sir Keir ‘needs the Left’. ‘Without the Left of the party, he has no chance of becoming Prime Minister,’ he said.

In an interview with Times Radio yesterday, Sir Keir said he agreed with the call for unity but then aimed a thinlyveil­ed swipe at the state of the party under Mr Corbyn.

He said: ‘In the last few months and years, we’ve been taking lumps out of ourselves. And one of the oldest sayings in politics is that divided parties don’t win elections… and it’s true.’ Sir Keir denied that meant defeating one particular faction of Labour.

But last night one ex-shadow minister said it was clear he wanted to take on the Left. He said: ‘It’s obvious – Keir is now spoiling for a fight.’

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