Starmer deepens rift with attack on Corbynites
LABOUR leader Sir Keir Starmer blew wide open the rift in the party with his first conference speech.
He savaged Corbynites for blaming voters for their failure to win the last election, saying the party deserved to lose.
But they angrily hit back saying his speech was “a missed opportunity to show substance”.
Andrew Scattergood, co- chair of the arch- Leftwing Momentum group, said: “If Starmer wants to appeal to working class voters, his pitch should be based on solidarity with the working class and defending their interests, not just slogans and platitudes.”
Sir Keir, speaking in Doncaster, South Yorks, where Labour lost a safe seat to the Tories, appealed to working class voters that deserted his party under Jeremy Corbyn to give it another chance.
Sir Keir said: “The Labour Party has lost four general elections in a row.
“We’ve granted the Tories a decade of power.’
And he warned they can only change lives if they are in government.
He told the party it must be “brutally honest” about its failures.
He added: “When you lose an election in a democracy, you deserve to.”
He also insisted the Brexit debate is over and his party will not be one that “keeps banging on about Europe”.
In the address, delivered without an audience to comply with coronavirus restrictions, he launched a personal attack on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, claiming he is “just not serious” and “he’s not up to the job”.