Is there nothing Sir Flip-Flop won’t say just to get elected?
After angering the Left by praising Maggie...
SIR Keir Starmer was accused last night of ‘saying anything to get elected’ after he lavished praise on Margaret Thatcher.
The Labour leader hailed the former Conservative Prime Minister for her ‘driving sense of purpose’ and for dragging Britain ‘out of its stupor’ by unleashing ‘entrepreneurialism’.
But he faced a major backlash from opponents on both Left and Right, who said his comments were a nakedly cynical ploy to win the votes of Tory supporters.
Critics highlighted his previous vocal opposition to the Iron Lady’s flagship policies of privatisation and taming the trade unions.
As a young Left-wing lawyer, Sir Keir was even praised by union leader Arthur Scargill for defending striking miners for free.
The latest row comes after he abandoned pledges he made when running for Labour’s leadership in 2020, from hiking income tax and scrapping tuition fees to defending free movement and nationalising public services.
Last night Tory chairman Richard Holden said: ‘Keir Starmer will
‘He can’t be taken seriously’
say anything to get elected. This is yet another classic example of him saying what he thinks people want to hear, despite having a track record of doing the opposite.’
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told Sky News: ‘I suspect the great lady herself would view a man that is trying to ride on the coat tails of her success with the following words: “No, no, no.” ’
Tory Backbencher Brendan Clarke-Smith added: ‘The public realise Starmer will say whatever he thinks people want to hear.
‘They will be flabbergasted at his praise for Margaret Thatcher — especially when he has previously portrayed himself as a champion of mineworkers.
‘It’s just the latest flip-flop and goes to show that both he and Labour can’t be treated seriously.’
Even some of Sir Keir’s own MPs were withering about his remarks.
Labour’s Beth Winter, MP for Cynon Valley in Wales, said: ‘Margaret Thatcher devastated working- class communities like mine. Policies like the grossly iniquitous poll tax and the great privatisation rip-off offs were the hallmarks of Thatcherism.’
Her colleague Ian Byrne said: ‘Inequality, hunger, destitution and misery. That’s the real legacy left by Thatcher.’
And Kim Johnson, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, said: ‘Margaret Thatcher destroyed industries, attacked trade unionists and privatised our core industries. [She is] not someone any Labour supporter should look up to.’
Sir Keir’s comments were gleefully seized upon by nationalist politicians in Scotland — where Mrs Thatcher remains a hate figure for many — who are desperate to see off the threat of a resurgent Labour Party.
Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf said: ‘What Thatcher did to mining and industrial communities was not “entrepreneurialism” — it was vandalism.’
The row was sparked by an opinion piece Sir Keir wrote for the Sunday Telegraph, in which he extended the ‘hand of friendship’ to traditional Tory supporters by promising a Labour government would be tough on immigration.
He described several seismic moments in modern British politics, from post- war PM Clement Attlee deciding Labour must be a party of duty to Tony Blair seizing the optimism of the 1990s.
‘Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism,’ Sir Keir wrote. In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, he explained: ‘The point I’m making is that you can distinguish political leaders into those that had a plan and those that drifted.’
Of Mrs Thatcher he said she had ‘a plan for entrepreneurialism’. He insisted: ‘It doesn’t mean I agree with what she did, but I don’t think anybody could suggest she didn’t have a sense of purpose.’
Asked if he was seeking Tory votes, Sir Keir said ‘yes’, adding: ‘I do want to persuade those that voted Tory in the past to vote Labour this time round.’
A Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘Margaret Thatcher famously said: “I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.”
‘The British people have made up their minds about Starmer, and the verdict is that he is a spineless flip-flopper who says whatever is convenient at the time.’