I want a Keiring sharing Labour
New leader vows to end party rows
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to end bitter Labour Party infighting after winning the race to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader by a landslide.
The 57- year - old former human rights lawyer beat rivals Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy in the f irst round of counting by securing 56 per cent of 490,731 votes.
In an acceptance speech posted on social media after a planned press conference was shelved due to coronavirus, he insisted his mission was to “bring the party together” as “a force for good and a force for change”.
And he vowed to tear out the “poison” of anti-Semitism from the party “by its roots”.
The new leader added: “Where that requires change, we will change. Where that requires us to rethink, we will rethink.”
The new appointment was welcomed by Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard.
He said: “Keir has a fine intellect but has his feet on the ground. He gets Scotland and the urgent need for a constitutional convention to modernise Britain.
“I am looking forward to working closely with him.”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, meanwhile, issued a plea to Starmer to work together during the coronavirus pandemic.
He said: “I congratulate Keir Starmer on his election and lo ok forwa rd to meeting him.
“At this unprecedented time, it’s vital opposition par t ies work together effectively to hold the UK Government to account – and ensure people get the support they need in the coronavirus crisis.”
But he added: “I do not envy the position Keir Starmer finds his party in. Support for Labour has collapsed in Scotland. If they are ever to regain trust, they must stop ignoring Scotland’s wishes and respect our democratic right to choose our own future.”
Dad- of- two Starmer served as head of the Crown Prosecution Service and accepted a knighthood in 2014.
He was brought up in Southwark, London, by his toolmaker dad and nurse mum. Both being Labour supporters, they named him a ft erKeir Hardie,t hep arty’ s first parliamentary leader. Starmer’s CV includes co- founding the renowned Doughty Street Chambers and advising the Policing Board to ensure the Police Service of Northern Ireland complied with human rights laws.
He entered Parliament as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras in 2015 and was quickly elevated to the front bench, serving as shadow home off ice minister before being promoted to shadow Brexit secretary soon after the EU referendum in 2016.
The politician was instrumental in getting Labour to back a second referendum.
He has since said the issue is settled but has refused to rule out campaigning for Britain to return to the EU in the long term.
During the leadership race, Starmer pledged to raise income tax for the top five per cent of earners, to campaign for EU freedom of movement to continue and push for “common ownership” of public services such as mail, rail and energy.
He also vowed to introduce a Prevention of Military Intervention Act if he becomes PM, to ensure Britain could only go to war if the Commons agreed.
Meanwhile, Angela Rayner, MP for Ashton- under- Lyne, won the deputy leadership race by 52.6 per cent.
Her political career began when she became a trade union representative for Unison while working as a care worker.
She was elected as an MP in 2015 and quickly rose from being a junior shadow minister to being appointed shadow education secretary in June 2016.
The mother-of-three tweeted: “I know we face a long and difficult road ahead but it’s our responsibility to offer the better future that the citizens of our country deserve.”
Keir has a very fine intellect but also has his feet on the ground