Blow for Sir Keir after ‘future MP’ Gary Neville casts doubts on Qatar migrant deaths
HE MAY have been tipped as a future Labour MP, but ex-footballer Gary Neville will need to avoid handing open goals to his political opponents if he wants to avoid embarrassing party leader Keir Starmer.
Last night, video footage emerged of the former Manchester United and England defender seeming to play down human rights abuses in Qatar.
He also appeared to cast doubt over international outrage at the deaths of migrant workers in the Gulf state.
Mr Neville, who supported Qatar’s controversial bid to host the World Cup this year, said in a documentary: ‘Do we believe that on those sites, in front of Western project managers, workers are dying and they’re hiding it? Are we really saying that’s happening? I find that difficult to believe because I’ve got more faith in people.’
The programme, which is available on YouTube, looked at the Arab nation’s World Cup preparations.
He said: ‘I’ve been invited here to produce a documentary on the Qatar World Cup by the Qatar government. It was on the basis that nothing is off boundaries. Whatever we see we can put in, whatever we get material-wise we can put in – if we’re not comfortable with anything we can take it out. We have to ask the tough questions.’
Mr Neville asked Qatari official Hassan Al-Thawadi about workers’ deaths, following reports that the toll while constructing stadiums could hit 4,000. Mr Al-Thawadi said that since 2020 only three workers had died of work-related causes, adding: ‘The number of 4,000 deaths is inaccurate.
‘I think they took all the deaths in the country, labour related, not labour related, workers, non-workers and so on, and then multiplied it over the years to come and got to 4,000 deaths. It was reported all over the world.’
Afterwards, Mr Neville said in a voiceover: ‘There is a real struggle to find out what the real number is. But... we can’t disprove the number of three. And we certainly can’t prove the number of 4,000.’
Last year a Guardian analysis suggested 6,500 migrant workers had died in Qatar since 2010, when it was chosen to host the tournament.
Mr Neville’s comments will no doubt embarrass Labour. The Mail on Sunday revealed he was being tipped for a political career after talks with Sir Keir over ‘shared political interests’. He joined Labour this year.
Last month it was reported that he would campaign for Labour, fuelling speculation that he may run for Parliament. It has also been rumoured that he could succeed Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.
In 2019 he urged his Twitter followers to vote for Jeremy Corbyn. He has since used his social-media clout to spread his soak-the-rich views, despite being worth some £70million.
Mr Neville twice turned down the opportunity to condemn Qatar’s treatment of women, gay people and migrants when asked by the MoS. Last night, he also refused to discuss his views in the Qatari documentary.
‘Do we believe workers are dying and they’re hiding it?’