Keir Starmer blasts Nigel Farage over Andrew Tate comment - 'completely wrong'
Keir Starmer has said Nigel Farage is 'completely wrong' to call Andrew Tate an 'important voice' for young men.
The Prime Minister said the Reform UK leader is on the 'wrong side' of parents who don't want their kids being 'drawn into this world '. He said influencers like Tate draw in young men with the lure of being a 'strong, successful, wealthy man', adding: 'But then locked in and alongside it, misogyny.'
Mr Starmer continued: 'I don't share Nigel Farage 's view that this is all alright… I don't think any parent really seriously thinks it's alright because misogyny is something that gets deep into the psyche, affects so many young people. I think it's very important as a Prime Minister, as a dad, that I call this out. And I just think Nigel Farage is completely wrong and think he's on the wrong side of where most families are because they don't want their boys being drawn into this world, which is not going to be good for them, not going to be good for their future relationships and won't be good for girls and young women either.' It comes after Nigel Farage came under pressure to distance himself from 'racist' Ant Middleton rant.
Mr Farage backed Tate in a Strike It Big podcast that aired in February last year. While saying the toxic influencer had said some 'pretty horrible' things, he said: 'Tate was a very important voice for an emasculated … you three guys, you are all 25, you are all kind of being told you can't be blokes, you can't do laddish, fun, bloke things … That's almost what you're being told.
'That masculinity is something we should look down upon, something we should frown upon. It's like the men are becoming feminine and the women are becoming masculine and it's a bit difficult to tell these days who's what.'
And in the election campaign last year, Mr Farage said he was part of 'a similar phenomenon' to the misogynistic influencer amid polls showing young men are flocking to his party.
Mr Farage's comments came after Tate was arrested in Romania in 2022 accused of rape and human trafficking.
The Reform UK leader's views on children's safety online have been the centre of debate since Mr Farage last week said his party would abolish the Online Safety Act if it was elected. It would mean removing Ofcom's children's safety codes, which came into force at the end of July and which order tech companies to prevent children accessing harmful content, including misogynistic material, extreme violence and pornography.
Today, the PM announced an £88million investment in clubs and after-school activities to try to stop kids being stuck in their bedrooms doomscrolling on their phones. 'I think any parent across the country worries about this because children spend too much time online,' he told 5 News.
'It's quite isolating because often they're in their bedrooms on their own. They're not interacting with other people. And so we have to find a way of dealing with that. And one of the ways is to say there are other activities that are available for them to do.'
The PM said he wanted to stop kids, particularly boys, getting 'sucked into this world'. 'There's a lot of sort of male, sort of toxic masculinity if you like, that boys get attracted to, get sucked into,' he said.
Elsewhere, it was announced last month that children will get lessons on the dangers of the online world to help tackle 'an epidemic' of misogyny in schools. New Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) guidance will aim to address a crisis in attitudes towards women and girls among boys and men.
The Department for Education said data shows 'misogynistic attitudes have reached epidemic scale by the end of secondary school'.
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