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New Statesman
19-05-2025
- Politics
- New Statesman
Starmer faces his unhappy backbenchers
Photo by Henry Nicholls -Monday's meeting could have gone very differently for Keir Starmer. The Prime Minister, flanked by the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, was met with rapturous applause as he entered the stuffy committee room where more than 200 Labour MPs awaited him. This rousing welcome is pretty standard for a prime minister (particularly for one only nine months into the job). Privately, however, the party's backbenches are, as one MP put it to me 'almost universally pissed off'. The Prime Minister had spent much of the day parading the UK's new EU-reset deal, but he used his speech to the PLP to take aim at Reform. He told gathered MPs: 'the Conservatives are not our principal opponent. Reform are our main rivals for power.' It makes sense in the wake of the local elections, in which Reform won control of 10 councils. If a general election were held today, the renegade party would likely take a sizeable chunk out of Labour's numbers. Starmer described Nigel Farageas a 'state-slashing, NHS-privatising, Putin apologist, without a single patriotic bone in his body.' According to insiders, however, Starmer's rallying cry did not have the galvanising effect he might have hoped for. One MP told me that compared to July last year – in which members of the 2024 intake were 'brimming with enthusiasm' – the mood is 'very subdued'. Among the primary concerns are recent government announcements on welfare cuts and Starmer's 'island of strangers' immigration speech last week. Last year's Winter Fuel Payment cut, an issue which featured heavily on the doorstep during the locals, continues to haunt Starmer's administration too. During the meeting, the Prime Minister took 26 questions, of which I am told he answered three. One Lancashire MP pointed out that the party is on its knees in the county after the locals (Reform now control Lancashire County Council). There is little they can do to coax voters back from Reform, and so asked why the party doesn't stick to its traditional values anyway. Diane Abbott used the meeting to take direct aim at Starmer's immigration white paper in a speech which one MP described as a 'scolding' (although another tells me privately that she went on for too long and eventually lost the room). Many MPs used their questions to ask Starmer directly – what do you stand for? Though criticism from the left of the party following last week's speech was inevitable (particularly those elected pre-2024), it is becoming increasingly clear that even newbie Starmer loyalists are feeling disaffected (a few tell me they didn't even go to Monday's meeting). It is a surprise, then, that this gathering of the PLP was not a more fractious affair. But unless something is done to mend the fractures, Starmer's party will only grow unhappier. [See more: Labour's Europe deal is a trap for Brexiteers] Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Related
Daily Mirror
19-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Keir Starmer's blistering attack on Farage - 'not a patriotic bone in his body'
Keir Starmer told members of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) that they have a 'moral responsibility' to beat Nigel Farage's Reform - which he said is now Labour's main rival for power Keir Starmer has launched a blistering attack on Nigel Farage - telling Labour MPs he "doesn't have a patriotic bone in his body". The PM went on to tell backbenchers they have a "moral responsibility" to beat him. In a speech to the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) he said Reform are now his party's main rivals for power and vowed: "We will take the fight to him." In a spiky assessment of Mr Farage's record, he branded him a "state-slashing, NHS-privatising, Putin apologist without a single patriotic bone in his body". The PM also referred to a notorious video which Mr Farage posted saying car giant Jaguar "deserve" to go bust because he didn't like an advert for the firm. He said: "We have a moral responsibility to make sure Farage never wins. We have to be clear that every opportunity he has had in this Parliament to back working people he's voted against. Telling the workers at Jaguar Land Rover they deserve to go bust." And he pointed to successes including Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) being protected by a US trade deal, rising wages, NHS waiting lists falling and school breakfast clubs. He went on: " Nigel Farage stands for absolutely none of this. But that is what working people want. A Labour Government on their side." Mr Starmer has ramped up his rhetoric on the Reform leader in recent weeks after a strong showing for the right-wing party in this month's local elections. The EU-reset deal - which aims to tackle some of the damaging aspects of Boris Johnson's botched Brexit agreement - will set up another clash between the leaders. The PM said the landmark agreement is a "win-win" and said it gives the UK "unprecedented" access to EU markets. But Mr Farage branded it a "surrender", even before the details were announced. Mr Starmer will likely keep referring back to a video the Reform leader posted in November last year voicing his displeasure over a Jaguar rebranding. Mr Farage said at the time: "I predict that Jaguar will now go bust. And you know what? They deserve to." He was riled when the company changed its logo and ran an advert that he did not like. The company was rocked in April when US President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on car imports, putting thousands of UK jobs at risk. Earlier this month the White House dropped this levy on British cars in a major victory for the Government. But the PM did not have it all his own way when he addressed members of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). He was confronted by veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott about his heavily-criticised "island of strangers" comment. He was warned that "can't out-Reform Reform."
