Keir Starmer warned he only has ‘months’ to show he can stop Labour’s collapse | Politics | News
Sir Keir Starmer has been warned he has just “months” to show he can stop Labor’s collapse. Former Labor leader Lord Kinnock has issued a stern warning that the Prime Minister must “act quickly”.
It comes as Labour’s poll ratings have fallen just 15 months after its landslide election victory during the rise of Reformation Britain, and there are open questions about Sir Keir’s future. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Time last night, Lord Kinnock said of Sir Keir: “The reality is that he needs to act quickly to set a direction and purpose.
“I know you understand that now. He is a man of high intelligence and deep-rooted principles. There is no doubt about that.
“But what he needs to do is to show that he is truly a full-fledged Labourer, if you will, with a set of principles that are practical to apply and a determination to put them fully into practice.”
Lord Kinnock said the Government had made “progressive” moves but added that they “went unheard of because they were overshadowed by fundamental mistakes” such as unpopular cuts to winter fuel payments.
He continued: “Now this needs to be resolved with the effective management of the Prime Minister.
“There is no one else who can do this. What he needs to do in the coming months, which is to show this very clearly in months, not years.”
Lord Kinnock also criticized the Prime Minister’s Downing Street operation.
He said: “I don’t know where the focus of people working at No10 is and I think they need to be sensitive to the realities of politics.
“I have reservations about the abilities of some of the people who appear there.
“I know some of them are extremely talented and effective, and they’ve shown historically that when something doesn’t engage effectively with the Labor Party or basic political skills, and I expect that will happen very quickly.”
A Labor leadership contest will be triggered if 20 per cent of the party’s MPs nominate a candidate willing to oppose the leader.
