America’s largest bank wades into Labour Party’s Starmer crisis
The chairman and chief executive of JP Morgan-Chase has revealed his verdict on Keir Starmer’s mounting leadership problems and warned Labor against “turning against the banks again”.
Jamie Dimon has threatened to withdraw a billion-dollar project if Labor moves left, as he offered his support to the prime minister who faces mounting pressure to resign.
Nearly 100 MPs have called on Sir Keir to resign or publish a timetable for his resignation, amid fallout from last week’s disastrous local election results, which also led to the resignation of four government ministers.
“I think Keir Starmer is a very smart man,” Mr. Dimon told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday.you. “Politics is really tough. They’re in a tough spot with debt and deficits. They inherited a lot of that. I think it’s Rachel Reeves’ world. They need to be tough… I think they need to work more closely with Europe.”
But he warned against Labor lurching to the left in a bid to win back votes, saying it could attract $3 billion in investment in a new skyscraper in Canary Wharf if it did.
Plans to build the building were agreed in November last year, when Chancellor Rachel Reeves refrained from imposing new taxes on the banking sector in her Budget.
JPMorgan Chase, known as one of the world’s largest financial institutions, confirmed that the new structure will offer 3 million square meters of floor space and accommodate 12,000 employees.
When asked whether he would reconsider his plans in light of the crisis, he replied: “Not political instability, but if they become hostile to the banks again, yes.”
“I have always objected to the fact that we did no harm to the UK, we paid probably $10 billion. [£7.4bn] “so far there are extra taxes,” he explained.
“I don’t think that’s right or fair. If it becomes too much, we’ll reconsider.”
Protection Minister Jess Phillips, former victims’ minister and minister for tackling violence against women and girls Alex Davies-Jones, deputy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh and health minister Zubir Ahmed resigned and implored Sir Keir to “act in the best interests of the country and set a timetable for your departure”.
More than 90 Labor MPs called for a change of leadership, while over 100 MPs threw their support behind the leader.
US President Donald Trump also shared his views on the issue when asked whether the prime minister should remain in office or resign.
“It’s up to him, but I told him from day one that you would be killed because of the energy,” he said. “You are killing your country with the windmill. Open the North Sea. You have one of the largest energy resources in the world.”
Britain needed to “get tough on immigration”, he said in a speech at the White House on Tuesday before flying to China.
