Labour leadership talk ‘froth and nonsense’, says senior minister – UK politics live | Politics
Nandy slams speculation over leadership fight as ‘foam and nonsense’
Prime Minister Keir Starmer will not resign until the school summer holidays despite a major challenge to his leadership following local election results, culture minister Lisa Nandy has said.
“He was very clear with the cabinet on Tuesday that if people wanted to challenge him there was a process to do that and a way to trigger a leadership race,” Nandy said. “Despite absolutely feverish speculation, no one has done this yet.
“Most of it turned out to be nonsense and nonsense. We have to get on with the job.”
important events
Kemi Badenoch rejected Trevor Phillips’ claim that the Conservatives have “completely confused” Brexit as some Labor figures propose rejoining the European Union.
The Conservative leader said: “Removing green taxes from our energy bills, removing VAT from our energy bills – you can’t do that if you’re in the EU.
“Instead of going back and reevaluating this argument, we should take advantage of it.”
Badenoch says Tommy Robinson’s supporters should join Tories
Kemi Badenoch says she is ‘free to say’ Tommy Robinson’s supporters should join Tories
On Sky News, Trevor Phillips asked the leader of the Conservative party if he was “delighted” that the former English Defense League leader was encouraging his followers to join a political party by listing the Conservatives as an option.
Badenoch said:
I am not a supporter of Tommy Robinson, I do not support his views, but he is free to speak his mind.
“He is not someone I support or support, he is in prison for contempt of court, there are a lot of things I disagree with, he is free to say that.
“I want people to know that the Conservative party is a new party with a new leader, we have changed.”
Voters who abandoned Labor will return to support Burnham, culture minister says
The culture minister said voters who left Labor had said they would return to the party to support Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election.
Lisa Nandy told Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC: “I must say that when we knocked on doors yesterday, people who didn’t vote for us last week were saying they would vote for us again because of Andy’s record as mayor.
“Every time he has served as mayor he has won every ward in Makerfield, even when Labor did not, and so I make no apologies for saying he is a really important voice that needs to be heard loud and clear at the heart of Westminster.”
Nandy says Labor female leader is ‘long overdue’
Trevor Phillips asked Lisa Nandy why Labor had “three white men” across the despatch box to confront Kemi Badenoch, and suggested it raised a question about Labor pointing out others as institutionally sexist and racist.
The culture minister stated that he was “trying to fix this” when he put his name forward for the party’s leadership in 2019.
But he added:
I agree with you, I think a female leader is long overdue. We’re talking like we’re in a leadership race here, but on the way here, I just came from Wigan to Salford, two people said to me, ‘can you keep the job?’
“If people want to trigger a leadership race they can, but I think the idea that the rest of the country is obsessed with who the leader of the Labor Party is is just for the birds.”
Lisa Nandy told Trevor Phillips in a morning interview on Sky News that the leadership crisis in Labor was “really killing her”.
“I’m sorry if I seem a little angry, but to be honest what really shook me was when people told us loud and clear last Thursday that things weren’t good enough, that they needed much more radical, much more urgent changes in their lives.
“Last week we seem to have somehow left them completely out of the conversation and Westminster has gone into introspection mode where discussion about personalities and individuals is driven.
“What I think the public really needs to hear from us right now is that we have a plan to turn things around.”
Culture minister calls Streeting’s call to rejoin EU ‘a bit strange’
Asked about former health secretary Wes Streeting’s call for the UK to rejoin the European Union, the culture secretary described the stance as “a bit strange”
Lisa Nandy said the government was “trying to take a much more pragmatic approach” to building a closer relationship with the EU “rather than restarting the Brexit wars”.
Commenting on his former cabinet colleague’s stance, Nandy said: “I think it’s a bit odd to be honest. Essentially, if rejoining the EU is the answer to what we’ve been told loud and clear by the country and parts of the country like mine where we’ve lost 25 out of 25 wards, then what we’re actually telling people is that life was okay in 2015, we just need to get back there.”
Nandy said Streeting would “get it out loud and clear from people” as he campaigned that people in Leave voting areas did not agree with his stance.
Asked by Trevor Phillips on Sky News why she didn’t tell Andy Burnham to “stay in Manchester”, Lisa Nandy said she wanted the Mayor of Greater Manchester, whose decision to stay as an MP led to a by-election in Makerfield, to return to Westminster.
“When you say ‘stay in Manchester’ we can hear you from the north. Our voices matter in national politics. Andy brings a perspective from this part of the country that hasn’t been heard loud and clear enough in Westminster for decades,” the culture secretary said.
The kind of fights we have been prepared to have in recent years, the fight for tenants, the fight for workers, the fight for football fans; People need to see more from us. “I think Andy can come in and bring that perspective, challenge and energy to this team.”
Nandy slams speculation over leadership fight as ‘foam and nonsense’
Prime Minister Keir Starmer will not resign until the school summer holidays despite a major challenge to his leadership following local election results, culture minister Lisa Nandy has said.
“He was very clear with the cabinet on Tuesday that if people wanted to challenge him there was a process to do that and a way to trigger a leadership race,” Nandy said. “Despite absolutely feverish speculation, no one has done this yet.
“Most of it turned out to be nonsense and nonsense. We have to get on with the job.”
