He said he thinks there’s “quite a few in the England team who would equally want to be in the shadow cabinet”
Sir Keir Starmer has revealed that he would pick Gary Neville to join his cabinet if he could, and joked that other England players would be interested in joining too.
The comment arose while discussing football on ITV political editor Robert Peston’s podcast, Calling Peston.
When asked by Peston if Keir would appoint Neville to cabinet based on his recent criticism of the Conservative party and incumbent government, Keir replied: “Oh yeah, we’ll have Gary.” Whether Gary would want anything to do with Keir’s shadow cabinet in the first place was… not addressed.
He continued: “I think there’s quite a few in the England team who would equally want to be in the shadow cabinet, so we’ll have a sporting shadow cabinet with all of these stars in.” Give the boys a call, the Premier League is cancelled, Saka is now Shadow Home Secretary and Rashford is Chief Whip.
Sir Keir Starmer also added: “Gary has been very outspoken and he’s been very critical, rightly, of the Prime Minister.”
This comes after Gary Neville criticised Boris Johnson’s response to the racist abuse that England players received after the Euros, saying: “When we get racist abuse after a football match at the end of a tournament, I expect it unfortunately because it exists, and it’s actually promoted by the Prime Minister.
“The prime minister said it was okay for the population of this country to boo those players who were trying to promote equality and defend against racism.”
He followed his plea for a Neville transfer to cabinet with praise for Gareth Southgate, saying: “I actually think in his own way Gareth Southgate has shown more leadership than the Prime Minister. The England team personified the modern Britain that I want to be proud of and that I am proud of.”
Fair from Starmer, but I don’t think he’d be able to afford a lot of the boys on his benches – certainly not Harry Kane, at least.
