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03rd Oct 2021

Keir Starmer goes against 2020 pledge by writing piece in the Sun

Charlie Herbert

It’s sparked anger amongst many supporters and party MPs.

Keir Starmer has written an article in The Sun, despite having promised not to speak to the paper during his 2020 Labour leadership campaign.

In the op-ed, the Labour leader called the current situation in the UK a “worrying time for working people,” blaming the current fuel crisis on Downing Street and the “Prime Minister’s incompetence.”

But he has sparked anger amongst some members of his party, MPs and supporters, after appearing to change his stance on the right-wing tabloid.

Speaking at a hustings in Liverpool last year, Starmer criticised parts of the media for their vilification of Labour leaders, singling out The Sun in particular for it’s treatment of Jeremy Corbyn.

He said at the time: “I certainly won’t be giving any interviews to The Sun during the course of this campaign.”

For some, his piece in Sunday’s edition of the paper is another example of his “dishonesty.”

It comes after Sir Keir said last week that he was willing to break some of the pledges he made to the party during his leadership campaign.

He told the BBC: “I stand by the principles and the values behind the pledges I made to our members, but the most important pledge I made was that I would turn it into a party that would be fit for government, capable of winning a General Election, I’m not going to be deflected from that.”

Following the publication of the op-ed in The Sun, Labour MP Zarah Sultana tweeted that writing for the publication was “deeply insulting to the people of Liverpool” and was a “recipe for disaster.”

It rounds off a tricky week for Keir Starmer and Labour, after an eventful party conference which saw a number of controversies and Starmer heckled during his speech.

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