Sir Keir Starmer on the first day of general election campaigning at Gillingham Football Club yesterday Sir Keir Starmer “most definitely is not boring”, a Labour frontbencher has insisted as he rejected claims the party’s general election campaign had got off to a slow start.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow minister without portfolio, said Sir Keir was “witty” and “great company” as well as being a “serious politician”.
It was suggested to Mr Thomas-Symonds that Sir Keir was intentionally looking to run a “boring campaign” in order to win the contest on July 4 “by default” after a launch event in Gillingham yesterday failed to make major waves.
But he told GB News: “No, I think that is a complete mischaracterisation of it. That is wrong. First of all, by the way, Keir Starmer most definitely is not boring.
“I’ve known Keir Starmer for many, many years. He’s witty, great company, but he’s also, by the way, a serious politician for the very serious challenges of our time.”
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Live Reporting Related Stories 24 May 2024 • 7:24am
7:24AM
Starmer: Economic growth is the ‘missing ingredient’ Sir Keir Starmer said that economic growth was the “missing ingredient”.
It was suggested to Sir Keir that a Labour government would have to choose between tax rises and spending cuts to fund its plans given the state of the public finances.
But he suggested economic growth would provide an alternative to those two options.
He told Times Radio he had “set out in clear terms all of the commitments that we make, that we hope we can undertake as an incoming Labour government”.
He said Labour has “absolutely set as our priority economic growth” and that is the “missing ingredient”.
7:16AM
General election diary: What is happening today? Sir Keir Starmer is on the morning media round and is due to do interviews with the major broadcasters.
The Labour leader will then be campaigning in Scotland with the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
Rishi Sunak is expected to visit Northern Ireland on the second day of his whirlwind tour of the UK.
Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, will be doing visits on the south coast of England.
The Scottish Greens are expected to launch their campaign later today. Meanwhile, the final stages of the 2019-2024 Parliament will play out in Westminster.
7:12AM
Sunak ‘wrong footed me’ with July 4 election announcement, says Farage Nigel Farage said Rishi Sunak’s decision to call an early general election on July 4 had “wrong footed” him.
The honorary president of Reform UK announced yesterday morning that he would not be standing to be an MP.
But he later revealed that he had been planning to announce he was standing next week but his plans were torpedoed by Mr Sunak’s announcement.
Mr Farage told GB News: “If the Tories think it’s great Nigel’s not standing, they’re wrong. I’m going to be involved in this campaign absolutely.
“What I could not do in the space of six weeks, and yes, all right, he’s wrong footed me, but in the space of six weeks was to find a constituency from scratch, and go round the country.
“I’m utterly committed to Reform. I believe their agenda is the only one that can actually stop the sense of national decline that we’re in.”
7:11AM
Starmer ‘most definitely is not boring’, insists Labour frontbencher Sir Keir Starmer “most definitely is not boring”, a Labour frontbencher has insisted as he rejected claims the party’s general election campaign had got off to a slow start.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow minister without portfolio, said Sir Keir was “witty” and “great company” as well as being a “serious politician”.
It was suggested to Mr Thomas-Symonds that Sir Keir was intentionally looking to run a “boring campaign” in order to win the contest on July 4 “by default” after a launch event in Gillingham yesterday failed to make major waves.
But he told GB News: “No, I think that is a complete mischaracterisation of it. That is wrong. First of all, by the way, Keir Starmer most definitely is not boring.
“I’ve known Keir Starmer for many, many years. He’s witty, great company, but he’s also, by the way, a serious politician for the very serious challenges of our time.”
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