Peter Kyle asked if Keir Starmer has control of party
A Labour shadow minister was left humiliated this morning after a disbelieving BBC interviewer was forced to ask whether Keir Starmer has lost control of his party.
Victoria Derbyshire pointed out that no fewer than 13 shadow ministers in Sir Keir’s party have now broken ranks to demand an Israeli ceasefire, despite the leadership warning it would prevent the country from properly defending itself following Hamas’ bloody attack.
Asked if the 13 rebels should be “disciplined”, Peter Kyle said the rancour and division within the Labour Party “is a complete strength”.
“I think the fact we have a vigorous debate without our party, as we do within our country, as we are doing as a globe right now reflects a strength, because we have a leader who has channelled that and turned it into a policy that is in step with all our international partners.
“It’s a strength of our leadership, certainly not a weakness of our party”.
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An astonished Ms Derbyshire replied: “So not abiding by collective responsibility is a strength?”
She slapped down the Labour Spokesman when he tried arguing that the two were “dancing on the head of a pin” over the disagreements within the party.
“We are not dancing on the head of a pin, the two things are different: Sir Keir Starmer’s position is a humanitarian pause, a number of your frontbencher colleagues – people who could potentially be in Government in a year’s time – are essentially rebelling against his position.
“So I’m asking you is Sir Keir Starmer really in control?”
Mr Kyle repeated that the divisions are a “strength”.
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He conceded that the row won’t go away any time soon, saying the ‘debate’ within the party will “continue”.
“We don’t know what’s going to unfold into the future, and of course we want an end to this conflict as quickly as possible”.
“Keir is leading in a way that has strength, it has absolute firm policies that are implementable and in line with the international community right now. That shows he has a grip on our party and yes we are having a debate and Keir is engaged in that debate – but don’t ever doubt his leadership ability”.
Asked if the 13 rebels would be sacked from their frontbench roles, Mr Kyle shrugged exasperatedly.
“Look what we’re going to do, I expect, is continue engaging with them.”
Reacting to the interview, former Labour MP Lord Walney warned that the party’s problems will grow “until Keir enforces collective responsibility or shows personally why he’s ok with differences”.
The continued coverage of Labour’s internal struggles comes amid Tories demanding Sir Keir acts and sacks a hard-left MP who accused Israel of war crimes at yesterday’s London rally.
Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald added that the Middle East’s only democracy is “ethnically cleansing Palestinian people”.
Sir Simon Clarke said Mr McDonald “and his fellow hardliners have thrown down the gauntlet to Keir Starmer”.
“Either their views are acceptable in his party or they aren’t. It’s time to choose”.
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