Sir Keir Starmer’s lap of victory after last night’s by-elections was brutally interrupted during his BBC Breakfast interview, as the Labour leader came under sustained fire for his handling of the Rochdale by-election row.
After boasting about his victories last night, Sir Keir was told his week has been described as “one of the worst weeks in your leadership”, after having to suspend two parliamentary candidates amid renewed rows about anti-Semitism in Labour.
Naga Munchetty laid into the Labour leader, demanding to know why there had been such a delay before Sir Keir junked his Rochdale candidate Azhar Ali.
She also blasted him for the number of U-turns seen during his Labour leadership.
The Labour leader tried turning the crisis around, using it to boast he had done something “never done before” by withdrawing support for his candidate and sacrificing a Labour win in the forthcoming contest.
However Ms Munchetty continued with demands to know why the candidate’s sacking hadn’t come sooner.
She said: “Was it quick? A decision is a decision, you can say it was decisive, but was it quick enough?”
Sir Keir hit back that it had “never been done before”, but the Breakfast host cut him off with a repeated demand to know why the announcement hadn’t come sooner.
The Labour leader claimed the U-turn had been performed quickly and within the space of a day.
However the revelation that Mr Ali had claimed Israel deliberately allowed the October 7 attack to go ahead as an excuse for its subsequent military action in Gaza emerged on Saturday evening.
It wasn’t until further comments came to light on Monday evening that the Labour leader changed his position from defending Mr Ali.
Co-presenter Charlie Stayt joined in with the barrage, pointing out that politicians “are often accused of just waiting and seeing what the mood music is”.
He said: “People feel that about your decision make. You say that you waited 24 hours to access things, what you and your people are actually doing is seeing ‘which way is this going, how’s it playing?’
“People are cynical about that and think that’s the game you’re playing!”
Sir Keir rejected the caricature as unfair, pointing to the fact he’s banned Jeremy Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate at the General Election.
He revealed that the question he asks himself after a tough week is “Did I take the right decisions”.
He said: “And the answer, I am confident, is ‘yes’. Has the work we’ve been doing to change the Labour Party persuaded Tory switchers to vote for us again? The evidence from last night is yes.
“We are a long way to go, more work to do of course.”
