Keir Starmer calls on Tory rebels to put ‘country before party’ and support a GENERAL ELECTION as he claims voters are ‘fed up to the back teeth’ amid ‘ridiculous, chaotic circus’ in Conservative Party
- Sir Keir Starmer calls for unhappy Tory MPs to back his demand for an election
- Labour leader calls for disgruntled Conservatives to put ‘country before party’
- He takes a swipe at Tories’ ‘ridiculous, chaotic circus’ and says voters are ‘fed up’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer today called for unhappy Tory MPs to put ‘country before party’ and back his demand for a general election.
In a swipe at a ‘ridiculous, chaotic circus’ as the Conservatives choose a new leader for the second time this year, Sir Keir claimed voters were ‘fed up to the back teeth’.
He also sought to exploit Tory divisions in order to achieve his goal of forcing a general election, which is currently not due until January 2025.
Some senior Conservatives have suggested they would quit the Tory whip if Boris Johnson were to make a sensational comeback as Prime Minister and replace Liz Truss.
There are fears a wave of resignations might even trigger an early general election at a time when the Conservatives have sunk in opinion polls to lag far behind Labour.
There have even been rumours of defections to Labour by some disgruntled MPs.
Veteran backbenchers Sir Roger Gale and John Baron have both raised the prospect of them resigning as Tory MPs should Mr Johnson return as party leader.
Sir Roger even predicted a flurry of resignations – and perhaps a string of by-elections – if that were to happen.
Only around 35 MPs would be needed to ditch their support for the Government in a Commons confidence vote to bring down the Tory administration and pave the way for a snap general election.
Sir Keir Starmer claimed voters were ‘fed up to the back teeth’ as he took a swipe at the ‘ridiculous, chaotic circus’ in the Conservative Party
One opinion poll last week put the Tories a staggering 39 points behind Labour, at their lowest-ever rating
Veteran backbenchers Sir Roger Gale (left) and John Baron have both suggested they would resign the Tory whip if Boris Johnson were to make a shock comeback as PM
In a message to disaffected Tories, Sir Keir told the Sunday Times: ‘Country first, party second.
‘All those that are going to literally go along with this chaos, rather than allowing us to transition to a stable Labour government, are putting party first, not country first, and that’s the wrong way around.
‘We all have a duty to reduce the risk and that is with a general election.
‘There’s great interest in this psychodrama but for people who are struggling to pay their bills, people who’ve got mortgages that are now higher than they would have been, people who need the NHS, this isn’t a game.
‘And the more this goes on, it is working people, it is the public, who are damaged by this.’
Sir Keir is being urged by other opposition parties to push for a no confidence vote in the Tory Government.
The SNP’s Westminster Ian Blackford has written to the Labour leader to tell him he ‘cannot stand idly by’ during the Tory leadership contest to replace Ms Truss.
Sir Keir said this morning an incoming government would have to ‘pick up a real mess of our economy of the Tories’ making’.
But he refused to reveal what ‘tough choices’ Labour would make in power, telling the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: ‘I’m not going to write our manifesto on this programme.’
In a swipe at a ‘ridiculous, chaotic circus’ taking place among the Tories, he added: ‘My focus is on the millions of people who are struggling to pay their bills, have now got additional anxieties about their mortgage.
‘I know what it feels like not to be able to pay your bills, that happened to me and my family when I was growing up.
‘They are fed up to the back teeth with this.’
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