Sir Keir Starmer faces growing calls to clarify flip-flopping Brexit policy, after Cabinet Minister called his record on the EU a ‘catalogue of opportunism’
- James Cleverly said the Labour leader is ‘obsessed with looking at the EU’
- It comes as Starmer said ‘friction’ will be reduced if we ‘share values’ with the EU
Sir Keir Starmer is facing growing calls to clarify his flip-flopping Brexit policy, after a senior Cabinet Minister called his record on the EU a ‘catalogue of opportunism’.
After footage emerged on Thursday of the Labour leader saying that ‘the more we share values’ with the EU, the less friction there would be’, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly accused Sir Keir of being ‘obsessed with looking at the EU’.
Mr Cleverly told The Mail on Sunday: ‘His record on the EU is a catalogue of opportunism.
‘He voted to remain, then he was in favour of a second referendum, then he wanted to make Brexit work, now he wants to “rebuild” ties with the EU by rejoining in all but name by the back door – before adding that he doesn’t want to rejoin. He couldn’t flip-flop more if he was on a beach.’
The footage showed Sir Keir telling a centre-Left conference in Montreal: ‘We don’t want to diverge [or] lower standards, we don’t want to rip up environmental standards, working standards [and] food standards.’
Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) is facing growing calls to clarify his flip-flopping Brexit policy
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly accused Sir Keir of being ‘obsessed with looking at the EU’
Accusing Sir Keir of being ‘backward-looking’, Mr Cleverly said: ‘The world sees the UK as a giant, Labour thinks the UK is a minnow. [At the conference] he was laying the groundwork to turn back the clock and revisit Brexit arguments of the past.
‘He and his party will say anything to try to please anybody, because he doesn’t understand the British people.
‘Politicians need votes, but risking Britain’s reputation because you can’t believe we will survive and thrive out of the EU is a lack of faith I don’t and won’t share.’
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