#keir-starmer

#keir-starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has backed the transition of power in Venezuela saying the UK shed no tears about the end of Nicolas Maduro's regime. His comments, which will be seen as effective support for Donald Trump, came after the US President stunned the world by announcing it had captured President Maduro and was taking over the running of the South American country.

Writing in The Times, Paul Ovenden, who quit as Keir Starmer's director of political strategy last September after offensive messages he had sent in 2017 surfaced, said the British state had got "bigger and bigger while simultaneously and systematically emasculating itself".

Dodds is one of Starmer's oldest parliamentary allies. He made her the shadow chancellor when he was elected as Labour leader in April 2020, but replaced her with Rachel Reeves in May 2021 during a reshuffle after a crushing by-election defeat in Hartlepool. In government Dodds served as development and equalities minister, but resigned in February over plans to cut international aid to fund an increase in defence spending. She has been the MP for Oxford East since 2017.

I am a Labour prime minister, who believes in workers' right to strike, said Starmer. But let's be clear when it comes to the strikes planned by resident doctors next week. They should not happen. They are reckless. The prime minister added: Right now, resident doctors' colleagues will be cancelling operations, cancelling their Christmas leave and preparing for this coming storm. The idea that strikes could still take place in this context is frankly beyond belief.

It has been a difficult few weeks for Sir Keir Starmer and his government, with speculation about a leadership challenge followed by a chaotic run-up to the Budget, a period of damaging leaks and U-turns. Earlier this week, the Times newspaper said that it had spoken to three Scottish Labour MPs who want to see the prime minister ousted before elections to the Scottish Parliament in May. In anonymous comments, the MPs reportedly said they fear Labour will be "slaughtered" in those elections, in part thanks to the prime minister's unpopularity.

To have my own niece beaten up in the street for being gay. I thought we'd moved on from that. I was absolutely furious, I thought the days of beating up people because they were gay were well behind us.

Sir Keir Starmer has revealed the profound personal toll of his brother's death, saying that the loss hit me like a bus. The prime minister shared the reflections in an interview for The Only Way Is Essex star Pete Wicks's Man Made podcast. Recorded at 10 Downing Street to mark Men's Mental Health Month, Sir Keir described processing the loss as intensely difficult.

We're in a quandary, it feels like we are in checkmate, it's hard to see a way out of it. It's a question I've asked myself, and I'd have to obviously consult with my wife as well and family, but do you know what, if I'm going to sit here and say 'country before party, party before personal ambition', then yes, I have to say yes, don't I?

We've got to learn the lessons of this episode and say this is not where the focus should be.

I confirmed that I was supportive. I knew that the decision was for the secretary of state to take and I replied on the basis that the decision had been taken. In retrospect, it would have been better if I had not been given the note or confirmed that I was content with the appointment. This was an unfortunate error for which I express my sincere regret.