Starmer: I’m a hard bastard

By Dominic Penna

Credit: BBC Sounds / Political Thinking with Nick Robinson

Sir Keir Starmer has claimed he is a “hard bastard” as he marked the first anniversary of his time in Downing Street.

The Prime Minister made the quip in an interview with Nick Robinson on BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking podcast one year on from the general election.

Mr Robinson said he had been told by one of Sir Keir’s five-a-side football teammates that he was a “hard bastard”.

The presenter asked: “Are you a hard enough bastard to look in the mirror to say I’ve got to change, the party’s got to change, something serious has to change in year two for Keir Starmer?”

Sir Keir responded: “We need to reflect on where things haven’t gone according to plan […] but we also need to emphasise the very many good things we have done.”

Adding that he was “really proud” of his record in office, he said: “I’m a hard enough bastard to find out who it was who said that so that I can have a discussion with him.”

The first year of Sir Keir’s premiership has seen Labour tank in the polls, two ministers quit his front bench and a number of about-turns on major policies.

He was forced to tear up large parts of his flagship welfare Bill to starve off a Labour revolt.

Asked if he was a football manager who had “lost the dressing room” after 49 MPs voted against his reforms, Sir Keir said: “Absolutely not, Nick. As soon as we go through the long list of things that we’ve achieved this year, the Labour dressing room – the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] – is proud as hell of what we’ve done.

“And their frustration, my frustration, is that sometimes the other stuff, welfare would be an example, can obscure us being able to get that out. But you’ll be hearing a lot from me about that.”

Sir Keir also expanded on the bond he has struck up with Donald Trump since the US president returned to the White House in January, despite a sharp contrast in their policies and leadership styles.

The Prime Minister admitted last week that a focus on international affairs had distracted him from the recent rebellion over welfare reforms.

Asked if he was spending “too much time” with the likes of Mr Trump instead of his own MPs, he replied: “It is important to have a good relationship with President Trump – it is in the national interest.

“But it also helped us when we were negotiating a trade deal.”

When it was pointed out that he and Mr Trump were very different, Sir Keir said: “We are different people and we’ve got different political backgrounds and leanings, but we do have a good relationship and that comes from a number of places.

“I think I do understand what anchors the president – what he really cares about – but also we have a good personal relationship.

“The first time I ever spoke to him was when I picked up the phone to him after he had been shot when he was at a rally before he became president.

“And that was a phone call really to ask him how it was and in particular I wanted to know how it had impacted on his family. So that was the beginning of his relationship.”

Discussing the relationship they have beyond “important matters of state”, he added: “I think for both of us we really care about family and there’s a point of connection there in terms of how we care about our families.

“In having a good relationship with President Trump we were able to do a trade deal.”

The UK-US trade deal came into force on Monday after being signed in June and has reduced tariffs for the British automotive and aerospace sectors.

Sir Keir recalled receiving a call from Mr Trump a few days after Nick Starmer, his younger brother, died on Boxing Day after fighting cancer.

Reflecting on the loss of his brother, Sir Keir said he had been a “very vulnerable man” and that he would not have wanted his stage-four diagnosis to come under the spotlight.

“I made it my business to be there in the hospital when he was told so that I could begin to help to look after him,” he added.

“I don’t think he would have wanted or withstood any public knowledge of where he was at. And I wanted fiercely to protect him and that’s why both before and after the election I went secretly to see him at home, secretly to see him in hospital, he was in intensive care for a long time.”

Sir Keir continued: “It was important for me to do that to support him and very important for me not to share that with the world because this was my brother – I deeply cared about him and I wanted to and would always have protected him and his privacy.”

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