Keir Starmer praises Margaret Thatcher in pitch to Tory voters
Sir Keir Starmer has praised former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher for effecting “meaningful change” in Britain, as the Labour leader attempts to woo Conservative voters.
In a comment piece for The Sunday Telegraph, Sir Keir hailed Mrs Thatcher’s attempts to “drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism”.
It marks the Opposition leader’s most overt pitch to centre-right Conservative voters to date, as both parties gear up for the next general election, expected in autumn 2024.
Sir Keir urged them to “look again at Labour,” insisting that the party has has “changed dramatically” since Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
“Across Britain there are people who feel disillusioned, frustrated, angry, worried. Many of them have always voted Conservative but feel that their party has left them. I understand that,” he said.
“I saw that with my own party and acted to fix it. But I also understand that many will still be uncertain about Labour. I ask them to take a look at us again.”
Sir Keir also took aim at the “hectoring and interfering” of modern politics, adding that “every moment of meaningful” change over the past century has come from “the realisation that politics must act in service of the British people rather than dictating to them”.
“Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism. Tony Blair reimagined a stale, outdated Labour Party into one that could seize the optimism of the late 90s,” he said.
“A century ago, Clement Attlee wrote that Labour must be a party of duty and patriotism, not abstract theory. To build a ‘New Jerusalem’ meant first casting off the mind-forged manacles. That lesson is as true today as it was then.”
Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Sir Keir claimed his praise of Mrs Thatcher “doesn’t mean I agree with what she did, but I don’t think anybody could suggest that she didn’t have a driving sense of purpose”.
He said the defining characteristic of an incoming Labour government would be the same “sense of mission, the sense of having a plan that we’re operating to a driving,” as he took aim at the Conservatives for the “decline of the country over the past 13 years” and for failing to tackle issues such as immigration.
“What I say to those many people who will have voted Tory in the past, if you believe in not just fixing your country, but renewing it and taking it forward… then the Labour party is the party for you,” said Sir Keir.
The Labour leader’s intervention will likely fuel concerns among some Tory MPs that the party could lose the support of people who voted blue at the 2019 election as they become increasingly frustrated over the Government’s approach to key areas such as immigration, inflation and crime.
Latest polling suggests Labour has a 21-point lead over the Tories, with recent policy announcements by Rishi Sunak failing to narrow the gap. A poll for Ipsos in November showed 46 per cent of people intend to back Labour at the general election, compared to 25 per cent who plan to vote for the Conservatives.
Mr Sunak is currently drawing up plans to ensure deportation flights take off for Rwanda, as he scrambles to act on immigration ahead of the next general election.
Ministers are set to table legislation as soon as next week which will define Rwanda in law as a “safe country” for deportations. They are also finalising a treaty with Rwanda’s government which will contain pledges to safeguard the rights of deportees.
