The newly-elected Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has savaged Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, accusing the Prime Minister of making ‘serious mistakes’.
Sir Keir yesterday formally replaced Jeremy Corbyn at the top of the party in a landslide leadership contest victory and he has wasted no time in attacking Mr Johnson.
Sir Keir said he is willing to engage ‘constructively’ with the government during the outbreak of the deadly disease but blasted ministers for being too slow at explaining why the UK is ‘so far behind’ other countries when it comes to testing.
Labour’s new premier is widely expected to announce his shadow cabinet later today, with a raft of so-called ‘soft left’ MPs who served under Mr Corbyn expected to be installed in key positions.
But in a clear hint that Sir Keir will try to reunite the divided party, he suggested during an appearance on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show this morning that Blairite MPs could now return to the frontbench.
He said the shadow cabinet will be ‘balanced across the party’ and it will be ‘balanced across the country’.
Sir Keir Starmer, the new Labour leader pictured arriving at the BBC in London today, has accused Boris Johnson of making ‘serious mistakes’ during the coronavirus outbreak
Sir Keir was yesterday elected as Jeremy Corbyn’s replacement as he won a landslide victory in the party’s lengthy leadership contest
Mr Johnson yesterday wrote to the leaders of opposition parties to invite them to work with him to defeat coronavirus.
The PM has invited the leaders to a briefing this week to share with them closely guarded details of the government’s response.
Sir Keir said he will attend the briefing but risked souring relations with the PM before they meet in person as he launched an outspoken attack on his rival.
Appearing on the BBC, Sir Keir said Labour ‘wont demand the impossible’ from the government but that Mr Johnson can expect a grilling on key issues like testing and protective equipment for NHS staff.
Sir Keir said: ‘I do think getting the balance right is important here. We have got to be constructive, we have got to pull together, support the government where it is right to do so but asking those difficult questions matters.
‘You can see that when the difficult questions were asked on testing things began to move, same thing with equipment on the frontline.’
Writing in the Sunday Times, Sir Keir had said: ‘There will be many times when, and there are many issues upon which, I will fundamentally disagree with the Prime Minister.
‘However, there will also be times when Labour can – and must – engage constructively with the government.
‘Now is such a time. Coronavirus is a national emergency. It is also a global emergency. Everyone is anxious about what the next few months will bring, but we know we must be resolute in our determination to see this virus defeated, as it will be.
‘I want to see the Government succeed in this: to save lives and protect livelihoods. This is a national effort and all of us should be asking what more we can do.’
He said Labour would ‘do our bit to offer solutions’ but would also ‘speak for those who have been ignored’, and expose mistakes where they are found ‘to ensure that they are rectified as soon as possible’.
Sir Keir wrote: ‘And let’s be honest, serious mistakes have been made.
‘The public is placing an enormous trust in the Government at the moment: it is vital that that trust is met with openness and transparency about those mistakes and the decisions that have been made.’
As well as his calls on testing and PPE, Sir Keir said the UK should build vaccination centres in towns and cities across the country so ‘the minute a vaccine becomes available, we can begin to protect the entire population’.
He also said ministers should publish their exit strategy from the measures to defeat coronavirus.
‘We should know what that exit strategy is, when the restrictions might be lifted and what the plan is for economic recovery to protect those who have been hardest hit,’ he said.
‘There will be many more difficult days ahead. Great sacrifices must be made because of a crisis that was unimaginable only a few months ago. But Britain is a great country and we will get through this.’
Sir Keir takes over the Labour leadership at a uniquely challenging time due to the spread of coronavirus.
He is likely today to set out who is in his shadow cabinet – a key moment because the appointments he makes will set the tone for the start of his time in the top job.
Sir Keir was asked during his first broadcast interview since winning the leadership if his shadow cabinet will look like Mr Corbyn’s or if it will elements from across the Labour Party.
He replied: ‘I am not going to go into individual names but it will be balanced across the party, it will be balanced across the country and of course it will be balanced in terms of diversity.’
Asked directly if he will be inviting Blairite MPs who were effectively banished during Mr Corbyn’s time as leader back into the fold, Sir Keir hinted they were part of his plans.
He said: ‘I will have in my shadow cabinet those who want to serve towards the future aim of winning that next general election.
‘It will be a talented, balanced shadow cabinet. But what I felt yesterday very strongly was our party coming together and focusing on the future and I think that is what matters.
‘We are not looking back, we are not badging people by the past, we are going forwards to the future, focusing on how we win the 2024 general election.’
Anneliese Dodds, a shadow treasury minister under Mr Corbyn, is one of the favourites to replace John McDonnell as shadow chancellor.
Jo Steven, who quit as shadow Welsh secretary in 2017 over the party’s Brexit policy, has been tipped to take over from Emily Thornberry as shadow foreign secretary.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, a shadow home office minister, has won plaudits for his performances in the House of Commons and is believed to be in the mix for shadow home secretary.