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Keir Starmer is facing a left-wing backlash after he lavished praise on Margaret Thatcher as he attempts to persuade Tory voters to back Labour at the next election.
He said the former prime minister – a hate figure for many – had “sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism” during her 11 years in office.
The Labour leader also said Thatcher, like ex-Labour PMs Tony Blair and Clement Attlee, had brought about “meaningful change” in the UK.
But his comments, in an article for the Sunday Telegraph, received fierce criticism from many of those on the left of British politics.
Andrew Fisher, a former senior adviser to Jeremy Corbyn when he was Labour leader said Thatcher had “set loose unemployment and inequality” in the country.
Writing in the Telegraph today, Keir Starmer says:
"Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism"
Avg GDP growth/year in the 1970s: 3.1%
Avg GDP growth/year in the 1980s: 2.7%She set loose unemployment & inequality
— Andrew Fisher (@FisherAndrew79) December 3, 2023
Former Labour mayor Jamie Driscoll, who left the party after failing to get selected as an election candidate, accused Starmer of “abandoning the Red Wall”.
.@Keir_Starmer has abandoned his 10 pledges. He’s even deleted them from his own website. Now he’s abandoning the Red Wall.
The North East lost 100,000 manufacturing jobs under Margaret Thatcher, my Dad’s job at ICI included. This is adding insult to injury. No wonder Labour… pic.twitter.com/b2feXQncPR— Mayor Jamie Driscoll (@MayorJD) December 3, 2023
Left-wing singer Billy Bragg posted on X: “Oh fuck off.”
Oh fuck off. https://t.co/NB9FBpe4m3
— Billy Bragg (@billybragg) December 3, 2023
Labour-supporting Daily Mirror journalist Kevin Maguire said Thatcher had “turbo-charged inequality, created mass unemployment, flogged public assets on the cheap to her mates and tried to crush trade unions”.
Thinking of Keir Starmer’s praise for a Margaret Thatcher who turbo-charged inequality, created mass unemployment, flogged public assets on the cheap to her mates and tried to crush trades unions. pic.twitter.com/HcazPCgC1i
— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) December 3, 2023
Asked about Starmer’s words on Sky News this morning, health secretary Victoria Atkins said: “I think the public will see this for what it is.
“Don’t forget he wasn’t appealing to Margaret Thatcher’s entrepreneurial spirit when he was courting votes from the hard left.
“And I suspect the great lady herself would view a man who is trying to ride on the coattails of her success with the following words: No, no, no.”
Elsewhere in his Sunday Telegraph article, Starmer said he wanted to “extend the hand of friendship to you, no matter where you are or who you have voted for in the past” – a clear pitch to disaffected Tories.
He said: “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.
“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.”
The Labour leader also accused the Conservatives of squandering “the possibilities of Brexit”.
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