Labour insiders fear Starmer’s past could come back to haunt him as Tories plan to ramp up attacks
Labour insiders have expressed concern about Tory plans to ramp up attacks on Sir Keir Starmer’s tenure as director of public prosecutions, Sky News can reveal.
The Labour leader has repeatedly referenced his time leading the Crown Prosecution Service between 2008 and 2013 as a core part of his political pitch to voters.
At PMQs earlier this month, he boasted: “I have prosecuted thousands upon thousands of sex offenders. The prime minister has just shown that he does not understand how the criminal justice system works. No wonder he cannot fix it.”
But some Labour Party insiders have reservations about this approach, with one telling Sky News: “If your record involves as many controversies as Keir Starmer, it’s probably not great political strategy to draw attention to it.”
Staffers in the attack unit at Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) have been combing through cases for more than a year.
Senior Tory sources say they believe Sir Keir’s past is a vulnerability they can exploit, having identified a number of examples they think will change the public’s view of the Labour leader.
Keir Starmer in 2009, when he was director of public prosecutions
Red Knight, the unauthorised biography of Sir Keir by Tory pollster Lord Ashcroft, has emerged as what some in CCHQ see as an attack bible – chronicling controversial cases, including the prosecution of journalists for phone hacking.
“There’s a lot of material out there,” a senior Conservative source explains.
“One of the areas where Starmer is really open to criticism is this constant claiming that he personally prosecuted this person or that person, and then when something went wrong and someone wasn’t prosecuted, or the case was messed up, he says ‘It’s nothing to do with me’.
“You can’t have it both ways – the person at the top of the organisation is responsible and is the one who will have to issue a public apology when things go wrong.”
Sky News can reveal that one such case that the Tories will use to attack the Labour leader in the coming months is the so-called “Twitter joke trial” of 2010.
The controversial case hit the headlines when Paul Chambers from South Yorkshire was found guilty at Doncaster Magistrates Court for sending a “menacing” tweet about wanting to blow Robin Hood Airport “sky high” because it was closed due to snow.
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Starmer clashes with Sunak over criminal justice
Mr Chambers said he did not think his “silly joke”, which he sent in January 2010, would be taken seriously – but he was nevertheless arrested and charged under the Communications Act, for sending messages of a “grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing character”.
Mr Chambers subsequently appealed his case and won, with a number of high-profile comedians including Stephen Fry, Al Murray and Graham Linehan all backing him.
Labour sources expressed concern that the case could play into the caricature the Tories have painted of Sir Keir as “Sir Softie” – the “lefty lawyer” they hope to portray as out of touch and too politically correct.
The Tories insist their main focus is establishing their own “competence of government” following a series of scandals and leadership dramas.
But with the local elections just around the corner and the general election fast approaching, “you can expect this sort of stuff to come out”, the Conservative source says.
The first public attack on Sir Keir’s past record came when former prime minister Boris Johnson accused the Labour leader of failing to prosecute the former television presenter and prolific sex offender Jimmy Savile.
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‘More to come’: Labour defends attack ads
The Labour leader hit back strongly against the claim, which he perceived as a slur, and pointed out that he was not the lawyer responsible for reviewing the case.
However, as head of the DPP, others argued that he bore the ultimate responsibility.
It is a viewpoint some believe Labour has endorsed itself with its recent attack ads against the prime minister – the most controversial of which suggested Mr Sunak did not think child sexual abusers should go to prison.
Some Labour sources fear the personal nature of the criticism against Mr Sunak – as well as the suggestion that he personally is responsible for the past 13 years – could “legitimise” any further Tory attacks on Sir Keir’s record as DPP.
One Labour insider said the ad had “deflected attention from Labour’s positive message and what the Tories have done to the country and onto trivia and Starmer’s record.”
They added: “If your record involves as many controversies as Keir Starmer, it’s probably not great political strategy to draw attention to it. In fact, it’s more like a case study of what not to do.”
Another party source said: “One of the problems with the ad is that it makes Keir’s record as DPP fair game. I’m sure the Tories were going to attack it anyway, but now we’ve just invited it on.”
The Labour Party defended the controversial tweet about the PM
But one shadow cabinet member who spoke to Sky News dismissed the idea the ads have spurred on the Tories’ efforts to attack Sir Keir.
“The Tories will always get down and dirty in their campaign because that’s what they do.
“They can hit us as hard as they like, but Keir’s record as DPP is really strong – he’s locked up thousands of dangerous criminals and terrorists – while they literally broke the law in Downing Street.
“If they open up this as an attack, our defence will be stronger than their attack. You’re either up for the fight or you’re not – but we are and we intend to win it.
“Bring it on.”
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A Labour spokesperson said Sir Keir would continue to point to his experience as a reason voters should place their trust in him:
“As the country’s most senior prosecutor, Keir Starmer got criminals off the streets, locked up terrorists and prosecuted MPs who cheated their expenses.
“At the heart of his approach were victims; their rights, their confidence in the system and securing them justice. Keir was a reforming director of public prosecutions, acting where he saw failure and driving through change when it was needed. He is rightly proud of his record.”
The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.
Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.
He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.
Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
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Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.
Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.
The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.
Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.
The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.
(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. File pic: AP
Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.
Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.
World
IDF blames ‘technical error’ after Gaza officials say children collecting water killed in strike
The Israeli military says it missed its intended target after Gaza officials said 10 Palestinians – including six children – were killed in a strike at a water collection point.
Another 17 people were wounded in the strike on a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, said Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at Al Awda Hospital.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had intended to hit an Islamic Jihad militant but a “technical error with the munition” had caused the missile to fall “dozens of metres from the target”.
The IDF said the incident is under review, adding that it “works to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians as much as possible” and “regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians”.
A wounded child is treated after the strike on the water collection point. Pic: Reuters
Officials at Al Awda Hospital said it received 10 bodies after the Israeli strike on the water collection point and six children were among the dead.
Ramadan Nassar, who lives in the area, said around 20 children and 14 adults were lined up Sunday morning to fill up water.
When the strike occurred, everyone ran and some, including those who were severely injured, fell to the ground, he said.
Blood stains are seen on containers at the water collection point. Pic: Reuters
In total, 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, local health officials said.
Two women and three children were among nine killed after an Israeli strike on a home in the central town of Zawaida, officials at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.
Israel has claimed it hit more than 150 targets in the besieged enclave in the past day.
The latest strikes come after the Israel military opened fire near an aid centre in Rafah on Saturday. The Red Cross said 31 people were killed.
The IDF has said it fired “warning shots” near the aid distribution site but it was “not aware of injured individuals” as a result.
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Palestinians shot while seeking aid, says paramedic
The war in Gaza started in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.
More than 58,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half being women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
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US President Donald Trump has said he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war.
But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were no signs of a breakthrough, as a new sticking point emerged over the deployment of Israeli troops during the truce.
Hamas still holds 50 hostages, with fewer than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
World
‘At least 59 killed’ in Gaza after Israeli military opens fire near aid centre and carries out strikes
At least 59 Palestinians have reportedly been killed after the Israeli military opened fire near an aid centre in Gaza and carried out strikes across the territory.
The Red Cross, which operates a field hospital in Rafah, said 25 people were “declared dead upon arrival” and “six more died after admittance” following gunfire near an aid distribution centre in the southern Gazan city.
The humanitarian organisation added that it also received 132 patients “suffering from weapon-related injuries” after the incident.
The Red Cross said: “The overwhelming majority of these patients sustained gunshot wounds, and all responsive individuals reported they were attempting to access food distribution sites.”
The organisation said the number of deaths marks the hospital’s “largest influx of fatalities” since it began operations in May last year.
The IDF has said it fired “warning shots” near the aid distribution site but it was “not aware of injured individuals” as a result.
It said in a statement: “Earlier today, several suspects were identified approaching IDF troops operating in the Rafah area, posing a threat to the troops, hundreds of metres from the aid distribution site.
“IDF troops operated in order to prevent the suspects from approaching them and fired warning shots.”
Palestinians mourn a loved one following the incident near the aid centre. Pic: Reuters
Mother’s despair over shooting
Somia Alshaar told Sky News her 17-year-old son Nasir was shot dead while visiting the aid centre after she told him not to go.
She said: “He went to get us tahini so we could eat.
“He went to get flour. He told me ‘mama, we don’t have tahini. Today I’ll bring you flour. Even if it kills me, I will get you flour’.
“He left the house and didn’t return. They told me at the hospital: your son…’Oh God, oh Lord’.”
Asked where her son was shot, she replied: “In the chest. Yes, in the chest.”
Somia Alshaar, pictured with her daughter, says her son was shot dead. Pic: Reuters
‘A policy of mass murder’
Hassan Omran, a paramedic with Gaza’s ministry of health, told Sky News after the incident that humanitarian aid centres in Gaza are now “centres of mass death”.
Speaking in Khan Younis, he said: “Today, there were more than 150 injuries and more than 20 martyrs at the aid distribution centres… the Israeli occupation deliberately kills and commits genocide. The Israeli occupation is carrying out a policy of mass murder.
“They call people to come get their daily food, and then, when citizens arrive at these centres, they are killed in cold blood.
“All the victims have gunshot wounds to the head and chest, meaning the enemy is committing these crimes deliberately.”
Israel has rejected genocide accusations and denies targeting civilians.
Two boys mourn their brother at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Pic: Reuters
‘Lies being peddled’
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the controversial US and Israeli-backed group which operates the distribution centre near Rafah, said: “Hamas is claiming there was violence at our aid distribution sites today. False.
“Once again, there were no incidents at or in the immediate vicinity of our sites.
“But that’s not stopping some from spreading the lies being peddled by ‘officials’ at the Hamas-controlled Nasser Hospital.”
The Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah has recorded more than 250 fatalities and treated more than 3,400 “weapon-wounded patients” since new food distribution sites were set up in Gaza on 27 May.
Read more:
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Israel says permanent ceasefire ‘questionable’
Palestinians inspect the wreckage after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah. Pic: AP
It comes after four children and two women were among at least 13 people who died in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli strikes pounded the area starting late on Friday, officials in Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the territory said.
Fifteen others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not responded to a request for comment on the reported deaths.
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Israeli has been carrying out attacks in Gaza since Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages on 7 October 2023.
Hamas still holds 50 hostages, with fewer than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
US President Donald Trump has said he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war.
But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were no signs of a breakthrough.
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The latest fatalities in Gaza comes as a 20-year-old Palestinian-American man was beaten to death by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, the Palestinian Health ministry said.
Sayafollah Musallet, also known as Saif, was killed during a confrontation between Palestinians and settlers in Sinjil, north of Ramallah, the ministry said.
A second man, Hussein Al-Shalabi, 23, died after being shot in the chest.
Mr Musallet’s family, from Tampa Florida, has called on the US State Department to lead an “immediate investigation”.
A State Department spokesperson said it was aware of the incident but it had no further comment “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the reported victim.
The Israeli military said the confrontation broke out after Palestinians threw rocks at Israelis, lightly injuring them.
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