Elphicke defection controversy worth it for ruthless Starmer as he spoils Sunak’s moment on Dover visit

Published

1 week ago

May 10, 2024

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“I am ruthless.”

That was Sir Keir Starmer’s account of himself and his decision to let Natalie Elphicke into the Labour Party on our trip to Dover on Friday to unveil his plan to stop the small boats.

Because for all the controversy her arrival on the Labour benches caused this week, for Sir Keir it was worth it.

Politics live:
Starmer sets out what he’ll do to tackle small boat crossings

It allowed him to take the fight on migration directly to the frontline, Dover, and stand next to the now Labour MP, Ms Elphicke, telling the cameras that Mr Sunak had “failed to keep the borders secure” and “can’t be trusted”.

As a piece of political theatre, it was ruthless.

And the timing was ruthless too, coming on the day the UK had come out of recession.

Rishi Sunak had wanted the television bulletins to lead on turning the economic corner and “sticking with the plan”.

That’s not what he got.

Instead, the Labour leader used the Elphicke defection to skewer Rishi Sunak on small boats on the very day the prime minister wanted to get back on the front foot about the economy.

Starmer goes further than before in attack on Rwanda ‘gimmick’

Sir Keir did qualify his ruthlessness as not an end in itself.

“I’m ruthless in trying to ensure we have a Labour government who can change this country for the better,” he explained to me.

“Not ruthless for my own ambition, not ruthlessness particularly for the Labour Party. I’m ruthless for the country.

“The only way we’ll bring about a change in this country is if we’re ruthless about winning that general election and putting in place a government of public service, that’ll be a major change in politics.”

Calling the Rwanda scheme a “gimmick”, Starmer went further than he had before in our interview on Friday, telling me he will stop the flights from day one of a Labour government.

Instead, he outlined his own plan to create a new “elite” Border Security Command, made up of MI5 agents, Border Force officers, police, specialist investigators and prosecutors to target the criminal gangs.

This, he insisted, would be a better deterrent as he pledged to bring down the number of boat crossings “drastically” from the approximately 30,000 people who arrived in Britain via such crossings in 2023.

He also said he would reinstate a “rules-based asylum system” in which claims are processed and people are either returned to their country or granted asylum, as he criticised the government’s huge backlog of unprocessed claims.

But he admitted too after his speech that a Labour government would have nowhere to send thousands of migrants who had arrived from Afghanistan or Syria due to the lack of returns agreements with these war-torn countries.

I pushed him on targets: Would he commit to getting crossings down to 2020-type levels when 8,500 people came across on small boats?

But the Labour leader wouldn’t be drawn, telling me: “I’m not going to pluck out an arbitrary number” – as he took a swipe at Mr Sunak’s promise to ‘stop the boats’.

‘He’s going to open up our borders’

Rishi Sunak, for his part, was full of disdain – arguing that Starmer’s plan was to offer “an amnesty to illegal migrants” and that the Labour leader wasn’t offering anything new.

He said: “As far as I can tell all the things that we’re talking about today, are all things that we’re already doing – punching through the backlog, having more law enforcement officers do more, that’s all happening already.

“We’ve announced all of that more than a year ago.

“When it comes to illegal migration, it’s very simple – he’s just going to scrap the Rwanda plan and open up our borders.

“We’ve got a plan and we’re going to get our planes off.”

So far in 2024, 9,037 people have crossed the channel in small boats – 35% higher than at the same stage last year.

The prime minister has promised to stop the boats and get the Rwanda flights going within weeks.

But the country is divided on the plan, and sceptical too – with a YouGov poll in April showing a straight split between those who are supportive of the plan and those who are opposed, with only 23% of respondents believing it will be effective, against 55% of people saying they think it won’t.

It is a sign of confidence that Starmer, who has had to rebuild Labour’s reputation as a party of national security and law and order in the wake of the Corbyn years, now thinks this is a fight he can take to the Tories.

That he took in a right-wing Conservative with a controversial past in order to hammer home that point shows what he’s prepared to do to win.

The question now is whether his plan is more convincing to voters than the prime minister’s.

Politics

Rishi Sunak apologises to infected blood scandal victims and says it is ‘day of shame for British state’

Published

1 hour ago

May 20, 2024

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Rishi Sunak apologises to infected blood scandal victims and says it is 'day of shame for British state'

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has offered a “wholehearted and unequivocal” apology to the victims of the infected blood scandal, saying it was a “day of shame for the British state”.

Mr Sunak said the findings of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s final report should “shake our nation to its core”, as he promised to pay “comprehensive compensation to those infected and those affected”, adding: “Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it.”

The report from the inquiry’s chair Sir Brian Langstaff blamed “successive governments, the NHS, and blood services” for failures that led to 30,000 people being “knowingly” infected with either HIV or Hepatitis C through blood products. Around 3,000 people have now died.

The prime minister said for any government apology to be “meaningful”, it had to be “accompanied by action”.

Politics live: Thatcher’s health secretary ‘disparaging’ to infected blood victims

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Sunak called it a “calamity”, saying the report showed a “decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life”, as he condemned the actions of the NHS, civil service and ministers – “institutions in which we place our trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way”.

The prime minister said they “failed this country”, adding: “Time and again, people in positions of power and trust had the chance to stop the transmission of those infections. Time and again, they failed to do so.

“I want to make a whole-hearted and unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice.”

Pointing to key findings in the report – from the destruction of documents through to failures over screening – Mr Sunak said there had been “layer upon layer of hurt endured across decades”.

He also apologised for the “institutional refusal to face up to these failings and worse, to deny and even attempt to cover them up”, adding: “This is an apology from the state to every single person impacted by this scandal.

“It did not have to be this way. It should never have been this way. And on behalf of this and every government stretching back to the 1970s, I am truly sorry.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also apologised for his party’s part in the scandal, telling the Commons: “I want to acknowledge to every single person who has suffered that in addition to all of the other failings, politics itself failed you.

“That failure applies to all parties, including my own. There is only one word, sorry.”

In his report, released earlier on Monday, Sir Brian issued 12 recommendations – including an immediate compensation scheme and ensuring anyone who received a blood transfusion before 1996 was urgently tested for Hepatitis C.

He also called for compensation – something Mr Sunak said would come and would be outlined in the Commons on Tuesday.

But speaking to Sky News’ Sarah-Jane Mee, he warned the “disaster” of the scandal still wasn’t over, saying: “More than 3,000 have died, and deaths keep on happening week after week.

“I’d like people to take away the fact that this is not just something which happened. It is happening.”

Sir Brian said what had happened to the victims was “no accident”, adding: “People put their trust in the doctors and the government to keep them safe. That trust was betrayed.

“And then the government compounded the agony by repeatedly saying that no wrong had been done.”

But he hoped the report would ensure “these mistakes are not repeated”.

He told Sky News: “We don’t want another 30,000 people to go into hospital and come out with infections which were avoidable, which are life-shattering, which were no accident.

“And we don’t want the government to end up being defensive about them – but instead to be candid [and] forthcoming in the ways which I’ve just suggested.”

Politics

All sides aligned in non-political day for apology to infected blood victims

Published

2 hours ago

May 20, 2024

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All sides aligned in non-political day for apology to infected blood victims

After decades of denial, gaslighting and a chilling cover-up of the plight that befell thousands of victims of the infected blood scandal, finally an apology that sought to begin to make amends on this “day of shame” for the British state.

“I want to speak directly to victims and their families,” said Rishi Sunak. “I want to make a whole-hearted and unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice.

“I am truly sorry.”

It was an apology on behalf of every government stretching back to the 1970s.

Politics live: Thatcher’s health secretary ‘disparaging’ to victims

He also made “two solemn promises” at the dispatch box – comprehensive compensation will be paid and the report will be acted on.

“We must fundamentally rebalance the system so we finally address this pattern so familiar from other inquiries like Hillsborough, where innocent victims have to fight for decades just to be believed,” said the prime minister.

This was the absolute right response. The infected bloods scandal is one of the most horrifying failures of the state to its citizens as, to quote Sir Brian Langstaff, people were “failed, not once but repeatedly, by their doctors, by the bodies [the NHS and others] responsible for the safety of their treatment, and by their governments”.

There has been untold suffering caused by the very people and institutions that are meant to treat you. That in itself is unconscionable, that it was then covered up in a “subtle, pervasive and chilling way” by the NHS and government – two institutions that should be in the service of citizens – is devastating.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, looking up to address families in the Commons’ gallery, spoke to this betrayal as he told them: “Politics itself has failed you.

“That failure applies to all parties, including my own. There is only one word. Sorry.”

This was, for once, a very unpolitical day. All sides aligned, the apology fulsome and heartfelt, and agreement that whoever wins the next general election, compensation will be paid.

And, echoing the prime minister, Sir Keir added: “Lessons must be learnt to make sure nothing like this happens again. We must restore the sense that this is a country that can rectify injustice, particularly when carried out by institutions of the state.”

This is a scandal, an injustice, a cover-up that spanned decades, affected 30,000 victims and wreaked devastation on their lives and families.

Monday was the beginning of the end of a fight for justice that has been long fought and hard won. Politicians now must pay the compensation and bring in the reforms.

This scandal was one in which trust between citizens and the state wasn’t just badly broken, it was destroyed.

Today’s report, apology and promise of reparations is perhaps the beginning of trying to both right the wrongs endured by the blood scandal victims, and to begin to address the crisis of trust in government from an electorate that seems to have lost faith in the political class.