Photo of Keir Starmer and his wife at Taylor Swift concert was ‘standout moment’ for Labour – but was it accidental or choreographed?
The “standout moment” of Labour’s election campaign happened “probably by accident” last week – and at a Taylor Swift concert, a party insider has told Sky News’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast.
On this week’s episode, ex-Labour adviser Ayesha Hazarika said the “beautiful shot” of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer with his wife Victoria at a Wembley show on Swift’s Eras Tour was the highlight of Labour’s election campaign so far.
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Hazarika said: “I think the standout moment for the Labour campaign for me happened this week, probably by accident, not choreographed.”
“The photo of the campaign was Keir Starmer with his wife Vic, at that Taylor Swift concert,” – which he posted on X on Friday night.
“It was a beautiful shot.., it was joyful, it was modern, it was optimistic… Taylor Swift in the background wearing red.”
She added: “That is the optic that his team have been trying so hard to push. And then probably someone just took a snap and put it on Twitter and then that’s captured it.”
But Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby believes the photo was “more choreographed than that”, as parties agonise over their image ahead of the UK general election on 4 July.
“It was a really genuinely nice photo of the two of them… but I think that was a couple of things going on there,” she said.
Pic: PA
There had been “a lot of press in recent days” about why Victoria Starmer “had not been on the campaign trail,” she added, pointing out Sir Keir keeps details about his family private, including his children’s names.
“So I think maybe there was something about just reminding everyone that he is happily married to Vic… just kind of inserting her in a way that was really low-key, but very, clear.”
The other reason may have been to “show a different side of him”, Rigby added, as on camera he “turns into a more robotic politician”.
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She said Sir Keir has previously said: “You can’t see me with my family. If you could see me, you would see a massively different side of me.”
The former leader of the Scottish Tories Ruth Davidson said: “You’re right about how relaxed he looks, that that’s one of the things that made it. But the other thing is the body language is great and not forced.”
But he comes across on TV as “boring as sin” and “passionless”, Davidson added.
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She and Beth Rigby both said Labour has a problem if Sir Keir ends up being like the former PM Theresa May, “and nobody sees what people who know him [see]”.
Email Beth, Ruth, and Ayesha at electoraldysfunction@sky.uk, post on X to @BethRigby, or send a WhatsApp voice note on 07934 200 444.
Police are “urgently assessing” racist and homophobic comments made by Reform UK activists as Rishi Sunak spoke of his hurt and anger at a personal slur.
The Essex force said it was looking “to establish if there are any criminal offences”.
It came after the prime minister said he hated repeating the bigoted insult directed at him by a supporter of Nigel Farage‘s party, but said as a father of two daughters it was important to challenge “corrosive and divisive behaviour”.
Reform campaigners had been recorded by an undercover Channel 4 reporter making racist comments, including about the Tory leader who is of Indian descent.
A spokesman for Essex Police said: “We are aware of comments made during a Channel 4 News programme and we are urgently assessing them to establish if there are any criminal offences.”
Mr Sunak said: “My two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaign for Nigel Farage calling me an effing ‘P***’.
“It hurts and it makes me angry and I think he has some questions to answer.
“And I don’t repeat those words lightly.
“I do so deliberately because this is too important not to call out clearly for what it is.”
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Farage on racial slurs by activist
Speaking on an election campaign visit to a school in Teesside, he added: “As prime minister, but more importantly as a father of two young girls, it’s my duty to call out this corrosive and divisive behaviour.”
Mr Sunak said he repeated the racial insult because it was important to challenge it.
He went on: “I hate having to do it, I chose my words deliberately, I hate having to repeat them, absolutely hate it.
“But I also think it’s important to call this out for what it is and be clear about what it is.”
The footage taken in Clacton where Mr Farage is a candidate, showed Reform campaigner Andrew Parker making the discriminatory remark about Mr Sunak and suggesting migrants should be used as “target practice”.
He also described Islam as a “disgusting cult”.
Another canvasser described the Pride flag as “degenerate” and suggested members of the LGBT+ community were paedophiles.
Mr Farage, already facing a backlash over his claim the West “provoked” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has sought to distance himself from the inflammatory comments, saying he was “dismayed” by the “appalling sentiments” expressed.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was “shocked” by the “clearly racist” footage and that the Reform UK leader faced a “test of leadership”.
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Mr Farage has used reports Mr Parker was a part-time actor to suggest the incriminating film was a “total set-up”.
Appearing on ITV’s Loose Women, he said: “It was an act right from the very start.”
Mr Farage added: “I have to tell you, this whole thing was a complete and total set-up, I have no doubt about that.”
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But Mr Parker told Sky News his volunteering for Reform was separate from his acting job and claimed he had been “goaded” into making the comments caught on camera.
He said: “There’s lots of old people like me who are sick to death of this woke agenda… but on that particular day, I was set up and set up good and proper.
“It’s proper taught me a lesson – I was a total fool.”
He added: “I still support Nigel Farage, I think Nigel Farage is a brilliant guy.
“I think Nigel Farage is the only person who tells the truth.”
Mr Sunak also hit out at Mr Farage’s previous praise of Andrew Tate as an “important voice” for men.
The online influencer has faced charges of human trafficking, rape, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women – charges he has denied.
The prime minister said: “Andrew Tate isn’t an important voice for men. He’s a vile misogynist. And our politics and country is better than that.”
The other candidates in Clacton are:
Matthew Bensilum, Liberal Democrat
Craig Jamieson, Climate Party
Tony Mack, independent
Natasha Oben, Green Party
Tasos Papanastasiou, Heritage Party
Andrew Pemberton, UK Independence Party
Giles Watling, Conservative
A minister in the Welsh government is set to be censured after he posted that Conservatives were “happy” to see “children killed”.
He made the comments on the social media platform X, in response to the party’s opposition to the 20mph rollout.
The Welsh government changed the default speed limit in built-up areas in September last year.
It recently announced it was carrying out a review and that some roads might be changed back later in the year.
Mick Antoniw has been the government’s counsel general, its top legal job, since 2021.
The Senedd‘s standards commissioner received a complaint about a post by Mr Antoniw.
“Tories so happy to see people and particularly children killed and injured on our roads. Wholly irresponsible but not surprising,” the post stated.
‘Offensive’
The commissioner considered the comment to be offensive and Mr Antoniw accepted the assessment when contacted by him.
Mr Antoniw publicly apologised and deleted the post.
Standards commissioner Douglas Bain found the comments were “not only offensive but could bring the Senedd into disrepute”.
The cross-party standards committee accepted that a breach of the members’ code of conduct had occurred.
But the committee noted that Mr Antoniw “acted promptly, and undertook the necessary steps, to rectify this matter”.
Censure ‘warranted’
At first minister’s questions last September, leader of the Senedd’s largest opposition party Andrew RT Davies described the post as “unacceptable language”.
Then first minister Mark Drakeford told him the counsel general “took the tweet down immediately”.
He said Mr Antoniw had “since acknowledged that he would not have expressed it in that way had he been in a position to give it further consideration”.
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The committee concluded that a censure was “warranted”, rather than no further action, “given the pejorative characterisation of a section of the electorate”.
A censure is a way for the Senedd to note its disapproval of a member’s behaviour, but stops short of a temporary ban.
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