Starmer accused of ‘pathetic bullying’ by environmental campaigner after NIMBY article
Keir Starmer has been accused of “pathetic bullying” by a Norfolk environmental campaigner who was singled out and ridiculed by the prime minister in an article in the Daily Mail.
Sir Keir heaped scorn on Andrew Boswell across the first five paragraphs of an article in the tabloid, headlined “We’ll stop the time-wasting NIMBYs and zealots from holding the country to ransom”.
Dr Boswell, a computer scientist, now brands himself an environmental consultant and challenges road and other projects in the courts which he argues break environment, nature and habitat laws.
Speaking to Sky News this afternoon, Dr Boswell said: “I think it’s disgraceful that he called out an individual in this way. And someone who is not able to protect themselves easily.
“I think it’s a very dangerous thing for the prime minister to do, and he shouldn’t have approached it this way.”
Asked why he thought it was dangerous, Dr Boswell replied: “Well, he has named me. I’m just an ordinary person, a member of the public. I go about my life on that basis. I don’t have a vast media team to protect me. I don’t have other protections. It’s a very dangerous thing to do to an individual.”
Dr Boswell said, following the attack, that Keir Starmer should understand the government is failing to uphold its climate ambitions and that he wants to discuss this with the PM.
“Keir Starmer ought to actually meet me, and I’d like to talk to him about the climate emergency and the fact that you can’t just dismiss carbon emissions as Rachel Reeves did yesterday at Davos. We can’t do that.
“And the simple fact of the matter is that the planning system in this country does not secure the climate ambitions that the government has.
“So the reason I went into the planning system and the legal system was to try to shore that up. Until that is shored up, people are going to continue taking legal actions against the government and government decisions which do not protect our climate ambitions.”
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NIMBYs v YIMBYs
In the Daily Mail comment piece, Sir Keir identifies Dr Boswell by describing his work, but does not name him.
The accompanying article in the Mail does identify him, however.
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In the article, Sir Keir writes: “A former Green Party councillor spent years trying to block vital safety upgrades to the A47. The case reached the Supreme Court last year, which dismissed it for having ‘no logical basis’.
The A47 east of Norwich, Norfolk, which prompted campaigners to go to the Supreme Court in order to stop a government improvement plan. Pic: Google Street View
“A top judge even said it had ‘an air of complete unreality’. So why was he able to waste years of the court’s time and squander tens of millions of pounds of taxpayer money?
“There are countless more examples of NIMBYs and zealots gumming up the legal system often for their own ideological blind spots to stop the government building the infrastructure the country needs.
“They know they have no chance of winning, they just want to drag it out in hope that the government or industry give up. They want to win for themselves, not for the country.”
Asked whether the PM was correct to write this, Dr Boswell told Sky News: “No, he’s absolutely not, in several respects there.
“First of all, on the court, when we went to the high court, the high court judge actually said that my case had helped highlight issues in the way environmental impact assessments were done.
“And on the safety issue, actually, what these road schemes are doing is spending £500m on short stretches of road when there’s much more dangerous black spots in Norfolk.
“I’ve always said we do need to improve safety on the roads in Norfolk, we need to target the black spots, and not spend huge amounts of money digging roads, which doesn’t actually make a big safety improvement.”
Sky News has contacted Number 10 for a response.
UK
Teenager living in ‘continuous pain’ after surgeon Dr Yaser Jabbar carried out ‘inappropriate’ operations
A 15-year-old boy who was operated on twice by a now unlicensed Great Ormond Street surgeon is living with “continuous” pain.
Finias Sandu has been told by an independent review the procedures he underwent on both his legs were “unacceptable” and “inappropriate” for his age.
The teenager from Essex was born with a condition that causes curved bones in his legs.
Aged seven, a reconstructive procedure was carried out on Finias’s left leg, lengthening the limb by 3.5cm.
A few years later, the same operation was carried out on his right leg which involved wearing an invasive and heavy metal frame for months.
He has now been told by independent experts these procedures should not have taken place and concerns have been raised over a lack of imaging being taken prior to the operations.
Yaser Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence last year. Pic: LinkedIn
His doctor at London’s prestigious Great Ormond Street Hospital was former consultant orthopaedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar. Sky News has spoken to others he treated.
Mr Jabbar also did not arrange for updated scans or for relevant X-rays to be conducted ahead of the procedures.
The surgeries have been found to have caused Finias “harm” and left him in constant pain.
“The pain is there every day, every day I’m continuously in pain,” he told Sky News.
“It’s not something really sharp, although it does get to a certain point where it hurts quite a lot, but it’s always there. It just doesn’t leave, it’s a companion to me, just always there.”
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Finias’s surgery pictures
Care of over 700 patients being assessed
Mr Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence in January last year after working at Great Ormond Street between 2017 and 2022.
The care of his 700-plus patients is being assessed, with some facing corrective surgery, among them Finias.
“Trusting somebody is hard to do, knowing what they have done to me physically and emotionally, you know, it’s just too much to comprehend for me,” he said.
“It wasn’t something just physically, like my leg pain and everything else. It was emotionally, because I put my trust in that specific doctor. My parents and I don’t really understand the more scientific terms, we just went by what he said.”
Doctors refused to treat Finias because of his surgeries
Finias and his family relocated to their native Romania soon after the reconstructive frame was removed from his right leg in the summer of 2021.
The pain worsened and they sought advice from doctors in Romania, who refused to treat Finias because of the impact of his surgeries.
Dozens of families seeking legal claims
His mother Cornelia Sandu is “furious” and feels her trust in the hospital has been shattered. They are now among dozens of families seeking legal claims.
Cyrus Plaza from Hudgell Solicitors is representing the family. He said: “In cases where it has been identified that harm was caused, we want to see Great Ormond Street Hospital agreeing to pay interim payments of compensation for the children, so that if they need therapy or treatment now, they can access it.”
Finias is accessing therapy and mental health support as he prepares for corrective surgery later in the year.
A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital told Sky News: “We are deeply sorry to Finias and his family, and all the patients and families who have been impacted.
“We want every patient and family who comes to our hospital to feel safe and cared for. We will always discuss concerns families may have and, where they submit claims, we will work to ensure the legal process can be resolved as quickly as possible.”
Finias with his mother and sister
Service not ‘safe for patients’
Sky News has attempted to contact Mr Jabbar.
An external review into the wider orthopaedic department at the hospital began in September 2022.
It was commissioned after the Royal College of Surgeons warned the hospital’s lower limb reconstruction service was not “safe for patients or adequate to meet demand”.
The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Sir Keir Starmer has said closer ties with the EU will be good for the UK’s jobs, bills and borders ahead of a summit where he could announce a deal with the bloc.
The government is set to host EU leaders in London on Monday as part of its efforts to “reset” relations post-Brexit.
A deal granting the UK access to a major EU defence fund could be on the table, according to reports – but disagreements over a youth mobility scheme and fishing rights could prove to be a stumbling block.
The prime minister has appeared to signal a youth mobility deal could be possible, telling The Times that while freedom of movement is a “red line”, youth mobility does not come under this.
His comment comes after Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said on Friday work on a defence deal was progressing but “we’re not there yet”.
Sir Keir met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen later that day while at a summit in Albania.
Ursula von der Leyen and Sir Keir had a brief meeting earlier this week. Pic: PA
If agreed, the deal will be the third in two weeks, following trade agreements with India and the US.
Sir Keir said: “First India, then the United States – in the last two weeks alone that’s jobs saved, faster growth and wages rising.
“More money in the pockets of British working people, achieved through striking deals not striking poses.
“Tomorrow, we take another step forward, with yet more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union.”
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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said she is “worried” about what the PM might have negotiated.
Ms Badenoch – who has promised to rip up the deal with the EU if it breaches her red lines on Brexit – said: “Labour should have used this review of our EU trade deal to secure new wins for Britain, such as an EU-wide agreement on Brits using e-gates on the continent.
“Instead, it sounds like we’re giving away our fishing quotas, becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again and getting free movement by the back door. This isn’t a reset, it’s a surrender.”
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