"It was a dark week for the prime minister, with the departure of his longtime chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who had become a deeply divisive figure and who took the hit for the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, despite his links to the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But last Thursday morning had for a change been dominated by a different story."
"Top of the bulletins were comments from Jim Ratcliffe, the Monaco-based Manchester United owner, who said the UK had been colonised by immigrants, citing wildly inaccurate figures. The previous afternoon, when the comments were first broadcast, Starmer tweeted to proactively condemn them as offensive and wrong. Britain, he said is a proud, tolerant and diverse country and he called on Ratcliffe to apologise."
"It is small scale in the scheme of things. But it was gesture that aides say will be a symbol of a much bigger shift. A few months ago we would not have done that, said one adviser. There would have been an internal row over whether it would look soft on immigration. But we know what the prime minister thinks, we know what he would want to say, so why are we hesitating?"
Keir Starmer condemned Jim Ratcliffe's claim that the UK had been colonised by immigrants and called for an apology, signaling a more assertive approach to inflammatory remarks. The prime minister faced a difficult week with the departure of longtime chief of staff Morgan McSweeney after controversy over Peter Mandelson's US ambassador appointment and Epstein links. Aides describe the Ratcliffe response as emblematic of a strategic shift away from internal hesitancy over appearing soft on immigration. Despite widespread anger and weak polling, cabinet ministers note the absence of a credible challenger after Anas Sarwar's resignation call, suggesting Starmer may persist.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]