Keir Starmer flip-flops again – saying ex-ISIS bride Shamima Begum should not be allowed back to UK
SIR Keir Starmer flip-flopped again yesterday - now saying Shamima Begum should not be allowed back.
At a speech laying out his “five missions” for government, the Labour leader was repeatedly grilled over a string of u-turns from opposing Brexit to supporting Jeremy Corbyn.
And he was lampooned for suggesting his reforms may be “too bold” while failing to announce a single new policy.
It came as Sir Keir abandoned his opposition to refusing the rights of IS bride Begum to return.
The then shadow Brexit Secretary in 2019 said stripping her of British citizenship was the “wrong decision” and had been “rushed”.
But yesterday he welcomed the court’s “firm conclusion” to throw out her appeal and told the event in Manchester: “National security has to come first. The court has looked at all of the material and come to a very firm conclusion and I support what the court has done.”
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After being put on the spot by the Sun over other “flip-flopping”, Sir Keir threw down the gauntlet to Rishi Sunak to let the people decide.
He said: “If anyone wants to know if the public trust and want any of this, then there is a very good way to find out, let's have a general election.”
Sir Keir said he would put his five-point plan up against the PM’s “five promises to clean up his own mess”.
In a fiery interview earlier he was further hauled over the coals for junking a series of pledges made during his 2020 leadership bid including scrapping tuition fees.
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Sir Keir shot back: “They haven't all been abandoned by any stretch of the imagination. But what I have had to do is adapt some of them to the circumstances we find ourselves in.”
The Labour leader - who is miles ahead in the polls - said getting elected must be the party’s “single absolute mission”.
But Tory chair Greg Hands blasted: “Starmer has never made a pledge he intends to keep.
“He will say anything if the politics suit him. He lacks principles and has no new ideas”
Sir Keir said economic growth, better education, safer streets, and green energy will be the focus if Labour boots the Tories out of office.
He even pledged to make Britain the fastest growing economy in the G7 within five years if he becomes PM.
The born-again Brexiteer admitted poor economic growth cannot be solely blamed on leaving the EU.
He said: “If we get fixated that Brexit is the only issue when it comes to growth I think we would be making a big mistake.”
But he was blasted for delivering a slogan-stuffed speech promising “bold” reforms yet lacking specific policies or targets.
Sir Keir said: “Each mission will come with clear, measurable outcomes. Ambitions that won’t be overtaken by the future. That raise our sights and, at first glance, seem too bold, invite a sharp intake of breath, a question - can this really be done?
“And then, when the doubts begin to subside, a new emotion and a new determination. Why not Britain?”
Viewers compared Sir Keir's five missions to doomed predecessor Ed Miliband's much-mocked Ed Stone in the 2015 election.
Michael Fabricant told the Sun: "Is this the Ed Stone mark 2? He left out the bit that promises to make everyone richer, happier and have a faithful girlfriend.
"In other words, he promises the world without a clue about how he's going to achieve it."
A rambling Labour document promised to flesh out the details of the pledges “in the coming months”.
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In response to a question Sir Keir also said he would not oppose April’s Corporation Tax hike but vowed he would not go on a spending spree if elected.
Tory Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt said: “Nobody is fooled by this reinvented Labour Party because what we're seeing is cosplay conservatism.”