Ready or not: Keir’s rivals flounder
5/5/202622 min
With days until the local and national elections – amid some grim polling projections – are Labour facing a double-edged threat from both the left and right of British politics?
As instability in the Middle East intensifies, Keir Starmer is preparing to host a summit to tackle antisemitism, but will Labour’s punchy attack on the Greens – including claims of antisemitic remarks made by their candidates – cut through with the voters?
Away from the campaigning Sam and Anne assess the state of potential leadership challengers. Are they ready and can they realistically force the Prime Minister’s hand?
Plus, have Rachel Reeves’ warnings to the U.S. that the war with Iran would be “folly’ come back to haunt her?
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSam Coates· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Hello, good morning and welcome. It's Tuesday, May the 5th. There's 96 hours to go until Labour starts a public discussion about Keir Starmer's future. But how far will it go, and what will then happen? Nobody knows, but the anger is building. My name is Sam Coates of Sky News.
Anne McElvoy· Host0:20
And I'm Anne McElvoy from Politico. The big thing from Downing Street today is a meeting convened by the Prime Minister to push for a whole society response to antisemitism. He's summoning figures ranging from police chiefs to the bosses of cultural institutions to Number 10 and pressing them to go further in rooting out anti-Jewish hatred. Playbook this morning saying it's not just the Golders Green stabbings that has triggered this, the spate of arsons coming on top of the Manchester synagogue terror attack.
Sam Coates· Host0:51
But of course, there is politics as well. Yes, Keir Starmer is using the government platform of Number 10 to tackle this, but it's also dovetailing precisely with Labour's political attack message. Overnight, the party released an attack video against the Greens, featuring a Jewish woman reading out a sorry string of alleged antisemitic comments by Green candidates. So Keir Starmer is combining his national government message with his local electoral campaign, trying to squeeze the Greens 48 hours before polling opens. But will this make an electoral difference?
Anne McElvoy· Host1:23
Well, the projection from Oxford University's Steven Fisher suggests that Labour will win only 13%