Starmer vows to ‘turn Labour inside out’ to win next election

‘We have to turn the Labour party inside out’

(Getty Images)

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to “turn the Labour party inside out” and relaunch his leadership in order to win the next election.

In an interview with the Financial Times, the Labour leader said he wanted to demonstrate how serious he was about winning power.

He added that Labour MPs needed to “get real” about internal rows that were damaging the party’s credibility with voters and said members had to embrace Tony Blair’s legacy

Disputes within the Labour party have often been blamed for distracting from challenging the Conservatives in election races and have resulted in multiple calls for party unity.

Sir Keir told the newspaper he had one goal: “To win the next election”.

He said: “We have to turn the Labour party inside out and that’s what we’ve been doing for the last 18 months”.

“Too many of our members and supporters think winning an internal argument in the Labour party is changing the world – it isn’t. We’ve got to get real.”

He added that Labour should be “very proud” of what had been achieved under its former prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

“We have to be proud of that record in government and not be an arm’s length or distant about it,” he said.

Labour has lost the last four general elections, with the party witnessing its worst result in 84 years in the 2019 election under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

Sir Keir’s leadership has been doubted by some on the party’s left-wing since he took over from Mr Corbyn last April.

Since then, the Tories took the former Labour heartland constituency of Hartlepool in a May by-election.

In July however, the tides appeared to turn for Labour under Sir Keir, when Kim Leadbeater won the by-election in Batley and Spen in Yorkshire.