Reform roasts โliarโ Starmer after PM suggests party would be โsoftโ on Russia | Politics | News
Reform UK has accused Sir Keir Starmer of “lying” after the embattled Prime Minister suggested Reform would be “soft” on Russia. Sir Keir made the comments during a speech at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, as he called for greater European collaboration on defence, and said Britain and its continental allies need to “spend more, deliver more and coordinate more”.
It came at the end of a torrid few days for Sir Keir, who has faced calls from some within his own party to resign over his appointment of Lord Mandelson as UK ambassador to Washington. The Prime Minister is also facing profound doubts over his leadership more generally, with Labour MPs nervously watching polling consistently showing low approval ratings for Sir Keir, strong support for Nigel Farage’s Right-wing Reform party, as well as recent surges in support for the Green Party on the left. While the Prime Minister didn’t mention either party by name today, he appeared to make a dig at them in his remarks in Germany, questioning their commitment to European security.
Sir Keir said the “peddlers of easy answers are ready on the extremes of left and right and they will offer their solutions instead”.
“Itโs striking that the different ends of the spectrum share so much,” he added. “Soft on Russia, weak on Nato, if not outright opposed, and determined to sacrifice the relationships we need on the altar of their ideology.
โThe future they offer is one of division and then capitulation,” he added.
Reform deputy leader Richard Tice furiously rejected the implication, telling Express.co.uk: “Starmer is lying to save his skin. The British people see him for what he is: totally unfit to govern.”
Sir Keir’s remarks in Munich were trailed ahead of the speech, and a Reform spokesperson said the party “believes our priority should be rebuilding our armed forces, properly funding defence to at least 3.5 per cent of GDP, standing up to China and Russia and strengthening our bilateral relationships”.
A Green Party source told The Times: “This is a caretaker prime minister running scared, losing whatโs left of his authority by going abroad to a summit on our future security and making cheap smears against the Green Party”.
The Greens said he was making the comments “because he knows Labour have blown it in Gorton & Denton,” where there is an upcoming by-election that could pile further pressure on Sir Keir if his party is defeated there.
Figures within Reform, including party leader Nigel Farage, have previously faced accusations of not being strong enough on the Kremlin regime, something Mr Farage has repeatedly denied. Nathan Gill, the ex-leader of Reform UK in Wales was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison in November last year after admitting taking bribes for pro-Russia interviews and speeches.
The party was also accused by critics of “pandering to Moscow” after none of its MPs turned up to a Parliamentary debate on Russian interference in British politics this week, The Byline Times reported.
Meanwhile, Green Party leader Zack Polanski has previously called for the UK to leave NATO, arguing that Britain needs to end its dependence on American military might.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: โNigel Farage has said Putin is the world leader he admires most and his former Leader in Wales was jailed last year for taking pro-Russian bribes. As recently as yesterday Farage was spouting Russian talking points on Ukraine.
โReform can try and run from their record all they like, the truth is Farage and his top team are Putinโs puppets and are incapable of standing up for Britain.โ
Sir Keir sacked Lord Mandelson from the UK’s most coveted diplomatic post in September after emails revealed the extent of the former Cabinet minister’s close ties with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was jailed for soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008 and died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
Lord Mandelson has since resigned from the Labour Party and the House of Lords. The Labour veteran was previously known to have been a friend of Epstein before his appointment as ambassador. But Sir Keir is under renewed pressure to reveal how the vetting process cleared him for the role after subsequent emails allegedly showed Lord Mandelson voicing support for Epstein following his 2008 conviction, and casting doubt on his guilt.
The emails were released by the US Department of Justice in its latest enormous tranche of documents related to investigations into Epstein. Appearing in the files does not indicate any wrongdoing.
Sir Keir apologised for the appointment and claimed Lord Mandelson “lied repeatedly” about the extent of his relationship with Epstein.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police have launched a criminal investigation into Lord Mandelson over allegations of misconduct in public office following claims that he leaked confidential and market-sensitive government information to Epstein in 2009, during his time as business secretary under then PM Gordon Brown.
The BBC understands that Lord Mandelson’s position is that he has not acted criminally and was not motivated by financial gain.
He has also always denied knowing anything about Epstein’s illegal child abuse and denies any wrongdoing. In a previous statement, his representatives said: “Lord Mandelson regrets, and will regret until his dying day, that he believed Epstein’s lies about his criminality.
“Lord Mandelson did not discover the truth about Epstein until after his death in 2019. He is profoundly sorry that powerless and vulnerable women and girls were not given the protection they deserved.”
