Peter Kyle asked if Keir Starmer has control of party<\/h3>\n

A Labour shadow minister was left humiliated this morning after a disbelieving BBC interviewer was forced to ask whether Keir Starmer has lost control of his party.<\/p>\n

Victoria Derbyshire pointed out that no fewer than 13 shadow ministers in Sir Keir\u2019s party have now broken ranks to demand an Israeli ceasefire, despite the leadership warning it would prevent the country from properly defending itself following Hamas\u2019 bloody attack.<\/p>\n

Asked if the 13 rebels should be \u201cdisciplined\u201d, Peter Kyle said the rancour and division within the Labour Party \u201cis a complete strength\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the fact we have a vigorous debate without our party, as we do within our country, as we are doing as a globe right now reflects a strength, because we have a leader who has channelled that and turned it into a policy that is in step with all our international partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a strength of our leadership, certainly not a weakness of our party\u201d.<\/p>\n

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An astonished Ms Derbyshire replied: \u201cSo not abiding by collective responsibility is a strength?\u201d<\/p>\n

She slapped down the Labour Spokesman when he tried arguing that the two were \u201cdancing on the head of a pin\u201d over the disagreements within the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not dancing on the head of a pin, the two things are different: Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s position is a humanitarian pause, a number of your frontbencher colleagues – people who could potentially be in Government in a year\u2019s time – are essentially rebelling against his position.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m asking you is Sir Keir Starmer really in control?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Kyle repeated that the divisions are a \u201cstrength\u201d.<\/p>\n

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  He conceded that the row won\u2019t go away any time soon, saying the \u2018debate\u2019 within the party will \u201ccontinue\u201d.<\/p>\n

  \u201cWe don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to unfold into the future, and of course we want an end to this conflict as quickly as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

  \u201cKeir is leading in a way that has strength, it has absolute firm policies that are implementable and in line with the international community right now. That shows he has a grip on our party and yes we are having a debate and Keir is engaged in that debate – but don\u2019t ever doubt his leadership ability\u201d.<\/p>\n

  Asked if the 13 rebels would be sacked from their frontbench roles, Mr Kyle shrugged exasperatedly.<\/p>\n

  \u201cLook what we\u2019re going to do, I expect, is continue engaging with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

  Reacting to the interview, former Labour MP Lord Walney warned that the party\u2019s problems will grow \u201cuntil Keir enforces collective responsibility or shows personally why he\u2019s ok with differences\u201d.<\/p>\n

  The continued coverage of Labour\u2019s internal struggles comes amid Tories demanding Sir Keir acts and sacks a hard-left MP who accused Israel of war crimes at yesterday\u2019s London rally.<\/p>\n

  Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald added that the Middle East\u2019s only democracy is \u201cethnically cleansing Palestinian people\u201d.<\/p>\n

  Sir Simon Clarke said Mr McDonald \u201cand his fellow hardliners have thrown down the gauntlet to Keir Starmer\u201d.<\/p>\n

  \u201cEither their views are acceptable in his party or they aren\u2019t. It\u2019s time to choose\u201d.<\/p>\n

  Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Peter Kyle asked if Keir Starmer has control of party A Labour shadow minister was left humiliated this morning after a disbelieving BBC interviewer was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":134705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n