Starmer praises Thatcher in bid to appeal to Tory voters

Sir Keir Starmer is facing a growing backlash after piling praise on Margaret Thatcher in a bid to win over disillusioned Tory voters. The Labour leader has been attacked by critics on the right who accused him of trying to "ride on the coattails of Thatcher's success".

- ARCHIE MITCHELL

But he has also angered MPs on the left, with one saying the former PM had "caused poverty and deprivation not seen since the Dickensian era".

Sir Keir heaped praise on Thatcher, claiming she had effected "meaningful change" and "set loose Britain's natural entrepreneurialism".

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Sir Keir said: "Every moment of meaningful change in modern British politics begins with the realisation that politics must act in service of the British people, rather than dictating to them. Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism. Tony Blair reimagined a stale, outdated Labour Party into one that could seize the optimism of the late Nineties."

He followed in the footsteps of his predecessor Sir Tony Blair, who also praised the so-called Iron Lady in the run-up to his 1997 general election landslide. But left-wing Labour MP Beth Winter said the Thatcher government, which ran from 1979 to 1990, "devastated communities with the deliberate destruction of the mining industry".

She added: "Policies like the grossly iniquitous poll tax and the great privatisation rip-off were the hallmarks of Thatcherism. Most of those forced to rely on food banks today are from communities that have never recovered from the Thatcher government's assault on working-class communities. Her government's attacks on the working class and trade unions [are] well remembered in my [Cynon Valley] constituency."