SIMON Danczuk says Labour must ditch Sir Keir Starmer to boost their chances of winning the General Election.
The former Labour MP turned political commentator and author said Starmer had “something of the Ed Miliband about him”.
And he believes Labour should be doing far better ahead of next week’s key by-elections.
Speaking to GB News, Danczuk said: “Labour are in a mess and are lacking a clear vision and sense of identity. When I look at Keir Starmer I can’t help thinking he has something of the Ed Miliband about him. The party should be changing leaders. As things stand there is no suggestion they could win at a General Election.”
Danczuk was reacting to an article penned by his former colleague Ian Austin
Writing in the Daily Mail, Mr Austin said Sir Keir had made some progress over the past two years, but it has been too little and far too slow.
The criticism heaped on Sir Keir comes a day after it emerged her and Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner had returned questionnaires to police investigating whether they broke Covid rules.
Durham police are looking into whether the rules were violated after Sir Keir was caught on camera drinking a beer in an MP’s office in April 2021.
The pair deny breaking lockdown rules.
They have said they will stand down if they are issued with fixed-penalty notices by police.
At the Durham gathering on 30 April, which was in the run-up to the Hartlepool by-election, people drank beer and ate curry in the constituency office of City of Durham MP Mary Foy.
Social distancing rules – including a ban on indoor mixing between households – were in place at the time.
There was an exemption for work purposes, but the rules did not mention socialising at work – and there was also an exemption if “the gathering is reasonably necessary for the purposes of campaigning in an election”.
Labour has argued the food was consumed between work events, meaning the gathering was within the rules.
Durham Constabulary last month reversed an earlier decision that no offence had been committed, after receiving “significant new information”.
It comes following the fallout from the MET Police probe into parties at Downing Street and Whitehall during coronavirus restrictions.
That probe led to a total of 126 fines to 83 people, for events happening across eight different dates, including to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson and the Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Mr Johnson apologised but refused to resign over the fine. He later survived a vote of no confidence.
