Karl Turner MP, who says he was suspended from Labour for opposing the government’s policy on jury trials, has said that Labour would likely lose the next general election with Sir Keir Starmer as leader.
Asked if he thought the PM could lead Labour into the next general election, Turner told The Camilla Tominey Show on GB News: “Well, not at the current polling, because if there was a general election next week – my seat is in Hull East, which has been forever held by Labour. My predecessor, John Prescott was the MP for 40 years.
“People around here have only ever voted Labour. If it was next week or anytime soon after, I’d be gone, my P45 is already waiting to be dispatched to me, and I’m afraid to tell you, we’d lose and we’d lose badly.”
Asked if Labour’s electoral position is down to Starmer, he said: “To a degree, I’m afraid it is. He’s the leader of the Labour Party and the Prime Minister. It’s a matter for him to take responsibility when we’re doing badly in the opinion polls. But I don’t think it’s entirely his fault, if I’m being honest with you.
“I think politics has changed to a degree. People expect instant happiness. We came in just over 18 months ago, we messed around with this policy and that policy, daft stuff of the daftest daftness. We didn’t need to be doing that stuff.
“We should have been sticking to what we said in the manifesto. We’ve delivered a lot of it, I hasten to add. But actually we’ve got involved with stuff that we should have been avoiding like the plague. That’s down to the leader of the Labour Party. Plain and simple.”
He said Starmer should be referred to the Commons Privileges Committee: “I can’t disagree. I’m going to be speaking in that debate on Tuesday, and I’m going to be saying, if he’s got nothing to hide, and I don’t think he has anything to hide, I don’t, truly, I do not. If he’s got nothing to hide, get on with it.
“Let’s have the inquiry. Let’s get it out of the way. Let’s put it to bed, and let’s move on. Please. Let’s move on to something better, something optimistic, something new. Let’s govern the country in the interests of the national interest, not in the interests of a few people in a room looking where the next job might come from.
“I’ll tell you what has cut through in this terrible, sorry saga: the idea that people are trying to pull strings for pals when jobs are at stake. Listen, when I’m going to lose my job. If, in fact, I lose my job, it’s going to be me who finds myself some way of employment. Not pals, not pulling strings, not somebody having a word with somebody in a corridor somewhere and saying, ‘Can you get him a job?’
“That’s the stuff that will cut through on the doorstep.”
