Keir Starmer told Cabinet members they are in ‘the fight of our times’ against toxic division as he said scenes at the weekend ‘sent a chill’ through spines across the country
Keir Starmer has hit out at Tommy Robinson and Elon Musk – saying the weekend’s violence “sent a chill through the spines of people around the country”.
The Prime Minister told the Cabinet they are in “the fight our our times” between patriotic national renewal and toxic division. And No10 said people would be intimidated by a protest led by a convicted criminal (Robinson) which saw calls for violence for a foreign billionaire (Musk).
Twenty six officers were injured, including four who were seriously hurt, as up to 150,000 people descended on London for a Unite the Kingdom rally organised by Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
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Mr Starmer told the Cabinet that “some of the scenes of police officers being attacked on Saturday, and a march led by a convicted criminal, were not just shocking but sent a chill through the spines of people around the country, and particularly many ethnic minority Britons”.
A No10 statement said: “He said we are in the fight of our times between patriotic national renewal and decline and toxic division. He said the government must heed the patriotic call of national renewal, and that this was a fight that has to be won.”
And the PM’s official spokesman told reporters: “So the Prime Minister has repeatedly said that he is the proponent of free speech.
“Freedom of speech is core to this country’s values, and this Government was elected by people up and down this country who lost faith in politicians and their ability to change people’s lives for the better and deliver for working people, and that is what this Government’s agenda is all about.
“But that can be true, and it can also be true there will be people around the country who will have seen the scenes at the weekend, as we say led by a convicted criminal, calls to violence from a foreign billionaire, and feel intimidated and scared because of their background, the colour of their skin.”
Musk, the world’s richest man, warned “violence is coming” and told right-wingers they must “fight back” or “die”.
Questioned about why the PM referred to a “fight” after No 10 condemned calls for violence, the spokesman said: “There is a situation, as he’s described at Cabinet, in this country where some people do want to sow division, and they do to lead to a situation where the result of which some people feel intimidated because of the colour of their skin and their backgrounds, and he understands how those people feel.”
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