Technology Secretary Peter Kyle dismissed loud abuse during England’s World Cup qualifier with Andorra as ‘part and parcel of the game’ and said fans would be singing more positive songs soon
A Cabinet minister has dismissed obscene chanting about Keir Starmer by football fans – saying it is “part of the spirit of the game”.
Peter Kyle was asked by Sky News’ Sir Trevor Phillips whether the X-rated abuse during England’s World Cup qualifier win over Andorra was a “disturbing signal”. The loud chants, on Saturday evening, were condemned by Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel as “not acceptable”.
TV audiences heard the expletive-filled chanting during ITV coverage of the match. Technology Secretary Mr Kyle said he was optimistic supporters would be singing more positive songs about the PM in the future. He told Sir Trevor: “I’m not a football follower, I only watch when Brighton & Hove Albion are playing and I don’t think the fans of Brighton would use such words against Keir.
“This is football, it’s football chanting, is that not part of the spirit of the game?” He went on to defend unpopular choices made since Labour came to power.
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Mr Kyle said: “We have a Prime Minister that has taken some really tough decisions since he came in.
“People have to understand that when you win an election, things don’t go back to zero. You start off where the other lot left off, and we’ve had to do some really difficult things because they didn’t take the difficult decisions in office.
“It’s forced us to take those difficult decisions in office.” He said the positive impacts of Labour’s actions will soon be clear, and said: “The next time we have an England game, I’m sure they’ll be charting some really nice things about us too.”
The chants were audible to TV viewers during England’s 1-0 win, which came thanks to a Harry Kane strike. Manager Mr Tuchel told reporters during the post-match press conference that he had not heard them, but condemned fans if it had happened.
He said: “If it happened, it’s not acceptable. But I didn’t hear any offensive songs or chants.”
During the Sunday morning broadcast Sir Trevor, who supports Chelsea, said: “Even my team, which is pretty rough, I don’t think we’d do that.”