Sir Keir Starmer has called Boris Johnson a “complete fool” exposed by the British public and insisted he is looking forward to facing whoever replaces him at No 10.
Dismissing the Tory leadership candidates as “B-grade”, Starmer mocked the increasingly bitter race to be the next prime minister. “Look at the state they’re in,” he sneered.
“I think he’s a complete moron and I think he’s been exposed,” Sir Keir said of the outgoing prime minister on the Rest is Politics podcast.
Starmer said: “I’m appalled by the Partygate thing because it wasn’t just that he broke the rules, but that he then took the f*** out of the public with his ridiculous defenses afterwards.”
He added: “I accept that in the local elections not everyone on the doors was saying, ‘This is the reason for me.’ But there was a general realization that this guy was bull. And if he’s nitpicking about that, he’s probably nitpicking about everything.”
Starmer dismissed the idea that he should worry about facing a stronger candidate now that Mr Johnson’s time is almost up – saying it was “good for the country” that he had resigned.
Asked by hosts Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart if he had lost one of his strengths, he said: “No, I don’t think so. We will face whoever wins this terrible race. I mean – look at their condition.
Starmer mocked the “fanciful” economic promises made by the candidates. “Deep down, the Tory party has lost all sense of purpose. They are tearing apart.”
The BBC is due to host a live debate between the final two Tory candidates on Monday, but a recently planned debate on Sky News was canceled due to the party’s fears that the TV ads would devolve into harmful jargon.
Labor has released a video of Sunday night’s angry ITV debate, in which the Tory rivals belittle each other and bemoan the state of the economy.
The clip highlights Liz Truss’s claim that Rishi Sunak has set Britain on a downward spiral, with Cammy Badenoch saying: ‘Why should the public believe us? We haven’t exactly covered ourselves in glory.
Labor sources told The Independent the leadership team wanted Ms Truss to win the Tory contest because they believed her “wooden style” would make it look “less unexciting”.
Labor sees Ms Mordaunt as a more difficult opponent because of her reputation as an effective representative of the commons, the sources said, while they were neutral on the prospect of facing Mr Sunak.
The final vote by Tory MPs on Wednesday will choose the two candidates to be placed among party members in the race for Number 10.
Ms Truss and Ms Mordaunt are battling to win over Kemmy Badenoch’s supporters after she was kicked out of the race.
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