Keir Starmer slaps down 'grubby' Nigel Farage - 'as unpatriotic as you get'

Keir Starmer today warns voters to steer clear of “grubby” Nigel Farage.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mirror the Prime Minister said the Reform leader is more interested in lining his pockets than helping hard working families.

Speaking on the eve of Labour party conference, he told us: “He’s not for ordinary people, he’s for Nigel Farage.” His comments come after the Mirror revealed Farage had trousered £1million from 12 separate side hustles.

Mr Starmer said: “There is nothing more unpatriotic than pretending you’re going to fix a problem that really matters to people in the full knowledge that you’re not because you don’t want to, because you’ve no interest in fixing that. That is as unpatriotic as you get.

“Add to that that he spends more time grubbing around in America, trying to make money for himself than he does representing his constituents.”

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Farage has met US President Donald Trump during his jaunts to the US, where he this month told Congress Britain was “at war with freedom”.

It came after his appearance at a conference in Las Vegas in June where he announced Reform would become the first political party to accept donations buy Bitcoin.

“He goes there not just to make money, but to talk our country down,” Mr Starmer said. “The leader of a political party going to another country to talk his own country down. Grubby.”

The PM also condemned Reform’s “divisive and dangerous” plans to axe indefinite leave to remain, the main route to citizenship for migrants who came to Britain legally.

He said: “It’s one thing to say we must control our borders and remove those who have no right to be here, who are here illegally. I agree with that.

“But to reach in and then say, ‘I’m going to deport those who are legally here’, is a completely different proposition, a very divisive and dangerous one.

“I want to be clear that we will protect all those people who make up our country, who contribute to our country, who work, put in, and are part of who we are as a country.”

He added: “It’s a very, very dangerous divide that Nigel Farage has opened up. It shows his true colours.”

Mr Starmer also tore into Reform’s record on opposing the Government’s massive expansion of workers rights and the borders bill designed to curb small boat crossings.

Mr Starmer said: “He’s not for ordinary people, he’s for Nigel Farage. Feeding off their grievances and with no intention of fixing them.

“There is nothing more unpatriotic than pretending you’re going to fix a problem that really matters to people in the full knowledge that you’re not because you don’t want to, because you’ve no interest in fixing that. That is as unpatriotic as you get.

“Add to that that he spends more time grubbing around in America, trying to make money for himself than he does representing his constituents.”

The Labour leader will use conference to underline his party’s patriotic values and to put fixing Britain at the heart of that argument.

“Labour is the party of patriotism, he said, adding: “We’re the ones that care about the future of our country, so much so that we’re not just fixing what we inherited.

“We inherited a complete mess on all fronts, the economy, public services. [It’s] not just fixing it, but renewing it and taking it forward so it’s ready for the future. Patriotic national renewal.”

Brits should be proud to fly the Union Jack, he said, and the flag must never be surrendered to those who use it to sow division.

“Being British is about wanting to move your country forward,” he said. "It is about the sense of who we are. We are proud. We love our country. We want to see our country progress.

“We want the next generation to have better chances than us. We are reasonable, tolerant, live and let live. People always have been.”

He said the recent nationalist demonstration organised by far-right agitator Tommy Robinson will have sent “shivers down the spines of communities up and down the country”.

And he urged Labour to come together to face down hate and division, rather than turning in on itself. In a veiled swipe at Andy Burnham, who has triggered fevered speculation about his leadership ambitions, Mr Starmer said the party must stop "navel gazing".

The Greater Manchester Mayor gave a number of interviews ahead of Labour conference, where he claimed MPs had contacted him to discuss the leadership and set out a slew of policy ideas. His comments come amid unease among MPs over the Government’s rocky start.

“We’ve got to be absolutely up for it,” he said. “I think there is great unity on this issue. It means that we shouldn’t be distracted by navel gazing within the party, because this fight is the fight of our times.

“It is the fight to define who we are as a country that is far bigger than the issues that are being discussed in navel gazing.

“It is bigger than the party. I think across Britain people are decent, reasonable, fair minded - key British characteristics - and therefore, for everyone, whether or not they’re a traditional Labour voter, this is a fight that matters about who we are as a country.”

In his keynote conference speech Mr Starmer will warn that Farage wants Britain to fail as he mounts a fightback against Reform’s politics of “toxic division”.

He is set to question whether Farage’s band of supposed patriots love this country - or just want to stir up division.

And he will make a pitch for unity and warn Labour it must do battle for the soul of Britain or risk the country being torn apart.

In his speech on Tuesday, the PM is expected to say: “The question I ask, seriously, of Nigel Farage and Reform is do they love our country?

“Do they want to serve our country – all of it? Our beautiful, tolerant, diverse country. Every region, nation and city?

“Or do they just want to stir the pot of division. Because that’s what works for their interests.”

He will add: “Do they actually want Britain to fail? I think we know the answer to that question.”

Speaking to us ahead of conference, Mr Starmer said: “They [Reform] don’t want to fix the grievances. They’re feeding off the grievances.

“But what we’ve seen in recent weeks is absolutely clear that they are into the politics of toxic division, and that will tear apart who we are as a country, as a society.

“For me, patriotism is about wanting to serve the whole of your country - and that means all of your country.”

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