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Keir Starmer PA

Labour leader Keir Starmer accused of 'own goal' for sacking an MP after he joined a rail picket

The British Labour leader has been accused of turning ‘a Tory transport crisis into a Labour story’.

BRITISH LABOUR LEADER Keir Starmer is struggling to contain a row with the left wing of his party after he sacked an MP for speaking publicly about ongoing rail strikes without permission.

Sam Tarry, who is in a relationship with deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner, was fired from his role as a shadow transport minister after publicly backing the strikes and giving a round of media interviews without permission from his party’s headquarters.

The move was met with fury by unions and the left-wing of the party.

Labour has not officially supported the industrial action, but has criticised the government and urged ministers to get involved in negotiations.

Starmer said he sacked Tarry for making up policy “on the hoof,” as he struggled to contain a row with the unions and the left-wing of his party over the move.

Speaking during a visit to Birmingham today, Starmer said: “Sam Tarry was sacked because he booked himself onto media programmes without permission, and then made up policy on the hoof, and that can’t be tolerated in any organisation because we’ve got collective responsibility.”

He added: “The Labour Party will always be on the side of working people, but we need collective responsibility, as any organisation does.”

It is understood the policy Tarry was considered to have fabricated was when he told Sky News every worker should get a pay rise in line with inflation.

Asked if shadow ministers would be allowed to join picket lines in upcoming strikes if they did not make any unauthorised media appearances, Starmer said: “We take each case as it comes.”

‘Own goal’

Condemnation from unions, Labour MPs and other figures arrived shortly after the sacking.

MP for York Central Rachael Maskell called for the Labour leader to visit picket lines on Wednesday night, while GMB general secretary Gary Smith said it was a “huge own goal” for Labour to “turn a Tory transport crisis into a Labour story”.

Former Labour deputy prime minister John Prescott tweeted a photo of himself addressing striking miners when he was shadow transport secretary in 1984.


And speaking to Sky News, former shadow minister John McDonnell described the sacking as a “severe mistake”, accusing Starmer of “misreading the mood of the public”.

The MP for Hayes and Harlington said: “I don’t know who is advising Keir Starmer, but this is a completely unnecessary row that’s been invented just at a time when the Tories are tearing themselves apart, and we’ve got the maximum opportunity I think to gain an advantage in the polls that will build the support to take us into a government.

Asked about the general strike proposed by RMT general secretary Mick Lynch, the Labour former shadow chancellor said: “If you look at the ballots that are taking place across the trade union movement, we are talking about millions of workers now voting for industrial action. So, naturally, what people are saying as well, why not co-ordinate that?”

Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association general secretary Manuel Cortes, RMT boss Mick Lynch and Unite general secretary Sharon Graham all criticised the decision.

Tarry is a former official of the TSSA rail union.

Mick Whelan

Train services in Britain continued to be disrupted this morning following a 24-hour strike which crippled the rail network.

Chaos ensued following disruption of services to Birmingham, where people are travelling for the opening of the Commonwealth Games.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 14 train companies walked out yesterday in a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.

Talks are expected to resume today but there is little sign of the deadlock being broken.

Strikes will be held on Saturday and next month by the RMT as well as members of the drivers’ union Aslef and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association.

embedded268058974 The near-empty station concourse during rush hour at London Euston yesterday PA PA

Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, said: “Strikes are always the last resort.

“We don’t want to inconvenience passengers – our friends and families use public transport, too – and we don’t want to lose money by going on strike but we’ve been forced into this position by the companies, who say they have been driven to this by the government.”

Whelan, like Lynch, was born in London to Irish parents.

rail-strikes Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan gave evidence to the Transport Committee in the House of Commons yesterday PA PA

A row broke out between unions and the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps after he laid out plans to curb industrial action, including stopping coordinated industrial action, limiting picketing, and having a cooling off period after strikes.

The RMT and TSSA will hold more strikes on August 18 and 20, while London Underground workers will walk out on August 19.

Strikes are also being held on Friday by BT workers and those at exam board AQA.

Royal Mail workers have voted to strike, while disputes are brewing over the pay of public sector workers including teachers and health employees.

With reporting by Emer Moreau

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35 Comments
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    Mute JG
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    Jul 28th 2022, 3:42 PM

    He deffo needs to set himself aside from the torys on this or he will be sent to the waste bin also

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    Mute Tom Quin
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    Jul 28th 2022, 5:07 PM

    @JG: he’s appealing to the uk public. They don’t like strikes or union leaders and politicians on picket lines waving copies of socialist worker about. Its why Corbyn lost in a landslide.

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    Mute FiannaFáilness FineGaelness
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    Jul 28th 2022, 5:53 PM

    @Tom Quin: Every poll on the rail workers strikes had the public in support of them.

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    Mute FiannaFáilness FineGaelness
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    Jul 28th 2022, 6:03 PM

    I take it back a YouGov poll didn’t. Savanta Comes poll of 2,300 58% of the people questioned said the strikes are justified, with 34% deeming them unjustified.

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    Mute Tom Quin
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    Jul 28th 2022, 6:27 PM

    @FiannaFáilness FineGaelness: No it doesn’t.

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    Mute Tom Quin
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    Jul 28th 2022, 6:34 PM

    @FiannaFáilness FineGaelness: The only ones showing support I can find are the ones carried by or for the RMT. No suprises there.

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    Mute FiannaFáilness FineGaelness
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    Jul 28th 2022, 6:41 PM

    @Tom Quin: The Savanta ComRes poll wasn’t Carrie out for the RMT. Its funny how we only see what we want to see isn’t it Tom?

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    Mute Tom Quin
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    Jul 28th 2022, 8:11 PM

    @FiannaFáilness FineGaelness: It must be the only one then, an outlier. An online one rigged by activists probably.

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    Mute FiannaFáilness FineGaelness
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    Jul 28th 2022, 8:41 PM

    @Tom Quin: The IPSOS one was equal support at 35% to opposition at 35%. Doesn’t show the British public detesting unions. The only reason the Tories do so well is because the Brits use FPTP elections. It’s well established UK Labour would come out on top with PR voting. So no the British people don’t hate the left.

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    Mute David Bourke
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    Jul 28th 2022, 9:51 PM

    @FiannaFáilness FineGaelness:

    Keeping in mind that, despite the name, YouGov is a private polling company founded by a conservative party member who is now a conservative party MP.

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    Mute FiannaFáilness FineGaelness
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    Jul 29th 2022, 1:11 AM

    @David Bourke: Absolutely, good point that!

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    Mute Rochelle
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    Jul 28th 2022, 4:25 PM

    They sabotaged their party from within with their revolt on Corbyn. It’s no wonder they’re a bit lost for direction these days when they promoted a fence sitter to party leader.

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    Mute DJ François
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    Jul 28th 2022, 5:06 PM

    @Rochelle: With FPTP electoral system and a very hostile media, Corbyn was never going to get in.

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    Mute Tim Dawson
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    Jul 28th 2022, 5:10 PM

    @Rochelle: Corbyn handed the Conservatives their biggest majority in donkeys years. He let Boris off the hook when he was suffocating to death through the pressure of brexit and a minority government. Corbyn showed the worst judgement of any leader in modern history when he agreed to that election. He then bombed out un the election campaign. He will be remembered as one of the worst Labour leaders in history. His decisions, scandals and his unprecedented unnecessary election defeat will ensure that.

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    Mute Tom Quin
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    Jul 28th 2022, 5:14 PM

    @Rochelle: Corbyn lost to a Tory landslide, the uk public do not want left wingers. Starmer is trying to win an election in the real world.

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    Mute FiannaFáilness FineGaelness
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    Jul 28th 2022, 5:57 PM

    @Tim Dawson: Corbyn was utterly railroaded by the media.. Even the BBC photoshopped a Russian style hat onto him on their backgrounds. He was absolutely hounded out of his position. The recent report shows how much the New Labour (Blairite) side of the party and the NEC completely shoehorned him. 100′s of thousands of people joined the Labour Party because Corbyn was the leader and the NEC screwed that membership over.

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    Mute FiannaFáilness FineGaelness
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    Jul 28th 2022, 6:04 PM

    @Tom Quin: The UK public are too easily led by their right wing media barons.

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    Mute Tom Quin
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    Jul 28th 2022, 6:14 PM

    @FiannaFáilness FineGaelness: the british public have only ever once voted for a socialist government that was after ww2. The media did not give Boris that huge landslide.

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    Mute Tom Quin
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    Jul 28th 2022, 6:16 PM

    @FiannaFáilness FineGaelness: that’s very, very weak. you thinking the uk public are so thick because they did not vote for the guy you wanted them too is the sort of arrogance that switches people off the left.

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    Mute Daniel Roche
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    Jul 28th 2022, 7:24 PM

    @Tim Dawson: To be fair he didn’t get the support of the higher up’s in the labour party,the papers were all against him,his own wanted him to fail,he was elected by the people on the ground in the labour party,not saying he was perfect but he never had a chance,look at the head of labour now.

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    Mute Daniel Roche
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    Jul 28th 2022, 7:28 PM

    @Tom Quin: They voted for to leave the EU,yes they have a huge amount of badly informed people that believe lies and think the empire is still alive.

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    Mute Tom Quin
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    Jul 28th 2022, 8:14 PM

    @Daniel Roche: No they just voted the way you didn’t like. It’s not a crime to leave the EU.

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    Mute FiannaFáilness FineGaelness
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    Jul 28th 2022, 8:43 PM

    @Tom Quin: Who said it was a crime? Clearly you’re just a troll.

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    Mute Shedonny
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    Jul 28th 2022, 10:15 PM

    @Tim Dawson:
    I’d love to hear about the Corbyn scandals. Please provide the details

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    Mute Tom Quin
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    Jul 28th 2022, 10:19 PM

    @FiannaFáilness FineGaelness: So people who disagree with you are not just thick and gullible but also trolls?

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    Mute alan
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    Jul 28th 2022, 4:44 PM

    Forgetting that working conditions would still be in the dark ages if it wasn’t for Unions. This isn’t simply a matter of one mp not abiding by party protocols, starmer has been on the fence all along. His fear of the electorate and the right wing press could be considered cautious and prudent but not at the cost of handing everything to the Tories on a plate. Surely it is easy enough for him to highlight that transport issues are created initially by the govt and not by the unions?

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    Mute Tom Quin
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    Jul 28th 2022, 5:16 PM

    @alan: the brit public do not support unions and lefties like Corbyn. Starmer needs to win them over to get the Tories out and going full on Corbyn will give tories another landslide.

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    Mute Mick Tobin
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    Jul 28th 2022, 3:45 PM

    Starmer must’ve thought, the Tories are ripping themselves apart with this leadership contest, we can do better than them!

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    Mute Niall Lee
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    Jul 28th 2022, 6:16 PM

    Labour party for the working class there’s a joke

    39
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    Mute Joe Vlogs
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    Jul 28th 2022, 5:00 PM

    If I understand it correctly, he wasn’t sacked for supporting the strikers, but rather because he said it was Labour policy to advocate for a pay rise in line with inflation. Which would a) would make no economic sense – increasing wages in line with inflation will only lead to further inflation, and b) clearly would be a major policy proposal, and as such if someone just says it is the party position when it isn’t, that person should be sacked. Such a proposal is ludicrous, and would just give the Torries the chance to portray Labour as some kind of looney left part that would end up bankrupting Britain, hurting small business owners, etc. etc. Right now, Labour just need to sit back and quiet while the Torries destroy themselves.

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    Mute Paul Shepherd
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    Jul 28th 2022, 6:40 PM

    Always the same with Labour, when the Tories are on the ropes they proceed to shoot themselves in both feet. Fairly much unelectable as they’re perceived as differing factions all adopting opposing views. Should just split into three different parties and be done with it.

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    Mute Thisguy
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    Jul 28th 2022, 6:09 PM

    Starmer did the correct thing to sack him. What are all these whingers going on about?

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    Mute Sean McCartin
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    Jul 28th 2022, 10:23 PM

    Shouldn’t Labour ya know, be on the side of workers. I’m guessing that day has long since past since Tony Blair and ‘new Labour’. Moderate Tories in disguise

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    Mute Mike
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    Jul 28th 2022, 6:11 PM

    Unable to govern themselves anymore over there…Maybe we should tie in with India and jointly go in to save(colonise) them and restore good governance … ;)

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    Mute Nigel o'Neill
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    Jul 29th 2022, 8:06 AM

    Bye bye Keir

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    Mute Thomas Linehan
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    Jul 29th 2022, 9:32 AM

    Like our own labour party. Labour supposed to be pro worker.

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