The deputy leader of Britain’s main opposition party refused Sunday to apologise for calling the governing Conservatives “scum” Labour Party lawmaker Angela Rayner called members of the govt a “bunch of scum homophobic, racist, misogynistic” during a reception Saturday at the party’s annual conference. The comment drew a reprimand from Labour leader Keir Starmer, who said he wouldn’t use such language and “will ask Angela about it later on” Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden said politicians should “make politics better, not drag it into the gutter. Let’s see if we get an apology”.
But Rayner defended the comments, saying she had used “street language” to convey frustration with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government. “Anyone who leaves children hungry during an epidemic and may give billions of pounds to their mates on WhatsApp, i feel that was pretty scummy,” she told Sky News, pertaining to controversies over support for poor families and therefore the awarding of state contracts during the pandemic.
Rayner said she would only apologise if Johnson said Sorry’ for his past comments “that are homophobic, that are racist, that are misogynistic” Johnson features a long record of offensive comments, including calling Papua New Guineans cannibals and comparing Muslim women who wear face-covering veils to “letter boxes” The left-of-centre Labour Party is holding its annual convention within the English seaside city of Brighton, seeking to chart how back to power after quite a decade con .
Starmer was elected party leader in April 2020, replacing the more left-wing Jeremy Corbyn, who had led Labour to 2 heavy election defeats. A lawyer from the party’s centre-left wing, Starmer has struggled to form an impression while the country’s attention was consumed by the coronavirus pandemic.
He’s now caught between two wings of the fractious party. Corbyn supporters want him to stay to his predecessor’s socialist policies of nationalisation and spending hikes. But many Labour lawmakers think the party must veer to the centre to win, because it did under former Prime Minister Blair , who won three successive election victories.
Labour has been out of office since 2010, a decade that has brought the country three Conservative prime ministers – David Cameron, Theresa May and Johnson Starmer’s conference speech on Wednesday is considered a key moment for the leader to unite the party or face increasingly loud involves his removal.
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