Keir Starmer criticises 'desperate' row over plan to spend Friday evenings with family if he becomes Prime Minister

2 July 2024, 13:47 | Updated: 2 July 2024, 18:57

Keir Starmer has called criticism over plans to spend Friday evenings with his family if he became Prime Minister "desperate".

Labour leader Sir Keir said that the row over his plans to ring-fence time after 6pm for his wife and children was "hysterical".

He had earlier said that he tries not to "do a work-related thing after 6 o’clock, pretty well come what may", and he would "try to keep to it" if Labour took power after the General Election.

This sparked accusations from the Conservatives that Sir Keir was not taking the office of Prime Minister seriously enough, as well as counter-claims from Labour that Sir Keir would work later on Fridays if necessary.

The Labour leader's supporters also pointed out that his wife is Jewish, and that Friday evenings are important in Judaism as they mark the start of Shabbat.

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The Conservatives said that it was "unrealistic" for Sir Keir not to expect to work on Friday evenings.

Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: "I also think it's a bit odd because they're also saying they want to make people in the NHS work overtime and at weekends, so I think to do that on one hand, and on the other hand say that you're not going to work past 6pm is a bit tin-eared."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said "there's always work to do" and that "entails sacrifice". But he also told LBC in a phone-in last month that he admired Sir Keir for his work-life balance.

Mr Sunak said on Tuesday: "Everyone is going to approach this job in a different way. In my experience, there is always work to do. There's always decisions that need to be made. And, yeah, that's what the job requires. And that is, what the purpose of this job means. That's what public service is about, and the sacrifice".

Claire Coutinho: 'It's pretty unrealistic for your Prime Minister to not work past 6pm'

He said that "of course family matters", but that the job of Prime Minister was "an enormous privilege and public service, a job of this nature requiring sacrifices and that sacrifice I choose to make."

Jonathan Gullis, who is on the right-wing of the Conservative party, asked what would happen if Russia were to invade at night.

He said: “The leader of the Labour Party, who is literally boasting that he plans to clock off at 6pm on a daily basis today.

"So let’s hope Putin doesn’t choose 6.01pm when he wishes to go any further with his illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine.”

Sir Keir said of the Conservatives that "they’re just in this negative desperate loop. And it is really desperate."

He added: "My family’s really important to me as they will be to every single person watching this. And I just think it’s increasing desperation, bordering on hysterical now.”

Sir Keir has spoken about how it was important for him that his children stay in touch with their Jewish heritage.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, who is Jewish himself, said: "Virtually every military intervention we've carried out has happened at night, partly to keep our servicemen & women safe.

"The British people will wonder who would be standing in for Starmer between 6pm & 9am - Angela Rayner, David Lammy, Ed Miliband? Defending Britain's security isn't a daylight hours only job."

Lord Mann, a Labour peer who was appointed as the Prime Minister's antisemitism adviser by Theresa May, said that the criticism was "insidious".

"The attack on Keir Starmer for asserting his right to family time on a Friday night, as he has done for many, many years, is so dangerous," he said.

"So insidious from those aware of why he chooses to be with his family specifically on Friday evenings."

He told the PA news agency: "It's a very strange thing to attack over. I'm the independent adviser to the Prime Minister and my advice would be this is not an area to stray into."

He pointed out that Friday nights had a wider cultural significance within the Jewish community, likening it to Sundays in Christian communities.

"There's a reason Parliament does not sit on Sundays," he said.

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Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said criticisms of Sir Keir were "daft".

He told Nick: "Be fair, he's a good dad, he has always tried to preserve Friday nights," but added: "He knows what the demands of the job will be if he's Prime Minister."

Sir Keir made his original comments in a radio interview, saying: "We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids, so on a Friday – I’ve been doing this for years – I will not do a work-related thing after 6 o’clock, pretty well come what may. There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.”