James O’Brien: Keir Starmer doesn’t just want to win, he wants to win big
28 November 2022, 12:02 | Updated: 28 November 2022, 12:10
James O'Brien: 'Starmer doesn't just want to win he wants to win big.'
James O’Brien weighs in on the Labour Leader’s “policy flip-flop” over freedom of movement with the EU, acknowledging that whilst Keir Starmer could be accused of “epic hypocrisy”, he is likely to “win bigger” for it.
This comes after Labour Leader Keir Starmer told the Mail on Sunday that he would not renegotiate Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal and promised not to cross the “red line” of bringing back freedom of movement for EU citizens.
After stating that Mr. Starmer had given an interview to “the enemy”, James said: “I appreciate some people aren’t ready to accept this yet but if you want to have a hope in hell of winning a general election from even a vaguely left wing position in British politics… you have to woo the enemy.”
“It means Starmer is serious”, James said before recognising the "weird" realisation may surprise those who believed Mr. Starmer was “too soft around the edges for the cut and thrust of politics”.
“Starmer doesn’t just want to win, he wants to win huge", he added.
James said: “He needs to keep sweet [the] people who have fallen for that rhetoric, people who have drunk that Kool-Aid, people who have been persuaded by some of the lies of Brexit.”
He then revealed his “long-held theory” that freedom of movement will return under a new banner - “liberty of motion” - a repurposed freedom of movement with new “parameters” and “conditions”, posturing that Mr. Starmer could be the one to see it through.
He reminded listeners that, whilst in Jeremy Corbyn’s cabinet, Mr. Starmer pushed for the party to back a second referendum on Brexit - appreciating that “you could accuse him of epic hypocrisy”, but “by doing what he’s doing, he is likely to win much bigger."
“You can’t campaign to become Prime Minister on a pledge to reverse something that the last prime minister was elected on”, he added before theorising that he may be “trying too hard to make excuses for Keir Starmer”.
James admitted that Mr. Starmer’s “policy flip-flop” is “disgusting” and “heart-breaking” and that he doesn’t want to be part of a “weird little island” that shuts itself off “in pursuit of jingoistic fetishised insularity”.
“I don’t like any of this but I want Keir Starmer to win the next election”, he ultimately concluded.
READ MORE: Starmer to shelve Labour policies to focus on ‘battered’ economy if party takes power
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