Call Keir: Sir Keir Starmer joins LBC to host monthly phone-in
4 June 2020, 08:54 | Updated: 4 June 2020, 09:06
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is joining LBC to host his own monthly, half-hour phone-in, starting on Monday 8th June at 9am.
Starmer will be the first Leader of the Opposition to host a regular phone-in on UK radio.
Call Keir will take place on the station’s biggest programme, Nick Ferrari at Breakfast. Each month, the Labour Leader will go head-to-head with LBC’s listeners across the UK, as they challenge and question him on the big issues that matter to them, with no topic off limits.
He will follow in the footsteps of other political leaders who have sat in the LBC hot seat. They include Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who hosted a monthly phone-in when he was Mayor of London, as well as the former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who took part in a weekly programme – the first time that a senior member of Government faced the public on a radio show each week about the decisions being made in Downing Street.
Sir Keir said: “I’m very conscious that one of my first jobs is to rebuild trust in the Labour Party with the public. The best way of doing that is to listen to the public and to LBC’s listeners and hear what they’ve got to say.
"What I always get from these phone-ins is a real sense of what matters to people. Having people on, telling me what they think, is the only way to gauge what people think and to hear what their real concerns are. I’m looking forward to it.”
What would Keir Starmer have done differently?
Tom Cheal, LBC’s managing editor, said: “LBC has a long history of putting its listeners in the driving seat, with programmes that set the news agenda and lead the way for UK radio. No other station gives their audience direct access to senior figures from across the political spectrum in the way we do.
"In these exceptional times, we believe it is more important than ever for our listeners to hold those figures to account. We are excited to announce another radio-first, as we welcome Sir Keir Starmer to LBC, as he becomes the first Leader of the Opposition to host a monthly radio phone-in.”
The first edition of Call Keir will on on Monday 8th June at 9am.
