A Labor MP has resigned from parliament after criticizing Prime Minister Keir Starmer's “cruel and unnecessary” policies and slamming his “managerial and technocratic approach” to politics.
In an furious letter announcing her decision, Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield said she was relieved to have made the decision. She said the dispute over freebies given to Mr Starmer and his first team showed “an outrageous level of meanness, nepotism and outright greed”.
This is considered the earliest time in modern times for a member of the Diet to relinquish the party whip after an election. Ms Duffield has been vocal in her opposition to Mr Starmer on several occasions, but the outrage over her resignation will be a further blow to the Prime Minister amid criticism of her early months in Downing Street.
Mr Duffield said of the actions of Labor Party officials who accepted gifts from donor Sir Ali, saying: “You and your inner circle have come to smear and humiliate our once proud party.'' I felt very embarrassed that I had gone,” he said.
She also criticized Mr Starmer's decisions to make unpopular decisions to keep spending under control, most notably his refusal to remove the two-person limit on benefits and reduce winter fuel costs for pensioners. He launched a brutal attack.
“A person with far above average wealth has chosen to maintain Tory benefits restrictions that keep children in poverty, while buying branded suits that are too expensive for most people to understand. “He has inexplicably accepted an expensive personal gift of glasses – completely unbecoming of the title of Labor Prime Minister,” she wrote in the letter..
Criticizing Mr Starmer's decision to force MPs to vote against a Commons motion supporting cuts to winter fuel costs, she added: “While you and your favorite co-workers enjoy free family trips to events, forcing a vote will make many seniors sick and cold. Most people will work hard to do so.” If you have to save money, why don't you show the slightest shame?”
She said she would step down as an MP “with immediate effect” and would now work as an independent. Although Duffield was furious at Labour's policies, he was also highly critical of Starmer's leadership style and political judgment, suggesting that Starmer's approach was naive.
“As Prime Minister, your management style and technocratic approach, and lack of basic politics and political instincts, made us work hard, promise so much, and wait 14 years for your appointment. “I hope the British people will return to power,” she wrote.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have become astounding and increasingly outrageous. That you have no understanding of what you have made us all look like. Words cannot express how angry I and my colleagues are.”
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Mr Duffield's criticism is the most vocal yet publicly voiced by a Labor official, but echoes criticism made privately by Labor MPs and ministers during last week's party conference. There may be some concerns that this may be the case.
Some expressed despair at Mr Starmer's inability to shut down talk of freebies and the pay of his chief of staff Sue Gray. Some saw this as a sign that the prime minister had failed to set a clear narrative within his government, despite Labour's popular appeal to remove the Conservatives from government.
But Mr Duffield is likely to face criticism from former colleagues for leaving the party just over two months after being elected under its banner. She has repeatedly clashed with leadership over gender and transgender rights issues.
