London, Dec 3 (PTI) In a bid to woo voters aligned with the governing Conservatives, UK Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer on Sunday piled praise on one of the most prominent former Tory prime ministers for unleashing the country’s “natural entrepreneurialism”.
Starmer’s praise for Margaret Thatcher in a column for ‘The Sunday Telegraph’ comes as the UK prepares for a general election year in 2024, with the Labour Party on the left comfortably ahead in the opinion polls over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak led Conservatives on the right of the country’s political debate.
In a bid to bolster the party’s chances further, the Labour leader hoping to be the next prime minister likened Thatcher to his own party’s former premiers such as Tony Blair.
“Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism. Tony Blair reimagined a stale, outdated Labour Party into one that could seize the optimism of the late 90s,” he writes.
“A century ago, Clement Attlee wrote that Labour must be a party of duty and patriotism, not abstract theory. To build a ‘New Jerusalem’ meant first casting off the mind-forged manacles. That lesson is as true today as it was then,” he notes.
Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister, remains a deeply divisive figure in UK politics having overseen a radical era of crushing miners’ strikes and privatisation until a doomed poll tax levy ultimately led to her downfall. However, she has often been praised by successive Tory leaders, including Boris Johnson and now Rishi Sunak, for her firm actions aimed at enhanced economic growth and enterprise in the 1970s and 80s.
In a bid to connect with that electorate, Starmer claimed that the Labour Party under his leadership is extending a hand of friendship to all Britons, irrespective of who they have supported in the past at the ballot box.
He writes: “Britain’s priorities are once again Labour’s priorities. Delivering them is going to require all our efforts. That’s why we extend the hand of friendship to you, no matter where you are or who you have voted for in the past.
“National renewal demands it. It is only together that we will build the better future we all want.” He acknowledged that many voters may still be uncertain about Labour but urged them to take a “look at us again”, claiming the governing Conservatives have failed to capitalise on Brexit.
The Tories responded by saying that the public would see through this blatant attempt at luring traditionally Tory voters.
“I suspect the great lady herself would view a man who is trying to ride on the coattails of her success with the following words. No, no, no,” UK Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told ‘Sky News’. PTI AK ZH ZH
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