Polanski ‘not fit to lead a party’ after Golders Green tweet, says minister – UK politics live
Key events
PM shouldn’t have to ‘reapply for his job’, minister says, as she insists Starmer is ‘best’ person to lead the country
Amid growing speculation about potential Labour leadership challenges being triggered by the expected disastrous local election results, the transport secretary insisted that “the best person to lead our country” was Keir Starmer.
Those demanding a leadership battle should “give their head a gentle wobble”, Heidi Alexander told Sky News. She explained:
So I think here is the best person to lead our country through the period of extreme international volatility that we are experiencing at the moment.
I don’t think the public would thank us if the Labour Party turned into some sort of self indulgent debating society when there are pockets of the world that feel like they are going to hell in a handcart at the moment.
I think asking the prime minister to somehow reapply for his job when all of that is going on and he is entirely focused on the concerns of the British people would be the wrong thing to do…
I think those people who think that we should have a leadership election now and repeat the mistakes that the Conservative government made in churning through prime ministers probably do need to give their head a gentle wobble.
MPs have shifted discussions from speculating about whether the prime minister could be removed to how – including timelines, potential triggers and the mechanics of forcing a leadership contest, my colleagues report here.
In his interview, Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips also asked the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, about Keir Starmer signalling that he might want to ban repeated pro-Palestinian marches and asked her if the chants of “globalise the intifida” or “from the river to the sea” will be made illegal.
“We have actually changed the law this week to give the police more powers to deal with protests,” Alexander said, adding that the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has instructed Lord Ken Macdonald, to do a review of protests, which will be reported back to her. She would not be drawn into saying whether the law should be changed to specifically make chanting “globalise the intifada” at marches illegal.
Earlier in the week, Starmer called for police to prosecute people chanting “globalise the intifada” during demonstrations, despite criticism that by doing so would be an infringement on freedom of speech.
Intifada is an Arabic word that translates to uprising or “shaking off”. As my colleague notes in this story, many people use the phrase as an expression of solidarity with Palestinian people resisting Israeli occupation while some Jewish groups and leaders have described it as a call to violence.
The phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” refers to the land between the Jordan river, which borders eastern Israel, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Critics say the chant is a call for the destruction of the state of Israel but others say it refers to the right of all Palestinians to freedom and justice in their homeland as equal citizens.
Israel’s war on Gaza, which, according to health officials, has killed at least 72,610 people, has been classified as a genocide by human rights groups and scholars. It was launched following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
Polanski’s ‘abhorrent’ response to Golders Green attack shows he is unfit to ‘lead a political party’, minister says
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, has said Zack Polanski’s retweeting of a post suggesting the police used excessive force when they arrested the suspect in the Golders Green attack last week was “disgusting” and “absolutely abhorrent” as she claimed he was not “fit to lead a political party”.
Polanski retweeted, without comment, a post on X alleging that officers were “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head” when he was already incapacitated by a stun gun.
The Green party leader has since apologised after being publicly criticised by the head of the Metropolitan Police, who said his actions undermined the confidence of officers to deal with dangerous people.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Alexander said:
I thought it was disgusting what he did and absolutely abhorrent. Those police officers ran towards danger, they were armed only with a Taser that they had already discharged. The guy still had a knife in his hand. They were armed with their courage and their training.
And I think for the leader of a political party to jump onto Twitter, start retweeting content criticising those policemen who responded with incredible bravery in what was a very difficult situation. I think it demonstrates that the man is not fit to lead a political party.
Essa Suleiman, 45, has been charged with attempted murder after two Jewish men were stabbed on Wednesday in Golders Green, north London. He is also charged with attempted murder over an earlier attack that day on a man during a personal dispute in south London. On Thursday, the UK’s terror threat level was raised to severe.
Following the attack, the government announced it was making more money available for protecting Jewish communities and promised to increase powers to target antisemitic preachers but the prime minister, Keir Starmer, has been accused of not doing enough following a string of antisemitic attacks.
