JERUSALEM (VINnews) — British Labour leader Keir Starmer condemned attacks on him by Conservative politicians over his comments that he avoids working after 6:00 p.m. on Fridays in order to spend time with his family.
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According to a report in The Guardian, Starmer does this due to the fact that his wife, Victoria, is Jewish and the family observe traditional Shabbat dinners on Friday nights.
The Labour leader responded to criticism of senior Conservatives in interviews and on social media for saying he hoped to preserve family time in Downing Street if he won the general election.
Starmer told Virgin Radio on Monday, “We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids, so on a Friday – I’ve been doing this for years – I will not do a work-related thing after 6 o’clock, pretty well come what may. There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.”
In response, the Tories launched a social media campaign portraying Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as younger and more energetic than Starmer, and questioning the Labour leader’s commitment to national security. A mocked-up outline of a Labour prime minister’s day suggested Starmer would be “a part-time prime minister”.
Starmer responded to the criticism on Tuesday and said, “They’re just in this negative desperate loop. And it is really desperate. My family’s really important to me as they will be to every single person watching this. And I just think it’s increasing desperation, bordering on hysterical now.”
Sunak was pressed repeatedly on whether it was right to criticize Starmer’s work ethic and replied, “Everyone is going to approach this job in a different way in my experience, there is always work to do. There’s always decisions that need to be made. And, you know, that’s what the job requires. And that is what the prime minister’s job means. That’s what public service is about and the sacrifice that entails.”
The government’s antisemitism adviser, Labour peer Lord Mann, said: “The attack on Keir Starmer for asserting his right to family time on a Friday night, as he has done for many, many years, is so dangerous.
“It’s a very strange thing to attack over. I’m the independent adviser to the prime minister and my advice would be this is not an area to stray into,” he added.
Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews until earlier this year, said it was “horribly stigmatizing” to criticize someone for wanting to spend time with their family and be part of a tradition.
“For Jews of all denominations and their loves ones it’s really a sacred time and I think we should be recognizing that here is someone who appreciates values and traditions. He’s setting a good example and for that to become something that is criticised, I think, is grossly unfair,” said Van der Zyl, who has recently become a Labour party member, according to The Guardian.
Starmer became Labour leader after former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn stepped down. The Labour Party came under fire under Corbyn, both over Corbyn’s own antisemitism as well as the rise in anti-Jewish rhetoric within the party.
Starmer apologized shortly after being elected for how the Labour Party has handled antisemitism within its ranks and committed to making change.
Interesting a non new married to one that wants Shabbat meals with his children is criticized. Not because he’s a kegtedt st heart. Wrong attack mode on him
In the US an Orthodox Jewish President could invoke section 3 of the 25th amendment every Friday evening to after Shabbos, putting the VP as acting President.
Don’t be surprised if he converts to Judaism after he retires from politics. Tony Blair was clearly sympathetic to his wife’s Catholic faith and he converted to Catholicism shortly after his retirement.
The new Jewish President elect of Mexico was criticized by a former President for not being sufficiently Mexican. Never mind that she and both her parents were born in Mexico and that she isn’t religious. That former President was roundly criticized from the entire political spectrum for those comments and that was the end of the anti-Semitism. Mexico is a better country than UK.