Keir Starmer has accused the Conservatives of desperate tactics amid claims that Tory criticism of his defence of family time was insensitive and had antisemitic undertones.
With Rishi Sunak embarking on a marathon day of campaigning, beginning with a pre-dawn visit to a distribution centre and closing with a late-night rally, Tory ministers and aides sought to contrast these efforts with what they termed Starmer’s “part-time” approach.
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Downing Street chiefs believe the criticism of Starmer for saying he would maintain his current habit of trying to spend time with his wife and children after 6pm on Fridays “pretty well come what may” has resonated with voters.
However, it has sparked an angry backlash, with senior Jewish figures saying the decision to target such a culturally significant time of the week – Starmer’s wife, Victoria, comes from a Jewish family – was ill-judged and deeply unfair.
“I would have thought to anybody it’s blindingly obvious that a Friday night is quite important in some religions and faiths,” Starmer told reporters during a campaign stopover in Derbyshire.
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After spotting a social media response to the comments, Conservative campaign organisers chose to pile in and inaccurately argue that Starmer had said he would not work on any evening.
“It’s after 6pm so of course Angela Rayner is back in charge,” said the party’s official account on X. Claire Coutinho, the energy secretary, said: “I do think that it’s pretty unrealistic for a prime minister not to work past 6pm.”
The comments prompted warnings from senior Jewish figures about the risks of singling out someone for trying to observe the tradition of spending time with family on Friday evenings.
Marie van der Zyl, who was president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews until earlier this year, called the attacks “horribly stigmatising”.
Pretty low even for the Tories.
I quite like the idea of a PM who isn’t going to work 24/7 as that can lead to impaired decision-making.
@Emperor
You’re onto something. We need leaders who take more time off, not submerge themselves in bureaucracy.
I remember Thatcher boasting about only needing four hours sleep a night, which led me to wonder if getting eight hours might have made her nicer. I doubt it but it’s worth a shot. Unless there’s a crisis on, it feels like a sign you could be a control freak and/or poor at delegating, rather than it being a positive trait.
I’ve just had a discussion at work about how Biden was blaming his poor performance in a debate on a bad night’s sleep, and quipped that maybe he would be better letting someone younger have a go as they’re less likely to have to get up to pee so often at night so they’ll be more on the ball.
That’s certainly an angle I hadn’t considered but he may have a catheter for “efficiency”.
@Emperor
I would really like to have only four hours of sleep a night.
I don’t see politics in terms of nice/not-nice.
I see what works and what does not. Thatcher was a mixed bag, better than Johnson :)
Do you know your politics? Thatcher destroyed economies in the north of England. People really hated her, and with good reason. Once Boris Johnson was out of politics everyone stopped caring about him.
She was so universally hated that she only won… three elections.
Interesting you are called ‘corrupt’ and also support milk snatcher Thatcher