Sir Keir Starmer has called Boris Johnson as a “complete bulls***er” found out by the British public, and insisted he was looking forward to facing whoever replaces him at No 10.
Dismissing the Tory leadership candidates as “B-grade”, Starmer mocked the increasingly bitter contest to be the next prime minister. “Look at the state of them,” he scoffed.
“I think that he is a complete bullshitter, and I think he’s been found out,” Sir Keir said of the outgoing PM on the Rest is Politics podcast.
Starmer said: “I’m struck by the Partygate stuff because it wasn’t just that he broke the rules, it’s that he then took the p*** out of the public with his ridiculous defences afterwards.”
He added: “In the local elections, I accept that not everyone on the doors was saying, ‘It’s that that’s done it for me’. But there was a general realisation that this guy bulls***s. And if he bulls***ting about that, he’s probably been bulls***ing about everything.”
Starmer rejected the idea that he should be worried about having to face a stronger candidate now that Mr Johnson’s time is almost over – saying it was “good for the country” he had resigned.
Asked by hosts Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart if he had lost one of his greatest strengths, he said: “No, I don’t think so. We’ll face whoever wins this awful contest. I mean – look at the state of them.”
Starmer mocked the “fantasy” economic pledges being made by the candidates. “More profoundly the Tory party has lost any sense of purpose. They are tearing themselves apart.”
The BBC is set to host a head-to-head debate between the final two Tory candidates on Monday, but a recently-planned Sky News debate was scrapped over party fears TV hustings were turning into damaging slanging matches.
Labour has released a video clip of Sunday night’s angry ITV debate in which Tory rivals ran down each other’s credentials and mourned the state of the economy.
The clip highlights Liz Truss’ claim that Rishi Sunak had put Britain on course for a recission and Kemi Badenoch stating: “Why should the public trust us? We haven’t exactly covered ourselves in glory.”
Labour sources have told The Independent that the leadership team wants Ms Truss to win the Tory contest because they believe her “wooden style” would make him look “less unexciting”.
Labour see Ms Mordaunt as a more difficult opponent because of her reputation as an effective Commons performer, the sources said, while they are neutral about the prospect of facing Mr Sunak.
A final vote of Tory MPs on Wednesday will select the two candidates to be put to the party’s membership in the race for No 10.
Ms Truss and Ms Mordaunt are battling to win over Kemi Badenoch’s supporters after she was knocked out of the contest.
