Keir Starmer said he was not surprised that Boris Johnson was booed by some members of the public as he arrived at St Paul’s for a platinum jubilee event, claiming: “They are fed up with the government.”
The prime minister attracted a chorus of jeers from spectators when he arrived for the National Service of Thanksgiving for the Queen service on Friday with his wife, Carrie, in audio and video footage that was captured by cameras.
As he walked up the stairs, Johnson did not seem fazed, smiling and nodding. Some people in the crowds could also be seen clapping and cheering.
In contrast, when the Labour leader arrived a few minutes later, the crowd remained quiet.
Citing the cost of living crisis, Starmer said on Saturday: “In many respects, I wasn’t surprised at that.
“I think so many people across the country are fed up with the government, particularly its inaction on the cost of living,” he told PA Media at the London Aquatics Centre in Stratford, east London.
Asked whether it was reflective of public attitude towards politics, Starmer said: “A crowd will decide for itself how it wants to acknowledge and they were there to acknowledge and thank the Queen – that was absolutely in everybody who was there.
“They booed the prime minister, they are fed up with the government, but the vast majority were there to say thank you to the Queen and in a sense reflect on what she has given to our country, which is absolutely phenomenal.”
Meanwhile, Nadine Dorries has been accused of “taking voters for fools” after she claimed on Friday there were more people cheering Johnson than booing.
The culture secretary and loyal ally of the prime minister suggested that reports of the booing had been exaggerated. “There were far, far more cheers, but that doesn’t make a good headline does it,” she tweeted.
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, hit back, calling her the “minister for disinformation”.
“Your regular reminder that Nadine Dorries is Boris Johnson’s Minister for Disinformation,” she tweeted on Saturday. “They’re taking you for fools.”
Labour MP Christian Wakeford, who defected from the Conservatives in protest at Johnson’s leadership, said: “That’s because it’s not true, Nadine.”
Chris Ship, ITV News royal editor, described the booing as “very loud indeed”.
“The facts are, and I was there, the boos were very loud indeed. No escaping that. Reporters are there to report. Not make stuff up,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard tweeted Dorries’s claim was untrue: “Lies like this are the reason that people choose to boo Boris. Everybody can hear the live commentary for themselves. The boos when Boris left were even louder.”
Although Johnson was heckled on the campaign trail ahead of the 2019 election before going on to win an 80-seat majority in the House of Commons, it is feared that booing among royalists could be a negative sign of how he is viewed by the public.
