Labour frontbencher Wes Streeting on Tuesday launched a furious attack on Conservative “vomit” after a minister falsely claimed that Sir Keir Starmer intends to work a “four-day week” if elected PM.
The Tory attacks were launched after the Labour leader said he would try to avoid working after 6pm on Fridays, to ensure time in the week for his teenaged children.
He has also spoken in the past of observing the Jewish sabbath with wife Victoria.Facing a mountain to climb in the polls before Thursday’s election, the Tories are seeking to weaponise the comments by warning voters against electing a “part-time Prime Minister”.
Mr Streeting said that health minister Maria Caulfield was “debasing herself” by claiming that Sir Keir would work only four days a week in No10.
The shadow health secretary told Sky News: “No, what Keir Starmer has said is that throughout his time as leader of the Labour Party, he's tried to protect Friday nights with his kids.
“Firstly, because he's a good dad. Secondly, his wife's family have Jewish heritage, and Friday nights are special,” he said.
“What we've seen this morning is just the latest desperate attack from the Conservative Party, the party that brought you the biggest lockdown party in Downing Street now talking about other people's work ethic.
“The stench of their lies and hypocrisy is even more overwhelming than the vomit they left for Downing Street cleaners to clean up. And like the Downing Street cleaners, if we're given the chance on Thursday, Labour will clean up the Tories’ mess too.”
For his part, Sir Keir called the row “ridiculous”.
“Now, of course, I've had to work Fridays in the past. I'll work Fridays in the future, but it is laughably ridiculous that this has become talked about by the Tories,” he told Times Radio.
“The only serious thing I can pull out of this ridiculous desperation on their part is the fact that two days before an election, they have got literally nothing positive to say to the country."
Speaking earlier on Sky, Ms Caulfield insisted that Sir Keir had never served as a minister and so did not understand the pressures of the job.
Asked about the importance of a work-life balance, she said: “I note that probably what you're alluding to is Keir Starmer saying he's going to be doing a four-day week and finishing at six o'clock.”
Challenged that he had not said that, and on the broader context of his remarks, Ms Caulfield said she was a person of faith too.
“And so the work-life balance is extremely important. But he has indicated that he wants to have a kind of a more flexible working life approach. That's just not possible.”
Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho said she “respected” people who want to preserve a balance in life, but that this was “unrealistic” for ministers.
Speaking on LBC, she said that Sir Keir’s remarks were “tin-eared” when Labour is urging more NHS junior doctors to work weekends to clear hospital waiting lists.
The Labour leader said in an interview with Virgin Radio: “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 six o’clock, pretty well come what may.
“There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.”
A Labour source hit back at the Conservative attacks, saying: “The only person who’s clocked off early in this campaign is Rishi Sunak at the D-Day commemorations.”
The increasingly personal nature of the attacks comes after Labour released a new ad showing a mockup of Mr Sunak in bed and warning: “Don’t wake up to five more years of the Tories.”
Despite the steady stream of Conservative attacks, Labour continues to enjoy a commanding lead in the polls although the latest survey from Savanta showed that narrowing to 15 points, as Mr Sunak said the election’s outcome was not a “foregone conclusion”.
However, the poll also found that 48% of the public say that their opinion of the PM has got worse since the beginning of the campaign six weeks ago, including 31% of 2019 Conservative voters.
