Sir Keir Starmer has taken the somewhat baffling decision to heap praise on Margaret Thatcher in his latest article for The Telegraph.
The piece, published on Sunday, paid tribute to the former Prime Minister for ‘dragging Britain out of its stupor’.
He said Thatcher “set loose our natural entrepreneurialism” and “effected meaningful change” in a piece that has riled his predecessor.
Jeremy Corbyn commented: “Every week, I speak to renters threatened with eviction. Homeless people struggling to survive. Parents using foodbanks. Elderly people who can’t afford heating.
“That is the legacy of Thatcherism. We will never achieve meaningful change until it ends for good.”
Thatcher’s legacy has been thrust back into the limelight on the back of the comments, with Ian Lavery leading the charge among sitting Labour MPs.
A comment piece by Big Issue founder John Bird also feels rather fitting.
Describing Thatcher’s legacy, Bird said the former Tory PM was responsible for creating the benefits culture that remains to this day.
“The hater of big government made government bigger in her time in office. The hater of state support closed down the state-supported industries but warehoused many of its former workers on social security.
“And when asked by Lord Willie Whitelaw, home secretary, what did she intend doing with nearly a million workers, she said: “Let them have benefit.””
Taking aim at Tony Blair, he adds:
“If Thatcher was the new inventor of social collapse expressed as benefit, then the ‘child of Thatcher’, Tony Blair, took up her lead. He opened the sluice gates to even more people joining benefit, rather than investing in new working skills creation and education.”
Read the piece in full here.
Related: ‘We’re watching the Tory Party implode in front of us’ – McDonnell