Keir Starmer: Powell grilled on 'exciting' aspects of Labour leader
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Jeremy Corbyn has blasted Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to open the Labour Party conference with the national anthem as “very, very odd”. The former Labour leader was asked about the decision to sing ‘God Save the King’, when traditionally the party’s conference opens with the socialist anthem ‘The Red Flag’.
Sir Keir opened the four-day event in Liverpool today with a tribute to the late Queen before delegates sang ‘God Save the King’.
However, Mr Corbyn said on Nick Robinson’s Political Thinking podcast that the plans were “very, very odd”.
He said: “They’ve never done it before, there’s never been any demand to do it.
“We don’t as a country routinely go around singing the national anthem at every single event we go to.
“We don’t sing in schools, we don’t have the raising of the flag as they do in the USA and other places.
“We are not that sort of, what I would call, excessively nationalist.”
Labour members were urged to join in with singing the national anthem at the party’s conference, which began on Saturday.
Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, said it was important for those on the Left to demonstrate their patriotism after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Speaking to Friday’s Chopper’s Politics podcast, Ms Nandy said: “Yes, we do tributes to the Queen on the first day of the conference. Keir will open with that and we will sing the national anthem.
“I’ve never understood how sections of the Left can believe that somehow being proud of your country is not a Labour tradition.
“Being part of something bigger than yourself by the strength of our common endeavour – we achieve more than we do alone. That is the core of our message.”
The anthem will come a day after campaign group Labour for a Republic holds an event on the fringe of the conference, discussing whether the monarch was “at odds with Labour values”.
Ken Ritchie, a founder member of Labour for a Republic, said he planned to remain silent when ‘God Save the King’ is sung and expected fellow supporters of a republic to do likewise.
He said: “At a time with Labour ahead in the opinion polls, I think many will feel this is not the time to rock the boat.”
A spokesman for Sir Keir distanced him from the Labour for a Republic meeting.
He said: “It’s a fringe meeting – nothing to do with us. I refer you to everything Keir has done and said in the last 10 days.”
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Meanwhile, a Labour MP told the Sunday Express that anyone who disrupts the national anthem should be thrown out of the party.
They said: “There will be nutters in the Labour Party, God knows what they will do.
“But they’re the sort of folk that shouldn’t be in the Labour Party quite frankly.”
Another MP said: “It would be very inappropriate but I can’t account for the behaviour of strange people who get into the Labour conference any more than I can account for the behaviour of strange people in the Conservative conference.”
Angela Rayner, deputy leader, will deliver her report on Sunday, followed later by a discussion on “winning the [next] general election”.
On Monday, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves will address the main hall at noon, after a morning session on “better jobs and better work”.
Tuesday sees Sir Keir address the main hall at 2pm in the conference’s set-piece event, and will speak before a session called “a future where families come first”.
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