Keir Starmer calls Gaza hostages ‘sausages’ in key Labour speech

Liverpool, England: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer tried to shake off his image as a gloom-monger on Tuesday, but raised eyebrows after mistakenly referring to hostages held by Hamas as “sausages”.

Urging an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the return of Israeli hostages, Starmer said: “I call again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the return of the sausages – the hostages – and a recommitment to the two-state solution: recognised Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel.”

The gaffe didn’t stop Starmer’s speech.

The PM appealed to voters exhausted by years of political and economic turmoil with the message that better times are on the way – if they swallow Labour’s recipe of short-term pain for long-term gain.

Starmer capped the Labour Party’s annual conference – the party’s first one since winning a landslide election victory in July – with a speech arguing that things will be “tough in the short term”, but emphasising the light at the end of the tunnel.

Some members of the centre-left party say Starmer – Britain’s first Labour prime minister in 14 years – has made that dark tunnel longer by delivering downbeat messages about the economy. That, and a distracting row about freebies have overshadowed what should be a celebratory gathering for thousands of party members in the north-west England port city of Liverpool.

Britain’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer gives a meaty speech at the Labour conference in Liverpool.Credit: Getty Images

“I know this country is exhausted by and with politics,” Starmer said. He promised to deliver “national renewal” but said he wouldn’t offer “false hope” about the cost and the difficult trade-offs involved.

“Just because we all want low taxes and good public services, does not mean that the iron law of properly funding policies can be ignored,” Starmer said.

He pledged to make “tough” decisions – code for public spending restraint and tax increases – to achieve economic growth to fund schools, hospitals, roads, railways and more. Starmer acknowledged some of those decisions would be unpopular, but added that “we will turn our collar up and face the storm”.

“If the last few years have shown us anything, it’s that if you bury your head because things are difficult, your country goes backwards,” he said.

The conference was dampened by a tempest over Starmer’s acceptance of freebies at a time when millions of people struggle with the cost of living. Starmer insisted he followed the rules when he took thousands of pounds worth of clothes and designer eyeglasses from a wealthy Labour donor, but the story generated days of negative headlines.

Cabinet minister Pat McFadden, who ran Labour’s election campaign, said the government would not be derailed by criticism.

“I’m not going to pretend to anyone in this room that I’ve enjoyed some of the headlines and stories over the last week,” he told a meeting at the conference. “But nor am I going to allow them to define the government.”

The hour-long speech fleshed out how Starmer viewed his personal brand of measured, moderate politics. It provided strikingly personal detail about a politician often called dull and managerial, as Starmer recalled his childhood love of the flute and the landscape of England’s Lake District.

The speech was peppered with words like “joy”, “wonder” and “calm”, as he argued that economic stability and growth would let people “focus on the little things they love in life, not the anxiety and security we have now”.

He also rejected populism and divisiveness, which he said marked many politicians on the right, condemning the “racist thugs” involved in anti-immigrant violence during the summer and arguing that Britain is a nation of tolerance and fairness.

AP

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