Sir Keir Starmer delivered a rare passionate speech on Nick Robinson’s ‘Political Thinking’ podcast.
Commenting on recent broken promises, including tax hikes, cuts to HS2 and a social care overhaul, the Labour leader said Boris Johnson should not be promising things he cannot deliver.
He said: “I asked my wife whether I should say this on media and she said no, but I think I can say it here.
“Look, I feel very strongly, if you’re not going to deliver, if you’re not going to deliver your promises: don’t bullshit.”
Asked about entering politics later in life after a career in law, he said: “I do think I have adapted. Quite often people say to me, ‘where’s the passion?’. The passion for me is in, actually, answering the question ‘what are you going to do about it?’.
“Politics is littered with people who shout very loudly about a problem and walk around it time and time again, shouting passionately… and people say ‘wow, they’re really passionate’.
“I think there’s a different kind of passion, which is the sort of gritty determination to say, ‘well, that’s the problem, I understand that, what’s the answer to it?’. My passion is that sort of determination to do something about it.”
Watch the clip in full below:
