Conservatives spark anger after criticising Starmer over family Friday nights pledge
Labour leader is subjected to sustained attacks by Conservatives, including Rishi Sunak, after saying he intends to continue Friday nights with his family if elected PM
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
The Conservative Party have sparked anger after mounting sustained attacks on Keir Starmer’s stated desire to try to enjoy Friday nights with his family if he becomes prime minister.
The Labour leader had told Virgin Radio presenter Chris Evans how he and wife Victoria, who hails from a Jewish family, had carved out “protected time” on Friday after 6pm, which was spent with their two children.
But Rishi Sunak, just one day after visiting a synagogue in Golders Green, and defence secretary Grant Shapps were among senior Tories to condemn Starmer over the Friday night pledge, which they claimed would make him a “part-time prime minister.”
Leading barrister Simon Myerson KC responded angrily to the attack on the Labour leader posted on X:”So Conservatives hate the fact that Starmer wants to protect his Shabbat meal. The hard left hate Starmer for having a Shabbat meal because it makes him a Zio.
“I fear I love my country more than it loves me.”
Former Union of Jewish Students president Joel Rosen added:”At the end of each week, I pause for Shabbat. It is a sacred and restorative time for me and many in my community
“It is unedifying to see the Tories use this tradition in a cheap attack, sneering at a father for spending time with his kids whilst respecting his wife’s traditions.”
Lord Mann, the government’s independent antisemitism adviser added:”The attack on Keir Starmer for asserting his right to family time on a Friday night, as he has done for many, many years, is so dangerous. So insidious from those aware of why he chooses to be with his family specifically on Friday evenings.”
Sky News politics reporter Ben Bloch also posted that the “point about Sir Keir Starmer’s observance of Shabbat with his wife and family is very much being missed” by those who criticised him over the comments.
Politics presenter Adam Boulton also posted:”For the record Keir Starmer has said he and his family sometimes observe Shabbat dinner on Friday nights.”
Others suggested the Tory attack was “dog whistle” and “desperate” coming just days ahead of the general election.
Starmer’s radio interview comments followed an interview with the Guardian last month when he explained told how “pretty much every week” the family buy challah for Shabbat, and how Bernard, his 95 year-old observant father-in-law, says kiddush.
After first becoming leader back in 2020 he had first revealed his enjoyment of Friday night dinners so his children, now aged 16 and 13, learned about their Jewish heritage.
Sunak led the attacks on Starmer claiming:” “I haven’t finished at six ever.”
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps also joined in the criticism of the Labour leader, despite his own Jewish background.
He posted on X/Twitter:”Virtually every military intervention we’ve carried out has happened at night, partly to keep our servicemen & women safe.
“The British people will wonder who would be standing in for Starmer between 6pm & 9am – Angela Rayner, David Lammy, Ed Miliband? “Defending Britain’s security isn’t a daylight hours only job.”
The official Tory Party social media feed also posted: “You deserve better than a part-time prime minister” while former party chairman Greg Hands questioned what would happen if Putin attacked at 6.01pm.
Other senior Conservatives continued to mount attacks on Tuesday.
Appearing on Virgin Radio on Monday, Starmer explained:“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.”
Starmer said his son and daughter are his “pride and joy” and “I don’t want to lose that time”.
He said that in politics “some people think, if you fill your diary 24/7 and don’t do anything else, that makes you a much better decision-maker”.
“I don’t agree with that, I think you’ve got to make space, so we do it.”
On Sunday Sunak arrived in Golders Green for a visit that included a speech at the Machzike Hadas Synagogue where he described antisemitism as a “sickness.”
A Labour source hit back at the attacks, saying: “The only person who’s clocked off early in this campaign is Rishi Sunak at the D-Day commemorations.”
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