Vocal remain supporter heads to Brexit-backing town as he urges party to listen to voters

This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

Vocal remain supporter Sir Keir Starmer will launch his Labour leadership bid in Brexit-backing Stevenage as he calls on the party to listen to voters to win back trust.

The shadow Brexit secretary made his announcement to the Sunday Mirror. He will visit the Hertfordshire town, which voted 59% for leave, on Sunday as he makes his pitch to succeed Jeremy Corbyn.

He is the fifth MP to enter the race to lead Labour following its worst general election defeat since 1935.

Prominent backbenchers Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy declared on Friday, while shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry and shadow Treasury minister Clive Lewis are also running.

Starmer said: “Over the coming weeks, I’m looking forward to getting back on the campaign trail and talking to people from across the country about how Labour can rebuild and win.

“Britain desperately needs a Labour government. We need a Labour government that will offer people hope of a better future.

“However, that is only going to happen if Labour listens to people about what needs to change and how we can restore trust in our party as a force for good.”

Starmer’s stance has been partly blamed by some Corbyn allies for the disastrous election performance.

Appealing to Corbyn’s base, however, Starmer urged the party not to lurch to the right and said the case for a “bold and radical” Labour government was as important as ever.

The human rights lawyer, who was made Queen’s Counsel in 2002, served as head of the CPS and accepted a knighthood in 2014 and has struggled to shake-off perceptions of privilege.

But he was named after Labour legend Keir Hardie and he has stressed his upbringing by his toolmaker father and nurse mother in London’s Southwark when dismissing allegations he is too middle-class to speak to the party’s historic heartlands.

Starmer’s CV includes co-founding the renowned Doughty Street Chambers and advising the Policing Board to ensure the Police Service of Northern Ireland complied with human rights laws.

He entered parliament as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras in 2015.

Critics have also raised concerns that Starmer is seen too much as a Londoner, but a recent survey made him the clear front-runner in the leadership race regardless.

He would beat the current leadership’s favoured candidate Rebecca Long Bailey 61% to 39% in a run-off, according to a YouGov survey of 1,059 Labour members conducted at the end of December.

But the outsiders will be hoping to boost their profiles, with the race not expected to formally get under way until Tuesday. A new leader should be appointed by the end of March.

• This article was amended on 6 January 2020 to correct a misspelling of Keir Hardie’s name.