The Conservative Party has said Sir Keir Starmer would clock off work at 6pm if he becomes prime minister.
Meanwhile, Government minister Maria Caulfield sought to claim in a Sky News interview that Sir Keir would want to work a “four-day week” as prime minister.
Evaluation
Sir Keir has said in interviews that he has always reserved Friday evenings to spend with his family, unless “it’s absolutely urgent or a special reason”.
The facts
Speaking to Chris Evans on Virgin Radio on Monday July 1, Sir Keir said: “We’ve had a structure in place that I try to keep to, 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.
“Now there are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.”
He added: “I don’t believe in the theory that you’re a better decision-maker if you don’t allow yourself the space to be a dad.”
In July 2023, Sir Keir told the Table Manners podcast how he copes with juggling politics and family demands: “It’s a question of trying to ensure that we find time, so I’m really, really clear, I will not do – unless it’s absolutely urgent or a special reason – I won’t do a Friday night event.
“So at six o’clock we’ll go home and we’ll be as a family home together on a Friday night.”
He added: “Barring exceptional weeks, we will all be there on a Friday night together.”
The Labour leader and his wife Victoria have a 16-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter.
Links
Clip of Sky interview with Maria Caufield (archived post and video)
Table Manners podcast with Friday night comments at 37m 25s and 38m 39s (archived post and audio)
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel