KEIR Starmer has defended the awarding of a gong to his now fellow Labour knight Tony Blair, insisting he was a “very successful prime minister”.
As he took to the airwaves to set out his vision for how Labour would govern, the Leader of the Opposition denied Blair’s knighthood was a thorny issue. “I think he deserves the honour. Obviously, I respect the fact that people have different views,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
“I understand there are strong views on the Iraq War. There were back at the time and there still are but that does not detract from the fact that Tony Blair was a very successful prime minister of this country and made a huge difference to the lives of millions of people in this country,” added Sir Keir.
Even the UK Government’s Vaccines Minister, Maggie Throup, rowed in behind the ex-Labour leader, saying: “He did lots of good things and it’s only right we do honour our previous prime ministers. And he was prime minister for such a long time.”
This echoed the view of Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, who argued all former prime ministers should be offered a knighthood because “it is one of the toughest jobs in the world”.
Yet to his detractors, including relatives who loved lost ones in the Iraq war, Blair’s gong is the “ultimate insult”. Military mothers have threatened to return Elizabeth Crosses, a form of recognition given to bereaved families.
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