Starmer Calls On Badenoch To Fire MP Over Prayer Attack

Keir Starmer called for Kemi Badenoch to sack one of her Tory frontbenchers during an irate prime minister’s questions.

The prime minister suggested the Conservative leader drops shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy after he attacked a large Muslim prayer ceremony which took place in central London on Tuesday.

Starmer squeezed the jibe in after Badenoch made several digs about the prime minister’s judgement in appointing Peter Mandelson to be the UK’s ambassador to Washington – despite his links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Rather than responding directly, the PM read out Timothy’s explosive tweet from Tuesday night, where he called a group prayer event “a declaration of domination”.

Starmer told the Commons: “He [Timothy] said last night that Muslims praying in public, including the mayor of London, practising his faith, are not welcome.

“He described it as ‘an act of domination, straight from the Islamist playbook’.

“If he were in my team, he’d be gone.

“It’s utterly appalling. She should denounce his comments and she should sack him.”

Badenoch replied by criticising the justice secretary David Lammy for his attempts to abolish jury trials.

“My shadow justice secretary is defending British values. I know who I would rather have sitting on the front bench next to me and it is not him,” the Tory leader said, pointing at Lammy.

The PM replied: “Even Tommy Robinson – I can hardly believe I am saying this – has said today that if the shadow justice secretary had made these hateful comments two years ago, the Conservative Party would have kicked him out.

“Tommy Robinson isn’t some sort of moral signpost. He was pointing out how much their party has changed. They’re more inclined to his views. And he’s right about that.

“The fact that he’s sitting there on her front bench shows she’s too weak and has absolutely no judgement.”

Robinson, formerly known as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is a far-right agitator.

The PM added that he thought those religious gatherings showed “the great strength of our diverse city and country”.

“The only conclusion is the Tory party has a problem with Muslims,” Starmer said, again lashing out at Timothy for spreading “poison and division”.

The PM’s attack comes after Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell also condemned Timothy’s post on X as an “extreme reaction”.

She said: “What an extreme reaction from a member of the Shadow Cabinet. Across the country today Muslims, Christians, those of faith & of none, have worked, learned, shared & broken fast together. That is real Britain, not the desperate hatred being whipped up here by a leading Tory.”