Rosie Duffield resigns as Labor MP in sharp attack on Keir Starmer’s leadership | Work

A Labor MP has resigned from the parliamentary party after criticizing Keir Starmer’s “cruel and unnecessary” policies and harshly criticizing the prime minister’s “managerial and technocratic approach” to politics.

In an angry letter announcing her decision, Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield said she was relieved to have made the decision. She said the row over freebies to Starmer and his top team showed that “sleaze, cronyism and blatant greed are off the scale”.

This is believed to be the fastest time in modern times for an MP to have relinquished leadership of their party following an election. While Duffield had been vocal against Starmer on several occasions, the fury of her departure will be a further blow to the prime minister amid criticism of his first months in Downing Street.

Duffield said the behavior of Labor members who accepted gifts from donor Lord Alli had left them “so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to damage and humiliate our once proud party”.

She also launched a blistering attack on Starmer’s decision to make unpopular decisions to keep spending under control – notably refusing to lift the two-child limit on benefits and cutting winter fuel payments for pensioners.

“Someone with well above average wealth chooses to maintain the Conservatives’ two-child limit on benefits, sinking children into poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts in the form of designer suits and glasses that cost more than most these people can imagine –… “This is completely unworthy of holding the title of Labor Prime Minister,” she wrote in the letter.

She criticized Starmer’s decision to force his MPs to vote against a Commons motion supporting cutting winter fuel payments, adding: “Forcing a vote to make many older people sicker and colder while You and your favorite colleagues enjoy free family trips to events.” Most people would have to save hard – why don’t you show the slightest bit of embarrassment?”

She said she was resigning from her post with “immediate effect” and would now serve as an independent MP. While Duffield was furious as she condemned Labour’s policies, she also expressed extreme criticism of Starmer’s leadership style and political judgment, suggesting his approach had been naive.

“As Prime Minister, your leadership style and technocratic approach, as well as your lack of basic politics and political instincts, have brought down on us as a party after we have worked so hard, promised so much and waited a long 14 years for our mandate that the British public be back to the Power is coming,” she wrote.

“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been shocking and increasingly outrageous. I cannot express how angry I and my colleagues are at your complete lack of understanding of how you make us all look like this.”

While Duffield’s criticism is by far the most vocal a Labor member has made in public, there are concerns that some echo those made privately by Labor MPs and ministers during last week’s party conference.

Some were distraught at Starmer’s inability to shut down stories about freebies and the pay of his chief of staff, Sue Gray. Some saw this as a symptom of his failure to set a clear narrative in office following Labour’s popular appeal to remove the Tories from office.

However, Duffield is likely to face criticism from former colleagues for leaving the party under their banner barely more than two months after being elected. She has repeatedly clashed with the leadership over gender and transgender rights.