“Balderdash”
David Lammy has denied rumours of Keir Starmer resigning, saying there is ‘no chance’ of the Labour leader walking from his post. Presumably because he wouldn’t be able to abstain from such a choice.
The shadow justice secretary and MP for Tottenham addressed the rumours on Saturday afternoon, when Twitter became awash with posts suggesting the leader of the opposition would resign as #StarmerQuits began trending.
The rumour’s source appears to be from an account named ‘Babble’, who had claimed: “We are to expect a statement from the LOTO Office regarding rumours of #StarmerQuits this evening/early tomorrow. What that will contain I have no idea but the strength of these rumours true or false will certainly be a worry to the LOTO and his closest Allies.”
Lammy responded to Babble’s tweet, saying: “Balderdash! Not a chance. Get real!!”
Balderdash! Not a chance. Get real!! https://t.co/yJstYnopgL
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) January 2, 2021
The rumours were accelerated by the circulation of a fake tweet, mocked up to make it look as though it came from Robert Peston’s ITV show account. The edited screenshot asserted that ‘there was something big happening at Labour HQ’.
If Peston were to tweet such information out, it would have come from his personal account, not the @itvpeston account as the image shows.
While the rumours are false, the speed at which they spread does appear to show some appetite for more change in the Labour party. With the government’s handling of the coronavirus so indefensibly bad in every respect, it is understandable that people who have felt neglected by Labour are crying out for a firmer stance in from the opposition.
Will these rumours jolt Starmer into action?
