People taking ‘fresh look’ at Keir Starmer after Iran war, MP says

"Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, you know, great leaders of their time did take a while before the public really got to see them."

Business Secretary Peter Kyle spoke to The Mirror about how people's perceptions on the Prime Minister had changed in recent weeks since the outbreak of the Iran War.

"I think that this is a moment where a lot of people are taking a fresh look at Keir. Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, you know, great leaders of their time did take a while before the public really got to see them," he told the outlet.

"With Tony [Blair], it was when he really got his teeth into reforming the British state. With Thatcher, it was the Falklands conflict. These were definitional moments. And I think this is a definitional moment for Keir in highly complicated circumstances.

"The conventional relationships are no longer the foundations. They're sometimes the ones rocking."

Kyle, who is an ally of Starmer, added that there was no handbook for how the PM should negotiate these crises.

"All of this happened at the same time, and all of these [things] are coming together at this moment in time, and Keir is shouldering the load of all of this, and yet still moving forwards in all of these areas. And that's something that I've had the privilege of seeing up close, and I wish more people had had that opportunity."

Kyle further commented on the government's plans for the impending crisis that could hit Brits' finances with the sharp increase in the price of oil.

"I think we all acknowledge that there are waves being generated in the Middle East and we don't know yet whether they will lap our shores, or whether one or two of them will crash on our shores.

"But we are a Government that is striving to build resilience, to understand areas of uncertainty and make sure that we are as prepared for every eventuality as possible."