Keir Starmer says he was ‘distracted’ by Middle East and Nato during welfare rebellion
Sir Keir Starmer has admitted his focus was on matters involving Nato and the Middle East while a rebellion over welfare cuts took hold of his party at home.The prime minister has faced a growing backbench rebellion over proposed disability benefits cuts. Some 126 Labour backbenchers have signed an amendment that would halt the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill in its tracks when it faces its first Commons hurdle on 1 July.Responding to questions about what went wrong during the difficult week, Sir Keir claimed full responsibility for the welfare U-turn. “All these decisions are my decisions and I take ownership of them,” he told The Sunday Times. “My rule of leadership is, when things go well you get the plaudits; when things don’t go well you carry the can. I take responsibility for all the decisions made by this government. I do not talk about staff and I’d much prefer it if everybody else didn’t.”He continued that this was due to his heavy concentration on foreign affairs instead of domestic matters, first at the G7 meeting in Canada and then a Nato summit in the Netherlands. He also had to deal with the US’s strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.“I’m putting this as context rather than excuse: I was heavily focused on what was happening with Nato and the Middle East all weekend,” he said. “I turned my attention fully to it [the welfare bill] when I got back from Nato on Wednesday night. Obviously in the course of the early part of this week we were busy trying to make sure Nato was a success.”The prime minister had G7 and Nato summits to contend with this week, while Labour MPs were rebelling against welfare cuts More