Lee Anderson asks if hot weather affecting Starmer after ‘staggering admission’

Lee Anderson has asked if the hot weather has affected Sir Keir Starmer (Image: Getty/Andy Stenning) Lee Anderson has warned voters Sir Keir Starmer would hand the keys of the UK over to Davos after the Labour leader said he would choose the annual gathering of global leaders over Westminster. Sir Keir told journalist Emily Maitlis on The News Agents podcast he preferred the invitation only annual meeting of the World Economic Forum because Parliament is “tribal”. Asked to choose between Davos and Westminster, he said: “Davos… Because Westminster is too constrained. And, you know, it’s closed and we’re not having meaning. “Once you get out of Westminster, whether it’s Davos or anywhere else, you actually engage with people that you can see [yourself] working with in the future.” On the seat of British democracy, Sir Keir added: “Westminster is just a tribal shouting place.” Sir Keir at Davos in January (Image: Getty) The Labour leader’s shocking comments sparked outrage with Mr Anderson describing his words as a “staggering admission”. The Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Staggering Admission. Sir Keir will hand the keys to the UK over to Davos. “It’s either this warm spell affecting his mind or he really is serious. Be careful what you wish for & vote for.” Others pointed to Sir Keir expressing a preference for an unelected body which includes multi-millionaires than being accountable to voters. Columnist Emily Carver shared a clip of the exchange on X and commented: “A potential future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom chooses Davos over Westminster. That is quite the admission.” Sir Keir and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves at Davos 2023 (Image: Getty) Sir Keir joined the bankers, bureaucrats and industrialists of the global elite at Davos in January where he attempted to burnish Labour’s credentials as a progressive party on the side of business. The opposition leader also took a shot at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for not attending this year’s meeting, with then-Energy Secretary Grant Shapps attending in the PM’s place. Mr Shapps said at the time: “[The Prime Minister] may well come another year, but right now in the midst of the energy crisis caused by Ukraine being invaded by Putin, with all of the trauma that we’ve gone through with Covid and much else, he is at home focusing — as a brand new prime minister, by the way, two or three months into the job — on the domestic priorities.” Express.co.uk has contacted Keir Starmer’s office for comment.