Rosie Duffield quits Labour over Starmer sleaze

Keir Starmer is yet to hit the hundred day mark but he is already one MP down. This evening Rosie Duffield has written to the Prime Minister to inform him that she is resigning the whip ‘with immediate effect’. Duffield, who was known to have strained relations with the party leadership, cites the recent rows over Labour sleaze as a key motivation – along with the decisions to cut the winter fuel payment for most pensioners and retain the two child benefit cap.

Duffield is the fastest MP in modern history to quit their party following a general election victory. In her letter to Starmer (published by the Sunday Times), she attacks him over his response to the recent stories about his penchant for freebies: ‘The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale… I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party.