'He's obsessed!' - Keir Starmer is ridiculed over Nigel Farage clash

Keir Starmer's decision to go on the attack against Nigel Farage makes him look "obsessed" and is "incredibly dumb" politics. Former Tory MP Bob Seely said the Prime Minister's party conference speech meant that he is now leading what will probably be the "last Labour government in history". And he criticised Sir Keir's claims to be patriotic, claiming "nobody believes him".

Speaking to the Daily Expresso, our weekday news show, Mr Seely said: "He's attacking Farage all the time, which I think is incredibly dumb politics because he looks obsessed by him in a really unhealthy way.

"He says he's positive about our future. I'm sorry, all the Labour Party has done for the last 15 years is tell us how awful everything is. Even when they were in power, they were telling us how awful everything was.

"And then when they became incredibly unpopular, they said, 'oh, other people are so negative about our future."

In his speech to the Labour conference in Liverpool, Sir Keir said a person who argues that "people who have lived here for generations" should now be deported is "an enemy of national renewal".

He claimed Labour was the "patriotic party" and said he believed in a Britain with "the grit of the Lionesses, the swagger of Oasis, the strength of the Red Roses".

Mr Seely said: "He goes on and on and on, country first, party second. Nobody believes that.

"Having standards, really? What about all the freebies?

"It's like AI was asked to write a speech, an almost ironic speech, written by a depressed librarian, a local government official and a human rights lawyer and you would come up with Keir Starmer's speech.

"But for people who don't like Starmer, I think the speech was very good because it now means they (Labour) are less likely to get rid of him and that's probably a good thing if we want this to be the last Labour government in our history, which it probably will be."

He added: "I'm not celebrating this. I just find it weirdly curious how they've become the most unpopular government pretty much in the history of politics in our country. And they've done it in 14 months."

Mr Seely said people "don't care" whether a political leader went to a public school or had a working class upbringing.

He added: "What Boris and Nigel both had is they were positive and they had a sense of sunniness regardless of rhetoric. And I'm afraid for Starmer, he just comes out like he's disapproving of everything all the time.

"That's not great. If you're going to reach out to people, do it with a smile.

"He now says, I love this country. Nobody believes him.

"He spent a career as a human rights lawyer, taking on his clients pretty much anyone who's got a grievance against this country."

Mr Seely said the public does not believe that "a left wing sub Marxist human rights lawyer" is a patriot.

"This is a party that doesn't like the people of this country," he added.