MP Rosie Duffield has launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Keir Starmer in her resignation letter.
The Labour MP, who has represented Canterbury since 2017, announced on Friday she was resigning from the Labour whip over the changes to Winter Fuel Payments and the ongoing row over Mr Starmer’s freebies.
In her resignation letter, the 53-year-old said she could no longer stay in Labour under Mr Starmer’s management of the party, claiming the Prime Minister was “determined to stick to” policies despite them being unpopular with both the electorate and his own MPs.
She added: “You repeat often that you will make the ‘tough decisions’ and that the country is ‘all in this together’. But those decisions do not directly affected any one of us in Parliament.
“They are cruel and unnecessary, and affect hundreds of thousands of our poorest, most vulnerable constituents.”
Ms Duffield accused Mr Starmer of having “very little previous political footprint” and alleged that it was unclear what his “political passion, drive or direction might be” as party leader.
She further accused Mr Starmer of using “heavy-handed management tactics” while in opposition, and claimed he had “never shown what most experienced backbenchers would recognise as true or inspiring leadership”.
The letter added: “You have never regularly engaged with your own backbench MPs, many of whom have been in Parliament far longer than you, and some of whom served in the previous Labour government.
“You have chosen neither to seek our individual political opinions, nor learn about our constituency experiences, nor our specific or collective areas of political knowledge. We clearly have done nothing you deem of value.”
Ms Duffield also slammed Mr Starmer for promoting people with “no previous political skills” – describing it as “frankly embarrassing”.
She accused the Prime Minister of having a “lack of basic politics and political instincts”, saying this had come “crashing down on us as a party after we worked so hard, promised so much, and waited 14 long years to be mandated by the British public to return to power”.
The letter added: “Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding of how you have made us all appear.”
“How dare you take our longed-for victory, the electorate’s sacred and precious trust, and throw it back in their individual faces and the faces of dedicated and hardworking Labour MPs?!.
“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.”
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour Prime Minister.”
Ms Duffield said she had no confidence the Prime Minister could deliver the change he had promised and demanded to know why Mr Starmer was not showing “the slightest embarrassment” over the gift scandal.
Concluding, she said: “Right now, I cannot look my constituents in the eye and tell them anything has changed.
“I hope to be able to return to the party in the future, when it again resembles the party I love, putting the needs of the many above the greed of the few.”
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