Sir Keir Starmer will use his first major speech of the general election to make Labour’s campaign personal as he tries to quell concerns expressed about what sort of prime minister he will be.
The Labour leader’s “presidential” speech comes as the Tories have accused him of threatening to make a £38.5bn black hole in public finances with his spending plans.
This latest attack comes after Sir Keir has suffered months of questions about his leadership style and the number of times he has U-turned on issues.
This included abandoning his 10 left-wing pledges in the leadership election to replace Jeremy Corbyn, ditching his opposition to Brexit and abandoning his £28bn a year green deal.
Sir Keir has also been accused of being “boring” and lacking charisma as he tries to haul his party from near oblivion in 2019 to retaking Downing Street after 14 years in opposition.
In his speech today, Sir Keir will acknowledge that questions have been about his character and leadership. But he plans to answer them with a single pledge to voters: “I will fight for you.”
In a speech in a target seat in the South East, he will say: “I know those people are looking at this election, looking at me personally. So, I make this promise: I will fight for you.
“I took this Labour Party four years ago, and I changed it into the party you see today. I was criticised for some of the changes I’ve made, change is always like that.
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