I SPOKE TO SIR ALEX .. HE'S A WINNER & THAT'S WHAT WE AIM TO BE

Labour leader Keir Starmer talks exclusively to Daily Record Political Editor Paul Hutcheon

- PAUL HUTCHEON

LEGENDARY football boss Sir Alex Ferguson has been coaching Keir Starmer on booting the Tories out of government.

The Labour leader hailed the former Aberdeen and Manchester United manager as a "winner" with "strong Labour values" who had offered to help him secure the keys to Downing Street.

He also promised that a Labour government would take millions of children out of poverty and said he would "listen" to Scots leader Anas Sarwar on scrapping the two-child benefit cap.

Polls show Starmer is on the cusp of a general election win, with the Tories forecast to have the worst result in their history.

In an interview with the Record, Starmer said he will be "rooting" for Scotland in tomorrow's Euros match and revealed that Fergie, the team's manager at the 1986 World Cup, had backed him to get Labour back into power.

Starmer said: "I spoke to him just a few weeks ago and he was on it as ever with that winning mentality.

"He is someone who has always had strong values that have gone through everything that he's done, Labour values of course, with that real focus on winning, but also Sir Alex has never forgotten his roots.

"It was really good for me to be able to have a chat with him."

Ferguson won 10 trophies as Aberdeen manager before becoming the most successful ever Manchester United boss.

Starmer said: "He gave me some views on where we should go.

"His mentality and my mentality are similar in this respect, that he knows the single objective when you are building a football team, running a football team, managing a football team, is to win.

"My objective is to put my team, my Labour Party, in a position where we can win.