Keir Starmer has a problem with women, says former PvdA MP | Keir Starmer

Former Labor MP Rosie Duffield has said Keir Starmer “has a problem with women” and that the government is “more interested in greed and power” than making changes in the country.

In a speech about Starmer’s leadership, Duffield told the BBC she was Labor “in my heart and soul” but said the scandal over the acceptance of donations and gifts, including clothes, was indefensible because the party was committed to the maximum amount for two children. and had reduced the winter fuel surcharge for all but the poorest pensioners.

Duffield had previously abstained on the winter fuel payment cut and on an amendment to end the two-child limit.

A day after leaving the party to run as an independent, Duffield said of Starmer: “Most of us call the men around him, the young men, ‘the boys’ and it is very clear that the boys are in charge.

‘They now have their Downing Street passes. These are the same guys who wrote against me in the newspapers and other prominent female MPs and I really hoped for better, but it was not to be.”

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, said he was not surprised Duffield had resigned less than three months after his re-election, having clashed several times with the party leadership.

“I think you can see that she has been disillusioned with the party leader for a long time, and perhaps with the party in general. I don’t think this is something that has developed over the last few months,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, adding: “I’m disappointed to see her go. I like Rosie, but ultimately I’m not surprised by the decision she made.”

McFadden denied that the government was run by “boys” and said: “I think I’m a bit too old to be a boy… Some of the things in the letter I just don’t accept.

“I see ministers coming to work every day and what they’re thinking about is how to stabilize the economy and get it growing again, how to change the NHS, how to get more houses built, how to protect rights at work for people, how you can get more opportunities at schools. That is what the ministers around that cabinet table are focusing on. They believe in public service.”

Duffield was also a high-profile gender-critical voice in the party, which brought her into conflict with trans rights activists. She has described receiving threats for her position and receiving little support from party leadership.

But Duffield mainly cited the row over donations as a reason to quit. “We all put our faith in Keir Starmer and a Labor government, and I feel like voters, activists and MPs are being completely laughed at and completely taken for granted,” she said.

“It is so deeply disappointing for me as a Labor voter and activist… to see that this is what we have become.”

Referring to Lord Alli’s controversial donations to Starmer, Duffield wrote in her resignation letter published on Sunday: “Someone of far above average wealth who chooses to maintain the Conservative two-child limit on benefits which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably wisely accepting expensive personal gifts such as designer suits and glasses that cost more than most of these people can afford – this absolutely does not deserve the title of Labor Prime Minister.”

She said Starmer “never had regular contact” with backstabbing MPs and lacked “basic politics and political instincts”.

She also criticized the promotion of new MPs with “no proven political skills and no previous parliamentary experience” and said Starmer himself had been “immediately elevated to a shadow cabinet position without following the usual path of sharpening your political skills from the backbench”.