Former shadow transport minister Sam Tarry, who was sacked after giving interviews from a picket line, has said he “absolutely” still believes Sir Keir Starmer is the best person to lead the country , but that Labor must show solidarity with striking workers. .
The Labor MP for Ilford South, who joined the picket line at London’s Paddington station on Saturday, told the PA news agency: “I think Keir Starmer is still the best person to turn become prime minister and I will campaign every day for a Labor government”.
But Tarry, who was sacked from the shadow cabinet on Wednesday after joining a picket line, said the Labor party needed a “fundamental recalibration” of its relationship with the trade union movement and needed to demonstrate who was next to him.
Speaking on the Aslef picket line outside Paddington station, he said: “We should never have been in a situation where we had an edict that you can’t join a picket line. This is the party Labour, the clue is in the name. We are the party founded by the unions.”
He added that the link between the trade union movement and the Labor party is “indivisible” and “part of the same fabric”.
Starmer, who previously banned leaders from joining picket lines, said Tarry had been fired for doing a media round without warning.
Tarry also appeared alongside former party leader Jeremy Corbyn at a rally for striking BT workers on Friday.
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Tarry said on Friday: “This is not about me or Keir Starmer. This is about the Labor Party showing that it is on the side of ordinary British workers in this country.
“I think it’s a fundamental mistake to ban Labor MPs from being on picket lines. It shouldn’t happen.”
He said he had spoken to a number of MPs across the country who supported the workers.
Tarry ruled out any possible Labor leadership bid on Saturday, saying he was “focused on being the MP for Ilford South” and “doing the best job” he could for the people of Ilford South.