Keir Starmer is 'not the most charismatic', Diane Abbott tells LBC
Labour MP Diane Abbott has told LBC that Prime Minister Keir Starmer is "not the most charismatic Labour leader I have ever served under."
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Asked if she could see Reform UK leader Nigel Farage beating Keir Starmer in the next general election, Ms Abbott said she "would hate to think that that would happen" but "the statistics mean it is possible."
She said: "I was very struck by the way that Farage said, "Starmer, we wouldn't use language like that.""
She added: "He must be very happy, to talk like that."
Polling by YouGov published on May 16 shows that just 23% of Britons hold a favourable view of Sir Keir Starmer, a drop of five percent from this time last month.
The fall in his popularity is concentrated among Labour voters, 50% of whom now hold an unfavourable view of the Prime Minister.
Public opinion on Nigel Farage, on the other hand, has improved. According to YouGov, a third of Britons now have a favourable view of the Reform UK party leader.
His popularity has improved most among Labour voters.
Reform UK made huge gains in local elections in England earlier this month, taking control of eight local authorities and winning 677 of around contested 1,600 seats.
The party yesterday beat Labour to second place in the by-election in Clydebank, near Glasgow.
Starmer faced criticism earlier this week after a speech in which he said the UK risked becoming an "island of strangers" was likened by critics to the notorious "rivers of blood" speech made by Enoch Powell.
Diane Abbott has been the Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987.