Rosie Duffield takes swipe at Starmer after being excluded from Labour event

Rosie Duffield takes swipe at Starmer after being excluded from Labour event

WATCH: Rishi Sunak is nicer to me than Sir Keir Starmer, says Rosie Duffield

GB NEWS
Millie Cooke

By Millie Cooke


Published: 23/05/2024

- 13:58

Updated: 23/05/2024

- 16:03

The MP for Canterbury told GB News she has not had an official leadership visit in the seven years she has been an MP


Rosie Duffield has taken a swipe at Sir Keir Starmer after being excluded from a Labour event in Kent today.

Sir Keir Starmer held a launch event to kick off the first official day of the general election campaign, joined by Angela Rayner and Naushabah Khan, candidate for the Gillingham and Rainham constituency.


Local councillors and supporters were also invited.

But Duffield, who has a strained relationship with the Labour leader, was notably absent from the event - despite being a Kent Labour MP.

Rosie Duffield


Rosie Duffield has taken a swipe at Sir Keir Starmer after being excluded from a Labour event in Kent today

PA

Asked if she was invited to the event, she told GB News: "No, in the 7 years since being elected, I have never had an official leadership visit."

She added: "I was not invited to this or any of the other recent events in Kent."

No other Labour MPs from Kent were invited to the event, GB News understands.

The MP for Canterbury has been vocal on trans issues and the protection of womens' spaces, and has repeatedly clashed with the Labour leadership as a result of her stance.

She previously compared her relationship with the Labour party to an "abusive relationship".

Duffield said: "What I feel now, after six years off being cold-shouldered by the Labour Party, conjures memories of how I felt in that abusive relationship.


"When I come home at night, I feel low-level trauma at my political isolation."

Starmer recently held a meeting with Duffield, which was dubbed "peace talks" following the defection of Natalie Elphicke from the Tory party.

But after the meeting, she publicly said it lasted just 17 minutes and claimed she received no apology.

She said: "I told a whip that I had not been spoken to for 2.5 [years] when Natalie Elphicke was welcomed with open arms.

"I got 17 minutes and still no apology for being briefed against by Head of Comms or investigated for 12 months....!"

Labour has been contacted for comment.

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