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WATCH IN FULL: Keir Starmer speaks to GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope at the Labour conference
Oct 1, 2025
Sir Keir Starmer has blamed Nigel Farage for Britain's migrant crisis, describing small boats crossing the Channel as "Farage boats".The Prime Minister made the staggering claim during a sit-down interview with GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope.FULL STORY HERE.
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0:00
Prime Minister, thank you for talking to GB News. You've finished your speech telling your audience to fly those flags
0:06
Why has the left been so uncomfortable with a Union Jack or a St George's flag? What's wrong with being patriotic
0:12
There's nothing wrong with being patriotic, and the left has always been patriotic
0:16
Look at the Labour government just after the war, rebuilding our country
0:21
I found a member of NATO, which obviously has been the most successful military alliance the world has ever known
0:28
and we are patriotic today, a patriotic Labour Party because we love our country
0:35
We love our beautiful, tolerant, diverse country and that's what drives us to not just fix the problems
0:41
in our country, but to change our country for the better. So I was very glad to see all those flags
0:46
Yes, we've been giving them out for GB News. I saw that. I put them on the membership card of the Labour Party
0:53
That's right. Back in 2022. Thousands and thousands of people have got their membership card
0:57
with a Union jack on it. Nothing wrong with that. OK, Nigel Farrow has accused you
1:01
of inciting violence against reform, putting a target on the backs of people backing a reform
1:06
maybe with a reform rosette. Are you risking inflaming tensions, particularly after the murder of Charlie Kirk
1:12
No, not at all. There is a political fight that has to be had
1:17
and it's about the future of our country because at the next election, the fight will be different
1:23
to the fight at every other election. It won be Labour versus the Conservatives It be labor versus reform and that means patriotic national renewal with Labour where we go forward as the whole of our country versus the toxic division
1:37
and decline of reform, which I think will tear our country apart. I, as Prime Minister, want to
1:43
serve the whole of my country, my beautiful, tolerant, diverse country that I believe in
1:50
whose values I support, and I do not want to see it, dragged into division and tearing our country apart
1:57
and the politics of grievance which feeds off the problems rather than fixing the problems
2:03
When we are trying to deal with our borders, we're trying to pass the Borders Bill
2:08
give more power to law enforcement to deal with the small boats. What does Nigel Farage do? He votes against it
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We've got a returns deal with France. What does Nigel Farage do? He says he'd rip it up
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We've got ID cards, idea cards, to stop people working illegally in our economy
2:24
He says he would reverse it. He doesn't want to fix the problem because if the problem is fixed, his reason to exist goes away
2:32
So that's why I call it the politics of grievance. No mention of ID cards in your speech then
2:38
Are you going cool on the idea? Of course, I was there on Friday when you mentioned them. No, I mentioned them and they were a major part of my speech on Friday
2:45
Today I was making, if you like, a bigger article. At the beginning of the summer, I said I don't want just a lot of policy in the speech
2:53
I want to elevate it to a point where we having a proper discussion about who are we as a country What do we believe in And how do we make sure that we go forward as one country together united
3:06
and not slip into the division, which I fear will be the choice of the next election
3:11
You mentioned a fork in the road. One fork, I suppose, is the Tories and Labour, and the other fork is reform
3:16
So would you be willing to sleep under a Tory government, but not a reform government, if you see
3:20
I think a lot of people would say, and I would say, I vote Labour, I want a Labour government
3:27
Obviously, I'm a Labour prime minister. But if there's a Conservative government, there isn't the level of fear that there is if we go for a more right wing proposition
3:38
And in recent weeks and months, there's been a huge amount of incoming to me by people across the country who are fearful that they don't belong in this country
3:48
They thought they were part of the Britain we were proud of, and now they feel they don't belong
3:53
That is not a good thing for our tolerant, diverse country. You mentioned small boats. I think that's when you think that's how you'll be judged
4:00
You want to stop those boats. Siobhan Amou's making new steps there. You know, at the weekend, a big boat came in, 125 arrived, maybe five have gone back under one in and one out deal
4:09
When will that start getting going? Will you stop the boats by the election? Well, the returns agreement with France is important because we need to establish that if you come by boat, you will be returned to France
4:18
I accept the numbers are low. We had to prove the concept and prove that it could work
4:25
We now done that But now we need to ramp that up I would gently point out to Nigel Farage and others that before we left the EU we had a returns agreement with every country in the EU And he told it he told the country
4:38
make no difference if we left. But he was wrong about that. These are Farage boats in many senses
4:43
that are coming across the channel. And legal that migration, that will come down to under your government. Yes. If you look at where we got the Boris wave, didn't we? Immigration went up
4:53
fourfold under the Conservatives in five short years. It's unbelievable. And we are bringing it
5:00
down. You've seen those numbers coming down. Of course, it's right to say that many people come
5:05
here to contribute to our society, but the numbers need to come down and we're bringing them down
5:09
Just a very final question. You aren't doing very well in the polls personally. You've seen those
5:13
polls. Would you stand aside in the national interest if the next person who came in could
5:17
beat Nigel Farage and lift the poll rating for Labour? We had an election last July. I led my
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party to a landslide victory. And I never pretended and never said that we could undo 14 years of
5:29
failure in 12 short months. It was always going to take longer than that. I will lead my party
5:35
into the next election and I will be judged at that election on whether living standards have
5:40
gone up, people feel better off, whether public services are better, particularly the NHS
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and whether people feel more safe and secure in their neighbourhood and in their country
5:49
rightly judged against those tests when it gets to the next election
5:53
So, Kisama, thank you for joining us on GB News, and I'll give you a GB News flag later
5:57
Thank you so much. Thank you
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