Johnny Mercer will ‘soon be history’, says Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Starmer has labelled Johnny Mercer a “silly sod” who will “soon be history”, after he compared Labour’s new 25-year-old MP to a character from comedy series The Inbetweeners.
The minister for Veterans’ Affairs said Keir Mather had been “dropped into” the Selby and Ainsty constituency in North Yorkshire and “spouted identikit Keir Starmer lines”.
Mercer also told Sky News: “We don’t want Parliament to become like The Inbetweeners.”
The Labour leader hit back at the government minister in Selby on Friday, as he celebrated the by-election victory alongside Mather and deputy leader Angela Rayner.
Strolling the Selby Town Football Club pitch surrounded by media, Sir Keir told the new MP: “There was some silly sod on the radio, on television last night saying you were only 25.”
The comments were picked up by an ITV camera crew and Sir Keir can be heard saying: “You’re 25 and you’ve made history and he’s whatever age he is and he’ll soon be history.”
Mather will become the youngest MP in the Commons – the so-called ‘baby of the house’ – after overturning a 20,137 Conservative majority to win the North Yorkshire seat for Labour.
‘Synthetic outrage’
The Inbetweeners, which aired in the late 2000s on Channel 4, follows four friends at school who end up in awkward and embarrassing situations as they try to enter adulthood.
Explaining his comments to Sky News on Friday, Mercer said: “I think this synthetic outrage, identikit Labour politician is the opposite of what people like me came into politics for.
“He’s been at Oxford University more than he’s had a job, right?
“So if you can really apply that to the empathy required to understand what it’s really like in this country… the cost of living and all these experiences of people he’s trying to represent.
“Personally, I don’t think that is conducive to good electoral representation and I’m more than entitled to have that view.”
Labour peer Baroness Chapman of Darlington, who appeared alongside Mercer on Sky, defended Mather as “very considered” and “intelligent”.
‘Gracious in defeat’
She said: “You’re entitled to have whatever view you like, but there is such a thing as being gracious in defeat. You’re being disrespectful to the voters of Selby who’ve made a decision that you don’t like.
“One of the good things about our Parliament is that we have people entering for the first time in their 20s but also in their 60s, from all kinds of backgrounds. I think that’s a strength.”
Mercer, a former British Army officer from 2002 to 2013 and Plymouth Moor View MP, has previously had public arguments with people including TV presenter Carol Vorderman.
He tweeted later on Friday saying: “I may be a ‘silly sod’ or a ‘twit’ – both of those are valid.
“But I also don’t think voters really want people who’ve spent more time at university than in a job, who get dropped in to a constituency, inserted with a party chip and parrot party lines.
“Glad to have stoked debate. It’s obviously not about young people being in politics. It’s the type of person. But people will mistranslate it as they see fit. And that is fine too.”
It is not unusual for politicians to start Commons careers in their mid-20s. Prime ministers William Gladstone and Winston Churchill became MPs at the ages of 22 and 25 respectively.
While Ross Kempsell, former Tory Party political director, was elevated to the House of Lords on Thursday aged 31 after being included in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours.
By Dominic McGrath and Harry Stedman, PA