Sir Keir Starmer was forced out of a pub after being faced by a Labour-supporting landlord enraged that he supported the lockdown which had closed his business for months, and in surprising scenes in Bath, Rod Humphris, the lockdown sceptic proprietor of the Raven, had to be held back by the Opposition Leader’s security guards as he demanded he leave, yelling ‘that man isn’t allowed in my pub’ and ‘get out of my pub’.
The event was caught on camera by anchors amid a visit to the city to support West of England metro mayoral candidate Dan Norris ahead of the impending polls.
The bust-up comes as the Labour leader’s notoriety amongst electors has fallen to its most profound level and Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour grapples in the polls, amid a swell in support for Boris Johnson’s Conservatives, boosted by the vaccine rollout, with the Tories enjoying a 14 point poll lead.
Mr Humphris clashed with Sir Keir Starmer outside the Raven, blaming him for having failed to be the opposition by supporting the lockdown and backing plans to make schoolchildren wear masks.
And as the politician paused the landlord waved a piece of paper at him, saying: ‘Do you know what the average age of death with Covid is?
‘According to the Office for National Statistics, it’s 82 years and three months. The average age of death normally? Eighty-one years.
‘Do you understand we have f***ed our economy because old people are dying?’
As Sir Keir Starmer tried to walk away he continued: ‘ No, no I came here to speak to this man, not your security.
‘You have failed me. I have been a Labour voter my entire life. You have failed to be the opposition.
‘You have failed to ask whether lockdown was functioning. Do you understand? Thousands of people have died because you have failed to do your job and ask the real questions.’
Finally, Sir Keir Starmer stopped and confronted him, pointing out the work done by the NHS in the pandemic, including his wife Victoria, who’s a nurse.
He said that they’d been overwhelmed with cases, adding that they’ve been on the front line keeping people alive and that he didn’t need lectures from him about the pandemic, and he thanked him and asked if they should go inside.
This prompted the scenes in which Mr Humphris demanded the Labour leader leave the pub, but he really shouldn’t have wasted his breath because like the vast preponderance of Labour politicians and Conservatives alike, they couldn’t care less about the impact the last year has had on people and their businesses, but at least this landlord showed his opposition, more than Sir Keir Starmer ever did.
