Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has accidentally called for the release of “sausages” rather than hostages held in Gaza by Hamas.
In his keynote speech to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Tuesday afternoon, Starmer addressed tensions in the Middle East and called for “de-escalation at the border between Lebanon and Israel” and for “parties to step back from the brink.”
The Labour leader called for “an immediate ceasefire in Gaza” and “the return of the sausages” before immediately correcting himself to say “hostages”. He repeated his long-standing call for a two-state solution of a “recognised Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel.”
Starmer is set to travel to the United Nations General Assembly and meet with world leaders in New York shortly after his speech to his party faithful.
One heckler shouting about Gaza attempted to interrupt Starmer who rapidly hit back, saying: “This guy has obviously got a pass from the 2019 conference”, referencing Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the party, to laughs and applause from the conference floor. He added, “While he’s been protesting, we’ve been changing the party, that’s why we’ve got a Labour government.”
Earlier in his speech, his first as Prime Minister, Starmer said that his changing of the Labour Party, what he called “a fight for the heart and soul of this party” led directly to their electoral success in July’s general election.
He told the crowd: “People said we were going too far. People said we were going too fast. They didn’t want to face the country. They wanted to return to a comfort zone, take the easier road to nowhere, duck the challenge of change. But we stood firm ... And we won.”
The Prime Minister urged delegates to enjoy their decisive electoral victory but to “never forget that this opportunity is only here because we changed the party. Country first, party second isn’t just a slogan. It’s the foundation of this project.”
One of those changes he listed was “rooting out antisemitism”, adding that: “The changes we made are permanent. Irreversible. And that work of service never stops.”
