LABOUR leader Sir Keir Starmer made a “ridiculous mistake” by sacking MP Sam Tarry, according to former London mayor Ken Livingstone.

He told Nana Akua on GB News: “I think I supported Keir Starmer for the leadership. I disagree with some of the things that he’s done. I think it’s the most ridiculous mistake to kick out this MP because he supported workers on strike.

He added: “I totally support the trade unions and I think Keir Starmer is making a mistake, but I do believe he can win the next election.

“I do believe he’ll be a good Prime Minister. He didn’t come into politics to be a celebrity, he came into politics to make life better for people.”

Mr Livingstone said the influence of trade unions in the party has waned over the years: “It was the trade unions that created the Labour Party a century ago and it was not Keir Starmer who did it, it was Tony Blair when he became Labour leader, he cut the influence of the trade unions.

“Until Blair became the leader, I’d go to the Labour conference each year and it would be filled with trade unionists talking to party members and all of that. And then Blair just wound it all down.

“Actually, I don’t think Blair was really Labour, I think basically he was a Liberal and the only reason he joined the Labour Party was because he fell madly in love with Cherie.

“I’m not joking. In the three years he was at Oxford University he never once went to a political event.

“It was only when he met Cherie when they started together and he fell in love with him.

“She was completely caught up with it. I think that’s the only reason he joined the Labour Party.”

He claimed that Mr Blair only won a general election because of a collapse of trust in the Major government: “The Tory Party was imploding. They’d had a massive surge of unemployment.

“It was chaotic. I mean, Neil Kinnock would have won, Michael Foot would have won.”

Mr Livingstone added: “The simple fact is, the Labour Party rests on the trade unions. Trade unions donate all the money we need to fight elections and they play a big part and Blair wound down their influence.

“I would love to see Keir Starmer roll it all back and get much better involved with the trade unions, because if you get involved with the trade unions, you’re more likely to win the election.”