Summary of complaint
We received complaints from people who felt Laura’s comments about Sir Keir Starmer appearing at football grounds were biased against him.
Our response
During the episode Laura Kuenssberg made the factual observation that following Labour’s local election wins Sir Keir Starmer had been appearing at non-league football grounds and said that she found this “really interesting” in terms of how Labour will evolve and look over the next few months, in an election year.
At no stage did Laura suggest Sir Keir is not a genuine football fan and the number and type of public appearances by the Leader of the Opposition is a legitimate subject for a political journalist to analyse and explain to listeners. The discussion which followed was entirely in keeping with the format of the podcast, with Laura also noting that these appearances give a “completely different vibe” to the “very staged photo ops that we see so often”.
She also explained that she had asked someone in the party about this and that it is a deliberate choice.
These comments were not an expression of her personal opinion on Mr Starmer or the Labour Party and we believe observations such as the clothes he was wearing at football grounds would be of interest to listeners in giving some insight into the thought that politicians put into their personal presentation when engaging with the public.