Keir Starmer says Gary Neville should run to become a Labour MP

Sir Keir Starmer has said Gary Neville should run to become a Labour MP, after the former footballer revealed he had recently joined the party.

The Labour leader said he's a "big fan" of the football pundit, who has has become particularly prominent on social media for his frequent attacks on Boris Johnson.

Asked if Mr Neville should run to become a Labour MP or perhaps mayor of Greater Manchester, Sir Keir told LBC "Gary should go as far as he wants" in politics, adding: "I'm delighted that he wants to join team Labour".

The Manchester United legend confirmed on Friday that he had become a member of the party after weeks of speculation by the public.

"I have joined the Labour Party in the last few days. I want to support Labour. I do believe that we need a progressive Labour Party, but one that actually not just looks after the left side; it has to come towards the centre," Neville told the BBC.

But he poured cold water on the idea of becoming an MP, saying he would "get eaten alive" in Westminster.

He added: "I can only imagine what you have to do there to survive and I don't play the game, so how can I get in?

"So, when I ask myself the question do you want to dip your toes in, I can't dip my toes in because I'm all or nothing. I go in and I'm going in."

When asked if that meant he would seek to become an MP, he said: "I don't know at the moment."

Sir Keir said he'd had a "number of conversations" with Mr Neville about policy during the pandemic.

“Gary thought I wasn’t being strong enough. He thought we should have voted against the Government restrictions in the tier system. I didn’t. I didn’t agree with the tier system but it was all or nothing in those days.

“If you didn’t vote for the restrictions, then there were no restrictions and I didn’t think that was the right thing.

“He thought differently and we had an exchange.”

Mr Neville could very soon find himself in the shadow Cabinet if he was successful at becoming an MP.

In July, Sir Keir - who is now calling on the PM to resign - told ITV News he would welcome Mr Neville into his top team.

Asked whether he would by the Calling Peston podcast, the Labour leader said: "Oh yeah, we'll have Gary."

"I think there’s quite a few in the England team who would equally want to be in the shadow cabinet, so we’ll have a sporting shadow cabinet with all of these stars in."

He added: "Gary has been very outspoken and he's been very critical, rightly, of the prime minister."

On Friday, amid the latest Downing Street party allegations, Mr Neville said that No 10 should be renamed "Hacienda", in reference to The Hacienda, a famous Manchester nightclub.

He later partnered with fellow pundit Jamie Carragher to mock the prime minister and his Cabinet over the parties and their excuses.

He said: "It is a peculiar rivalry, but to be fair we get these Friday night football matches, we were at the Brentford one last time it was absolutely fantastic. We always seem to just get a massive party."

Mr Carragher then interrupted to say: "Let's be straight tonight though this is not a party this is about work.

"If you speak to Graham Potter, Patrick Vieira, those 22 players on the pitch - they have got to know the difference between work and a party and if they get that wrong and think they are in party mode, they are going to be in big, big trouble."