Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has thrown his weight behind the England team after Harry Kane’s rebuttal to Gary Lineker.
Captain Kane recently told Lineker to ‘remember how it feels to wear the shirt’ after criticism from the former England striker.
Lineker described the Three Lions’ performance in the 1-1 draw with Denmark as ‘s***’ and singled out Kane’s display for scrutiny.
However, England remain top of Group C at Euro 2024, with four points from two games ahead of the clash with Slovenia on Tuesday night.
Opposition leader Sir Keir, who is campaigning ahead of the upcoming general election on July 4, is an avid football fan and boyhood Arsenal supporter.
Speaking to Talk in an exclusive one-on-one interview, the politician was asked where he stands on the issue.
In an exclusive clip, released ahead of the full interview being broadcast today at 5pm, Sir Keir said: “I back the England team on this I think.
“Look, they’re in the middle of this competition, and a really important game coming up. Let’s just get behind the team.”
He added: “You know, we’ve done this before, England. We sort of never, I don’t think, have a particularly great start to these competitions.
“But then we click, we pull together. It’s a fantastic team and I am going to back them all the way.”
Lineker has already responded to Kane’s comments in a conversation with Alan Shearer on ‘The Rest is Football’ podcast.
The BBC presenter said: “We’ve talked about this a few times about journalists not being brave enough to ask their own questions.
“It’s a guarantee that whoever that was would have been critical about it himself. I think they do it, A – to stir the pot, and B – because they are too scared to ask questions from their own selves.
“So, I get it, it puts Harry on the spot, but I think he actually answered it fine.
“There was one or two bits in there [I didn’t agree with] but it’s not easy when you are thrown that kind of thing.”
Lineker continued: “If we said, ‘Oh, they actually played really well’ we would be lying for a start, because they didn’t play well and Harry knows they didn’t play well.
“There is one bit there which I understand what he says, [when he said], ‘But they have a responsibility of being ex-England players and they should know what it’s like. It’s not like they have won anything’ and the rest of that effect.
“Fine. Fine, and he’s absolutely right. But I will say one thing, the last thing in the world we want to be is downbeat and critical.
“We want England to perform well on the pitch and the best punditry of all is when England play well and we are excited and enthusiastic about them so we can say, ‘This performance was great, that performance was great’.
“We don’t want to be critical but we have to be at times. And we did it balanced as well.”
Watch the full interview with Sir Keir Starmer on Talk at 5pm today.
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News Summary:
- Sir Keir Starmer backs Harry Kane and England team over Gary Lineker stance
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