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'NO REGRETS'
Keir Starmer reveals he was PAID to defend Hizb ut-Tahrir – but blasts Boris Johnson over Jimmy Savile smears
Sir Keir insisted the job of a lawyer is to work for whoever your client is - even when they're the bad guy
SIR Keir Starmer last night revealed he was PAID to defend Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahir - and refused to say he regrets it.
In a grilling by The Sun's Harry Cole, the Labour chief also blasted Boris Johnson over his claim Jimmy Savile smears.
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Sir Keir defended advocating on behalf of wrong'uns - including Jihadi group Hizb ut-Tahir who were proscribed as a terrorist organisation this year.
He insisted the job of a lawyer is to work for whoever your client is - even when they're the bad guy.
In a wide-ranging interview, Sir Keir also:
- Vowed to protect Britain's hardest workers from tax rises
- Refused to commit to the triple pensions lock for five years
- Insisted we 'can't go back' on Brexit but wants a 'better deal'
- Refused eight times to deny he took drugs when he was younger
- Squirmed as he answered Sun readers' quickfire questions
- Blasted Boris Johnson for 'smearing' him over Jimmy Savile case
- Condemned Tories' Rwanda plan as an 'expensive gimmick'
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The opposition chief said: "I was chief prosecutor for five years. I prosecuted with my team nearly a million cases a year, including terrorists, murderers and drug dealers.
"I was a lawyer before that and in the legal world, particularly if you're doing criminal law, you represent people you don't agree with."
"You know how it works in our legal system, it is very important that everybody is represented."
What is Hizb ut-Tahrir
ISLAMIST extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir aims to create a global caliphate with a gold currency and men ruling over women.
The fundamentalist organisation wants to unite Muslims under one ruler - and was in January branded a terrorist group by the UK government amid rising tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.
The fundamentalist organisation's leader in Britain even celebrated Hamas' brutal October 7 attacks in Israel.
Hizb ut-Tahrir's aim is to unite Muslims around the world under a Caliphate - the rule of an Islamic political leader, in a world with gold currency and where women are enslaved.
Founded in 1953 in Jerusalem by a Palestinian Islamic scholar, the group lays out a "constitution" for its Caliphate plans.
It believes all Muslim countries should be united under this Caliphate and that God, or Allah, will punish those Muslims who do not join.
Through military intervention, it would then expand to non-Muslim regions.
The group is utterly opposed to Western democracy, believing their religious beliefs should be the foundation for laws under the Caliphate.
It's constitution states that the currency of this world order would be "restricted to gold and silver".
And it also writes that in marriage the wife is "obliged to obey her husband".
Every boy aged 15 and over would also have to undergo military training.
He added: "Lawyers give legal advice... doctors treat patients."
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Sir Keir also blasted ex-PM Boris Johnson for claiming he failed to lock up Jimmy Savile while serving as Britain’s top prosecutor.
Boris made the accusation during a session of PMQs in 2022.
The claim sparked outrage and prompted thugs to attack Sir Keir outside of parliament, accusing him of "protecting paedophiles".
The opposition chief said: "It's been weaponised by Boris Johnson."
Taking drugs, Brexit, Savile smears - Keir Starmer is grilled on our explosive new politics show
"You heard the way Boris Johnson put it to me.
"You saw what happened in the street just weeks later, when there was an incident in the street with people coming over to me as a direct result of what he said."
- Watch The Sun's brilliant new politics show Never Mind the Ballots on and
Sir Keir Starmer’s biggest U-turns
Sir Keir Starmer has become known as a major flip-flopper since he became leader of the Labour Party.
Here The Sun takes a look at some of his most blatant U-turns.
BREXIT
Sir Keir spent the entire 2017 parliament trying to reverse Brexit.
When he ran as Labour leader in 2020, Sir Keir did not repeat his call for a second referendum on Brexit, but he did endorse freedom of movement. After becoming leader, he said he would not cross the red line of accepting freedom of movement for EU citizens under any future negotiation of post-Brexit trading arrangements with Brussels. He has however pledged a closer trading relationship with Brussels.
NATIONALISATION
When he ran for the Labour leadership, Sir Keir vowed to bring public services, including rail, mail, energy and water, into “common ownership".
But the pledge didn't last long. As early as September 2021, he ruled out nationalising the six big energy companies and in July 2022, shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves ditched the commitment to nationalise more public services in one fell swoop.
The party still intends to bring train operators into public ownership but only when current franchises expire.
OUTSOURCING
One of Sir Keir's other leadership pledges included putting an end the involvement of the private sector in the NHS. Again, it didn't last long as it was dropped in the summer of 2022, with Sir Keir saying the party would have to continue with some level or private provision in the health service.
TUITION FEES
Sir Keir promised he would end the "national scandal" of student debt by abolishing tuition fees in 2020.
Changing his stance, he said the country found itself in a “different financial situation”.
GREEN PROSPERITY PLAN
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves vowed to invest £28 billion a year on green projects when she addressed the first in-person conference under Sir Keir back in 2021.
But in one of the most screeching U-turns, Labour announced in February it would spend just over £4.7bn a year.
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