Keir Starmer should ‘shed a few pounds’ before next election, says top Labour adviser

By JACK ELSOM SIR Keir Starmer needs to “shed a few pounds” before the election, a top Labour adviser says.

Lord Peter Mandelson admitted the stocky party boss should slim down to appeal to voters.

1

Once rumoured as the inspiration for Mark Darcy in Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, the stresses of frontline politics appear to have taken their toll on Sir Keir.

Lord Mandelson was behind Tony Blair’s rise to power and is informally advising the party.

He previously spent years at the heart of political power and the Labour establishment.

Lord Mandelson told Times Radio: “My problem with Rishi Sunak’s fashion is that he wears these skinny suits and narrow ties and they diminish him.

“Just to be even-handed about it, by the same token, Keir Starmer needs to shed a few pounds.”

The Labour peer was a force for change for the party back in the 1980s.

He was responsible for Labour replacing the red flag with its modern red rose logo.

Lord Mandelson later became New Labour’s “third man” - right in the heart of power next to Mr Blair and former PM Gordon Brown.

He helped mastermind three election victories for the party - in 1997, 2001 and 2005.