A recurring chant at this year’s World Darts Championship appears to capture public opinion of the Prime Minister after nearly 18 months in office.
Crowds at this week’s World Darts Championship were caught on camera venting their frustration with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, collectively branding him a “w***er”. Punters at the global competition at Alexandra Palace in north London took advantage of a lull in the competition to make their feelings about Mr Starmer clear on Tuesday, December 23.
While awaiting a second-round match between Danny Noppert and Justin Hood, chants of “Keir Starmer is a w***er” resounded around the venue, as thousands joined in during the fixture’s evening session.
It comes after the Prime Minister’s favourability ratings sunk to a new low earlier this month, with just one in six Britons holding a favourable opinion of him after nearly a year-and-a-half in office. Polling by YouGov showed that Mr Starmer had a net score of -54 on December 11, putting him in similar territory to Boris Johnson on the day of his resignation in 2022 and Jeremy Corbyn when he was Labour leader in June 2019.
Keir Starmer’s favourability ratings sunk to a new low this month (Image: Getty)
Despite recently celebrating a drop in UK net migration by over 200,000 during the first 12 months of his government, the Prime Minister has found himself in an increasingly challenging position amid rumours of in-party insurrection and concerns that his achievements aren’t cutting through.
The public rebellion against his premiership at Ally Pally follows a string of similar incidents, including a previous coordinated criticism of Mr Starmer in the same arena just days earlier.
On Saturday, December 20, crowds again accused him of being a “w***er” to the tune of The White Stripes’ song Seven Nation Army during a match between Nathan Aspinall and Leonard Gates.
Mr Aspinall was shown on Sky Sports appearing to encourage the chant, moving his arms up in the air in a gesture seemingly aimed at increasing the volume.
The Prime Minister also came under fire at the World Grand Prix last October, when Sky was forced to impose generic crowd noises over a similar derogatory chorus.
However, Anna Turley, chairwoman of the Labour Party, insisted last week that Mr Starmer would “absolutely” still be Prime Minister next Christmas and attributed dissatisfaction with the government to people not yet feeling promised changes “in their pockets”.
“People will really start to see and feel the change in their pockets,” she told Sky News. “Keir’s got a very clear vision for making sure that people can really deal with the cost of living, that public services will get back on their feet, and he’s building a Britain that is tolerant, that is open, that is confident in itself, and that is really about renewal and investment in young people, as opposed to the division and the decline of the opposition.”
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