A LANDLORD who booted Sir Keir Starmer out of his pub yesterday says the Labour leader “isn’t standing up for the poor and vulnerable”.
Rod Humphris doubled down on his decision during an interview on Good Morning Britain – and said the politician has “utterly failed” during the pandemic.
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But Mr Humphris was blasted by Susanna Reid, who called him an ‘anti-lockdowner’ – and says his perspective ‘isn’t needed’.
Susanna tackled the publican hours after he was recorded grappling with Sir Keir’s bodyguard.
The leader had been on a campaigning walkabout of Bath when he was booted out of The Raven by Mr Humphris, who yelled: “That man is not allowed in my pub.”
The furious landlord – who says he’s been a Labour voter all his life – could be heard telling the politician: “You have failed this country” and “The last time we had this much death was 2008”.
But this morning, Susanna told him every death is a “tragedy” – after he shrugged off the UK’s shocking toll by saying: “Old people die.”
Mr Humphris said: “In my opinion, the way we’ve handled the pandemic, this virus, has overwhelmingly impacted the old, young, vulnerable and poor.
“If anyone is standing up for them, it should be him and he’s utterly failed to do it.”
And he added: “The average age of death from Covid is 82 years and three months. The average age of death is 81 years.
“That means basically that old people die. When we get old, we die. That’s fundamentally what’s been happening.”
But Susanna said: “Your issue is you’re anti-lockdown. You don’t agree with restrictions and you think Sir Keir hasn’t stood up for people like you.”
Mr Humprhis said in places including Texas, Florida and Sweden, authorities haven’t locked down and “lots of people haven’t died”.
But Adil Ray hit back: “That’s not true.”
And he accused the landlord of telling an “absolute lie” that those places didn’t have restrictions, before adding: “If we didn’t have lockdown, hospitals would have been overrun and more people would have died.
“Surely you understand that.”
GMB medic Dr Hilary then launched into a bruising attack on Mr Humphris – and branded him “ageist”.
“Stick to pulling pints rather than advising the Government about policy on the biggest public health pandemic for 100 years,” he said.
“It’s very simple. You have to have lockdown.”
He spoke of his fury that Mr Humphris believed “it doesn’t matter” if people aged 83 die.
“You’re saying that at 83 it doesn’t matter if you die, you’re saying people like Prince Philip – the last 16 years of his life were meaningless and worthless. You can’t be that ageist,” he said.
The landlord battled back, telling the medic he believes coronavirus is “dangerous” – but remains a “seasonal virus”, meaning “perspective” is needed.
And Dr Hilary replied: “A seasonal virus that’s been going on all year?”
Susanna said: “I think for every single one of those families who have lost someone to Covid, we don’t need your perspective particularly on that.
“That’s a tragedy for every single person.”
In a statement released yesterday, Labour said: “A clip circulating online shows Keir Starmer being confronted by someone spreading dangerous misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic. We will not be amplifying it.
“Keir argued that our NHS staff have been working tirelessly to protect public health and that restrictions – while painful – have been absolutely necessary to save lives.”
