Keir Starmer’s response after he is proven lookalike image of Tony Blair

Keir Starmer has reacted to a lookalike photo of Tony Blair showing the two men in smart casual wear.

The Labour leader sat down with Nick Robinson for the latest General Election Panorama interview on BBC One this evening, where he laid out his plans for the country should Labour defeat the Tories on July 4. In the 30-minute slot, Mr Starmer tackled the issues on the economy, education, and the NHS, as well as detailing some of the changes he’s brought to his party since becoming leader.

Mr Robinson projected a photo of Sir Tony from the 1990s, which bore a striking likeness to a recent picture of Mr Starmer. In the black-and-white snaps, both men are looking down at the camera in white shirts, without a jacket.

But after laughing at the similarity, an eagle-eyed Keir Starmer pointed out: “Tony hasn’t got his tie done up.” He was then shown a photo of himself at the last election standing next to Jeremy Corbyn, from whom Mr Starmer has increasingly distanced himself.

Pressed on him having changed his position on the ex-Labour leader, after previously supporting him, Mr Starmer said: “I accept that, in 2016, I decided I would serve in the Shadow Cabinet, because I thought that it was very important that we had an effective frontbench on the question of Brexit, which dominated those years, 2016 to 2019. I thought that almost irrespective of the leadership of the Labour Party, this was going to frame the country for many years to come, and it was important to be on the frontbench.”

In another part of the interview Mr Robinson ask Mr Starmer whether he would stand firm against people objecting to plans for housing developments or electricity pylons being built near their homes in order to “get the economy growing”.

He added: “Are you prepared to make enemies to make the economy grow?” The Labour leader replied: “Yes, we’re going to have to be tough, we’re going to have to change the way things are done.” Mr Starmer said one CEO at an energy company had told him it would take 13 years to get power out of a new wind turbine farm due to planning and national grid issues. He added: “We cannot go on like this”.

Asked at another point whether his plan for 40,000 extra NHS appointments a week would make a difference, Mr Starmer said: “If you’re on a waiting list right now, watching this programme, it makes a huge difference if you can get off that waiting list.

“I have no end of people coming up to me saying, I’ve been a waiting list 12 months, I’ve been told it’s going to be another 18 months,” that is physically uncomfortable for people, they’re often in pain. It also means in many places they can’t get back into the labour market.” The one-to-one BBC Panorama interviews, hosted by former BBC political editor Mr Robinson, are taking place with leaders of major political parties in the UK throughout the General Election campaign.