Sir Keir Starmer appears to have been inspired by England’s performance in Dublin last night as he donned a Three Lions’ shirt for a kickabout in north London today.
The Prime Minister wore a vintage 2004 shirt as he joined friends in north London, days after his 62nd birthday.
It came after he returned from Ireland, where he watched England beat Ireland 2-0 in a Nation’s League game last night, after holding talks with Taoiseach Simon Harris.
An onlooker said: ‘He looked a bit puffed out to be honest and was blowing his cheeks. But he was clearly enjoying himself and it must a relief from the day to day pressures of running the country’.
Fellow players have said the Arsenal fan is ‘not the most skilled’ but is ‘a good captain, an effective organiser and a tenacious player’. A source added that he is ‘solid, hard-working and [a] competitive character who hates losing’.
The PM had earlier blasted racist rioters who took to the streets after the Southport child murders today and warned they would not dictate government policy.
The Prime Minister ‘there was racism there’ as he was asked about the motives of those who took to the streets after three young girls were killed on July 29.
In a BBC interview the PM acknowledged that people have strong views on immigration, but that he was ‘not prepared to tolerate that sort of disorder’.
On Friday a far-right thug who helped set fire to a hotel filled with asylum seekers during a copycat riot in Rotherham was jailed for nine years – the longest prison sentence handed out yet.
Thomas Birley, 27, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life after he stoked a fire in a bin by an entranceway to the Holiday Inn Express on August 4.
Sir Keir also said he was concerned by the resurgence of the far-right in Germany and France, saying they offered ‘the snake oil of the easy answer’.
In a wide-ranging interview he also defended cuts to the winter fuel allowance for pensioners saying he was willing to make ‘unpopular’ decisions, and accused the last Tory government of leaving the NHS ‘broken’.
The Prime Minister also said he did not think Britain was a racist country, and pointed to the ‘decent’ people who joined clean-up efforts following August’s unrest.
Hundreds of people have now been through the court system for riot-related offences, after clashing with police and attacking hotels housing asylum seekers, among other actions.