Keir Starmer hits back at Argentina after 'hostile chant' from players ahead of World Cup match
Keir Starmer has responded to the latest rumblings from Argentina over the Falkland Islands, as England and Argentina are set to play in the World Cup semi-final soon.
Argentina players and fans have a number of anti-English chants in their repertoire, including 'whoever doesn't jump is an Englishman' and saying they'll win the World Cup 'for the Falklands', among other things.
Politics is meant to be kept a certain distance away from football with restrictions on the flags people can fly and the songs they sing, but that principle isn't always the case.
While Argentina's players have been singing about the Falkland Islands, their politicians have been claiming they should have the islands they invaded 44 years ago and were defeated by the UK over.
Advert
Their foreign minister Pablo Quirno claimed the Falkland Islanders were 'artificially implanted by the occupying power', which would be a fitting description for the invasion force sent there by the military junta that ruled Argentina in 1982.
Responding to the latest Argentine provocation, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer made it clear there was really nothing to talk about while the people living on the islands were happy with their current situation.
"The Falkland islanders are British with a right to determine their own future," his spokesperson said.
"The UK’s position is clear. The islanders have repeatedly expressed their wish to remain a British overseas territory, and their right to self-determination is paramount.”
It's the same line very many of his predecessors as prime minister have had to say at some point, since Argentine sabre-rattling over the Falkland Islands is a fairly regular occurrence in their politics.
Argentina claims sovereignty over the islands, but their attempt to take them by military force was swiftly defeated and a 2013 referendum of the islanders which international observers said was a free and fair vote went 99.8 percent in favour of staying a British Overseas Territory.
So despite sabre-rattling from their politicians and singing from their footballers, the Falklands would very much like to keep things the way they are instead of being absorbed by the people who invaded and occupied them.
It won't be much of a surprise which way they're cheering at the World Cup semi-finals, as the on-pitch rivalry between England and Argentina is set to resume with them playing each other for the first time in over 20 years.
Talking about what football ought to be, Starmer's spokesperson said: "I think I think the Prime Minister’s view is that football should be about the game and about bringing people together.
"That’s what fans want to see."
If England win the World Cup, do we get a bank holiday?
Now that the Three Lions have made it to the semi-finals of the World Cup, thoughts have turned to the possibility that football really could be coming home - and what better way to celebrate England’s success than a day off work?
Outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer previously hinted at the prospect of a bank holiday if Thomas Tuchel’s side win the tournament.
“On the question of a bank holiday, I think I don't want to jinx it, but ask me again if we get to the final,” he told reporters at a Nato conference on 8 July.
With the final taking place on Sunday (19 July), it’s believed that the celebratory bank holiday would likely fall on the following Friday (24 July).
Only time will tell!
Topics: World Cup, Sport, Football, Keir Starmer
Joe Harker