Jamie Carragher laughs at Gary Neville's political ambitions

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Gary Neville features in England’s team for Soccer Aid 2022 this weekend. He will be joined by other footballing legends, such as Jamie Carragher, Joe Cole, Teddy Sheringham, Stewart Downing, Fara Williams, Eni Aluko and Anita Asante. A number of celebrities are also involved. They include actors David Harewood and Damian Lewis, musicians Aitch and Tom Grennan, comedians Alex Brooker and Russell Howard, YouTuber Chunkz, Olympic icon Sir Mo Farah and former Crawley Town left-back Mark Wright.

Neville has cemented himself as one of the leading football pundits in the last decade, known for his honest and cutting analysis.

The former footballer hasn’t just limited himself to football, however. In recent years, Neville has also shown an avid interest in politics.

A supporter of the Labour Party, Neville has taken aim at Prime Minister Boris Johnson on a number of occasions.

But Labour leader, Keir Starmer, also came under fire from Neville, who accused him of not being strong enough in standing up to the Government over coronavirus rules.

Speaking on the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast, Neville said: “I think… probably (at the) end of 2020 I thought Labour should have been a lot stronger. I think Labour had them at that point.

“I would be open with Keir about this, I don’t think that he was strong enough at that point. Now I think he realises he needs to take the gloves off.”

Sir Keir then spoke to LBC, revealing that he spoke directly to Neville about his comments.

The Labour leader said: “When he says there, ‘I’ve been open with him about this’, I can tell you that he was.

“We’ve had a number of conversations.

“I’m a big fan of his, by the way. I think it’s actually fantastic … his analysis is fantastic.”

Sir Keir continued: “Gary thought I wasn’t being strong enough. He thought we should have voted against the Government restrictions in the tier system. I didn’t. I didn’t agree with the tier system but it was all or nothing in those days.

“If you didn’t vote for the restrictions, then there were no restrictions and I didn’t think that was the right thing.

“He thought differently and we had an exchange.”

In the same interview, Sir Keir suggested that Neville should try and become a Labour MP.

Asked if Neville should run, Sir Keir replied: “Gary should go as far as he wants. I’m delighted that he wants to join team Labour”.

Neville had just revealed that he had become a fully-fledged member of the Labour Party.

He told the BBC: “I have joined the Labour Party in the last few days. I want to support Labour. I do believe that we need a progressive Labour Party, but one that actually not just looks after the left side; it has to come towards the centre.”

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But he dismissed the idea of becoming an MP, saying he would “get eaten alive” in Westminster.

He added: “I can only imagine what you have to do there to survive and I don’t play the game, so how can I get in?

“So, when I ask myself the question do you want to dip your toes in, I can’t dip my toes in because I’m all or nothing. I go in and I’m going in.”

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