A Labour MP sacked by Keir Starmer after appearing on a picket line has insisted the party leader is “absolutely still the best person to become prime minister”.
Sam Tarry was speaking as he joined another demonstration by striking workers in London.
The Ilford South MP was sacked as shadow transport minister after he defied Starmer to jojn an RMT picket line on Wednesday.
The Labour leader has insisted he had to take disciplinary action after Tarry appeared on TV without permission and “made up policy on the hoof”.
The row sparked a furious backlash by trade unions and left-wing Labour MPs.
But speaking to the Press Association, Tarry said: “I believe Keir Starmer is absolutely still the best person to become prime minister and I’ll be campaigning every day for a Labour government.”
Speaking on an Aslef picket line outside Paddington station, he said: “We should never have been in a situation where we had an edict that you can’t join a picket line.
“This is the Labour Party, the clue is in the name. We are the party founded by the trade unions.”
He added that the link between the union movement and the Labour Party is “indivisible” and “part of the same fabric”.
Tarry also said it was “simply not good enough” that Labour was “committing people to a real-terms pay cut” by refusing to support calls for above-inflation wage rises for public sector workers.
Allies of Starmer have accused Tarry of being more concerned with preventing his own deselection than securing a Labour government.
One told HuffPost UK: What has Sam achieved by doing this?
“He has put his fight to hold onto his own seat above Labour’s electoral prospects for his own attention seeking purposes and as a result has driven a coach and horses through a position that’s not easy for anyone.”
But a spokesman for Tarry said: “Sam has been on picket lines repeatedly during his time on the frontbench.
“The idea that this was to curry favour with the unions is nonsense because he already has their backing.
“He’s spent the last two years being incredibly loyal, but it got to the point where he just felt ‘enough is enough’.”