One of Donald Trump’s henchmen has accused Sir Keir Starmer of putting lives ‘at risk’ after he intervened to stop England’s kick-off time against Mexico being changed.
England’s last-16 clash was almost moved forward by six hours by FIFA over the threat of thunderstorms.
But the plot fell apart after widespread criticism and objections from the English and Mexican Football Associations – as well as outgoing prime minister Starmer, who has now copped flak from the White House.
‘I would go and point to something I think is a much graver decision that was made just a couple days ago,’ Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force on the World Cup, told eSPORTY.
‘Keir Starmer’s intervention through diplomatic channels of not allowing the Mexico-England match time to be moved.
‘In the round of 32 after the match, three Mexicans died in this celebration.
‘And there were discussions about moving that match time from the evening [6pm, local time] to noon so then that way you would have less risk of life to Mexicans.
‘That’s far graver when you actually think about the consequences, the potential consequences, that anything that happens on the pitch right there.
‘So I would point you to that and see the immediate precedent in heads of state looking at something that happens potentially on the pitch.’
More to follow.
