Robert Peston has blasted the
Labour Party's perception of
Brexit as the ITV political pundit took the party's Brexit secretary Sir
Keir Starmer to task with the suggestion that
Owen Smith's only fault in the sacking was "jumping the gun".
Owen Smith was sacked earlier this week as shadow minister of Northern Ireland, following a controversial column calling on the Labour party to back a second
referendum.
This morning on the round of political interviews, both Sir Keir Starmer and Tom Watson agreed with the sacking but refused to rule out a referendum in the future.
During Sir Keir's interview on Peston, the political host hit out at the Labour leadership for firing Mr Smith simply because he acted too prematurely.
Peston went onto assert that the Labour Party under
Jeremy Corbyn was moving inevitably towards a second Brexit referendum pledge at some point in the future.
When asked on the second referendum, Sir Keir responded: "As far as a vote on the terms of the deal, we are not calling for that.
"But I can see why there’s an argument that this is not something that should be the preserve of the Prime Minister.
"That’s why the vote in Parliament in the autumn is so important.
"We have to have a point when it moves from the Prime Minister’s sole responsibility into parliament, so we can approve or reject, the deal."
This prompted Robert Peston to intervene and blast Mr Corbyn's Labour party for trying to play down the inevitability of a second referendum policy in the future.
Peston said: "It does sound to me that Owen Smith’s fault was to jump the gun.
"It’s not just you, it’s John McDonnell and Corbyn as well, who have all categorically refused to rule out being in favour of another referendum at some point."
Earlier this morning, Tory Party chairman Brandon Lewis tweeted: "Only days ago Jeremy Corbyn fired Owen Smith for calling for a second referendum, which many senior members in Labour support.
"Will there be any of Labour's frontbench left by the end of the week?"