Starmer picks Minouche Shafik as new economic adviser despite ignominious Columbia exit

The controversial former president of the US’s Columbia University has been appointed as the UK’s chief economic adviser as Prime Minister Keir Starmer attempts to reboot his troubled government. With Labour languishing in the polls and the British economy stuttering, Downing Street has decided to put Minouche Shafik in place as an adviser to help remedy the situation. However, the move has already attracted criticism with Ms Shafik’s reputation heavily damaged from her handling of the pro-Palestinian student protests last year at Columbia. The New York campus became the centre of the pro-Palestinian student protests over Gaza and sparked similar demonstrations at universities across the US, some of which turned violent.