Keir Starmer's time is up

[Pickman's model]

Top rate on investment income at 90% when Heath was in wasn't it? WIlson the Stalinist raised unearned income tax to 98%

sure starmer could do better than that if he really put his mind to it

 

[killer b]

What exactly is the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster? I mean I know it’s a senior minister without portfolio that technically does a bunch of shit… but I’d assumed (by Gove’s appointment to it) that it was a good place to put someone you don’t like, but need to give some aura of seniority.

apparently Johnson has used it to hove off various prime ministerial duties he can't be bothered with to Gove.

some details in Stephen Bush's mail-out this morning

As deputy leader, Rayner is entitled to a seat at the Shadow Cabinet or, on the rare decades when Labour is in office, the Cabinet proper. Her previous role of party chair and nominal one of national campaign coordinator in theory meant she could range across the whole of the policy piece - but their nebulous nature meant that Starmer could contract or expand her reach at will.

Now she has a formal role. Because of Boris Johnson's distaste for the challenges of administration and the relative lack of ideological direction from Downing Street as a result, many of what we would usually regard as the core functions of the Prime Minister are performed by Michael Gove, Rayner can range across the whole of the policy piece, but without the ability of Starmer to contract or expand her reach at will.

If you believe Team Starmer's widely-briefed account of the last 37 hours, they have voluntarily exchanged a situation where they could contain Rayner if she made mistakes or caused them difficulties, to one in which they cannot contain her or easily duplicate her functions elsewhere.

 

[two sheds]

The other thing someone has to do is address the corruption and mismanagement of local labour councils. Which is going to be difficult because they first have to recognize it exists.

 

[campanula]

Christ yes, two sheds. All this talk of red walls and so on utterly belies the fact that many of these dissatisfied voters have been under the sway of Labour councils for years (apols for stating the obvious) -and ours has been openly fucking corrupt- most especially regarding selling off public land to property developers for 'student accommodation'...although the last, and arguably worst attempt was a resounding failure. I do know that Tory ideas, re local councils, are essentially centralist control apart from revenue streams and tax receipts (and fuck all else)...but I didn't abstain this year just because Starmer.

 

[TopCat]

How about Harriet Harman for leader? I think that if I was lectured by a sold middle class type like this to like Tory lite then I would think again.

 

[two sheds]

Christ yes, two sheds. All this talk of red walls and so on utterly belies the fact that many of these dissatisfied voters have been under the sway of Labour councils for years (apols for stating the obvious) -and ours has been openly fucking corrupt- most especially regarding selling off public land to property developers for 'student accommodation'...although the last, and arguably worst attempt was a resounding failure. I do know that Tory ideas, re local councils, are essentially centralist control apart from revenue streams and tax receipts (and fuck all else)...but I didn't abstain this year just because Starmer.

It's not fucking difficult if they wanted to. They could start from the stories you see in Private Eye every two weeks, alongside complaints from local residents and residents associations. Check them out to make sure the complaints are accurate and then follow them up. Expel the fuckers and stop them getting the golden goodbyes.

 

[TopCat]

It's not fucking difficult if they wanted to. They could start from the stories you see in Private Eye every two weeks, alongside complaints from local residents and residents associations. Check them out to make sure the complaints are accurate and then follow them up. Expel the fuckers and stop them getting the golden goodbyes.

I have reported you under Prevent for this post.

 

[two sheds]

I have reported you under Prevent for this post.

Editor will come down hard on me I know

 

[ska invita]

Oh good grief not the Greens. Awful anti-working class politics with ostensibly environmental excuses.

just to be clear i do not condone it, more saying the surge might happen
i know 2 people personally who regularly stand as green candidates, good solid left people tbf, but my impression is its all very amateur and rag tag - which might throw up a few nutters but is probably better than electing some smooth operating property developing labour councilor

 

[NoXion]

just to be clear i do not condone it, more saying the surge might happen
i know 2 people personally who regularly stand as green candidates, good solid left people tbf, but my impression is its all very amateur and rag tag - which might throw up a few nutters but is probably better than electing some smooth operating property developing labour councilor

Not accusing you of anything, just expressing my distaste at the possibility. The Green Party in its current state is not fit for the purpose IMO.

 

[Wilf]

I'd, of course, agree with the line that starmer's treatment of Rayner is idiotic, counter productive and symbolically terrible. Having said that, whilst Rayner seems like a solid performer, I've never really heard anything from her that suggests she's going to lead anything like a centre-left revival. It's not so much that kieth is trying to rid the party of a social democratic alternative. There isn't one to be had in the modern Labour Party.

 

[Knotted]

Agree with Wilf but at the same time I don't feel that the current set up is sustainable especially if they lose Batley and Spen. It looks like they're going to be in permanent crisis with no way out. Starmer might last for ages as a sitting duck leader with nobody wanting to take over the mess they're in.

 

[Serge Forward]

And how finished the Labour Party is.

Good

 

[Leighsw2]

.... Probably lots of Londoners have a similar arrangement if they bought a flat in a building that was formerly a big house. ....

The flatowners in my block share the freehold. We've appointed a management company to look after things. Ours is a purpose-built block, not a conversion.

 

[ska invita]

The Green Party in its current state is not fit for the purpose IMO.

Then again what party is? You're right though

 

[Puddy_Tat]

courtesy of the 'breakthrough party' who seem to be trying to attract the young / left / pro-Corbyn types. Not sure if it consists of much more than one person and a tweeter account. main policy plank seems to be blaming everybody over 40 (except possibly jeremy corbyn) for everything...

 

[redsquirrel]

i know what you're saying but this is increasingly looking like the labour right burning up like a comet / last stand at the ok coral / going down in flames , choose your metaphor> if this is all a dialectic/reactionary response to corbyn, i reckon the pendulum is looking set to swing back the other way much sooner than might have happened otherwise.

This time we'll get a Labour Party we can really believe in!

 

[campanula]

Yep Wilf. I kinda like Zarah Sultana...but, like Rayner, she is unlikely to actually ever go against the Labour leadership. The way politics is played really goes against any plausible bottom-up revolution...but then again, parliamentary politics is and has been a busted flush for an awfully long time. Activism is really better coming from niche interests from grassroot campaigns...and I do feel there is a fair bit of potential for community organising around specific issues such as housing, health etc.
And a lot more fun - thinking of Acorn actions in my daughter's constituency (the last one involved pinatas, singing (Solidarity forever, solidarity foreeeeeeever) and a lot of theatrical mayhem.

 

[Kaka Tim]

Looking at this purely in politicking terms - his bid to cut potential rival Angela Raynor down to size has ended up giving her a massive boost - hugely raising her public profile, and highlighting her down to earth, authentic, northern womeness against his thumb up his arse stuffed suit suit image. Its brought a big chunk of the membership and PLP onto her side where many were previously ambivalent. She has a hugely expanded role, far more freedom to express her views and shes now perfectly placed to replace him. Well played kieth.

 

[gosub]

Looking at this purely in politicking terms - his bid to cut potential rival Angela Raynor down to size has ended up giving her a massive boost - hugely raising her public profile, and highlighting her down to earth, authentic, northern womeness against his thumb up his arse stuffed suit suit image. Its brought a big chunk of the membership and PLP onto her side where many were previously ambivalent. She has a hugely expanded role, far more freedom to express her views and shes now perfectly placed to replace him. Well played kieth.

Agreed. Put her blip on radar, freed her from internal machinations and who wouldn't want to be official Anti-Gove.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Looking at this purely in politicking terms - his bid to cut potential rival Angela Raynor down to size has ended up giving her a massive boost - hugely raising her public profile, and highlighting her down to earth, authentic, northern womeness against his thumb up his arse stuffed suit suit image. Its brought a big chunk of the membership and PLP onto her side where many were previously ambivalent. She has a hugely expanded role, far more freedom to express her views and shes now perfectly placed to replace him. Well played kieth.

It does lend credence to those who believe Kieth couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery. His pick for Shadow Chancellor sees one vapid nonentity replace another vapid nonentity with the latter being slightly to the right. Other than that and, as you suggest, his cunning plan to demote Rayner by giving her a massively expanded remit and profile, it’s hard to discern anything else Kieth has achieved by the reshuffle and concomitant blood spilling.

 

[The39thStep]

i know what you're saying but this is increasingly looking like the labour right burning up like a comet / last stand at the ok coral / going down in flames , choose your metaphor> if this is all a dialectic/reactionary response to corbyn, i reckon the pendulum is looking set to swing back the other way much sooner than might have happened otherwise.

Sounds more like a horoscope reading than any serious political analysis to be honest Ska.

 

[gosub]

It does lend credence to those who believe Kieth couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery. His pick for Shadow Chancellor sees one vapid nonentity replace another vapid nonentity with the latter being slightly to the right. Other than that and, as you suggest, his cunning plan to demote Rayner by giving her a massively expanded remit and profile, it’s hard to discern anything else Kieth has achieved by the reshuffle and concomitant blood spilling.

Slightly on the right? Talk of immigration stoked riots, and trying to distance the party from those receiving benefits

 

[hitmouse]

What exactly is the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster?

In passing, I hate the fact that "chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster" is still an actual job title. Ridiculous country.

 

[TopCat]

Slightly on the right? Talk of immigration stoked riots, and trying to distance the party from those receiving benefits

On the right of the Tory party.

 

[glitch hiker]

State of this

 

[brogdale]

State of this

tbf to Starmer, he wins on Is in good physical and mental health

 

[Kaka Tim]

tbf to Starmer, he wins on Is in good physical and mental health

not going by the post-hartlepoolmageddon interview. He looked like he was about to have heart attack.

 

[lazythursday]

Not really wanting to defend Reeves, but in one of the books on Corbyn, it was stated that some on the left (Andrew Fisher I think) wanted to bring her on board because he thought she'd been on a bit of a political journey leftwards since 2015. She has really ripped into outsourcing and dodgy public contracts.

Whether that is true or not I was pretty appalled at her recent spirited and misleading defence of Kier's trip to the happy clapy homo hating church (which he apologised for the next day)

 

[brogdale]

not going by the post-hartlepoolmageddon interview. He looked like he was about to have heart attack.

He certainly didn't look in control, that's for sure.