Keir Starmer's time is up

[Pickman's model]

a certain JC?

The very same

 

[Wilf]

No, not even a parody I'm afraid.

 

[Wilf]

The face of a man who has just learned he can put his hands in his pockets.

He's like a shadow of a shadow.

 

[Wilf]

The one consolation I can find in the prospect of Prime Minister Keir Starmer is that he'll hate every second of it.

Yep, 5 years avoiding members of the public and being told off for being a communist by President Trump.

 

[Serge Forward]

What a tit

Indeed. Is he so lacking in self-awareness that the thinks the audience was snobbishly laughing at his dad and wouldn't for one minute imagine that they were actually laughing at him for his repeated bollocks about his parents' jobs. What a fucking bell.

Also... GB News interview

 

[Whagwan]

This is art.

 

[mojo pixy]

Wonder how he would answer:

Do you want to lift children out of poverty?

"Look, I've been very clear that poverty is terrible and of course nobody wants to see children living in poverty."

The thing is, every parent, copper, manager, betrayed partner in the world knows that when someone answers a question with the exact same words each time, it's nearly always a massive red flag indicating this is a lie. I'm amazed that every journalist in the country doesn't push this point in every political interview.

 

[Balbi]

Sinan Kose goes long on Keir

 

[Rob Ray]

Fuck off:

View attachment 428783

Can't even get that right, five years ago Corbyn was still in charge.

 

[two sheds]

Is there a transcript of this? Only got 5 minutes in so far but excerpts would be good (eta: got one). I like, for example that he thinks:

"a lot of the most fanatical Keir Starmer supporters came to the opinion that the conservatives were bad a little bit more recently than they would care to admit".

 

[Pickman's model]

Sinan Kose goes long on Keir

a cyberdyne systems model 101 has better politics than shammer

 

[Kid_Eternity]

They're both rich men in the pretty uncontroversial sense that they've got lots of money.

Alright Sunak has more but so what?

Not even the same tier of wealth, it’s ludicrous to even treat them the same.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Have had leaflets now from the libdems, so them plus Andrew Feinstein are confirmed as alive. Still not a peep out of Starmer. Maybe they think it's a good idea not to remind people that he's the Labour candidate here, in case they put people off? After all, he is entirely invisible as a constituency MP so people may have forgotten.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Not even the same tier of wealth, it’s ludicrous to even treat them the same.

There are certain thresholds of wealth, though, aren't there above which the additional benefits to greater wealth don't add quite as much? So if you have a large-enough income/capital not to have to worry about the possibility of losing your home, not to have to worry about paying the bills or economising on the food shop or limiting how often you go down the pub/to the theatre/to the footie, and you also have security baked in for when you retire, having more money doesn't make you particularly more secure about those things. The marginal benefits of extra wealth lie in things like more expensive holidays or jewellery, or flying first class, or whatever - ie non-essential extra comforts or non-everyday treats.

So viewed from below by people who lack some or all of those kinds of security or everyday comfort, they both look rich. That one may be 100 times wealthier than the other is by the by. They're both sorted in a way that you're not.

 

[Sue]

Have had leaflets now from the libdems, so them plus Andrew Feinstein are confirmed as alive. Still not a peep out of Starmer. Maybe they think it's a good idea not to remind people that he's the Labour candidate here, in case they put people off? After all, he is entirely invisible as a constituency MP so people may have forgotten.

Not a single leaflet from anyone as per usual.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I had another one from the lib dems today - NHS is in the shit, rivers are full of shit, cost of living is shit, labour can't win here, vote for us.

Fairly consistent, at least...

 

[hash tag]

"I've dragged labour to where the public want them to be". Hmmm
For those who didn't see last night
Election 2024, The Panorama Interviews with Nick Robinson: Sir Keir Starmer, Labour Party: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0020k00 via @bbciplayer

 

[two sheds]

There are certain thresholds of wealth, though, aren't there above which the additional benefits to greater wealth don't add quite as much? So if you have a large-enough income/capital not to have to worry about the possibility of losing your home, not to have to worry about paying the bills or economising on the food shop or limiting how often you go down the pub/to the theatre/to the footie, and you also have security baked in for when you retire, having more money doesn't make you particularly more secure about those things. The marginal benefits of extra wealth lie in things like more expensive holidays or jewellery, or flying first class, or whatever - ie non-essential extra comforts or non-everyday treats.

So viewed from below by people who lack some or all of those kinds of security or everyday comfort, they both look rich. That one may be 100 times wealthier than the other is by the by. They're both sorted in a way that you're not.

There's the difference where they could buy the Isle of Wight though.

 

[Gramsci]

Drill into the policy, ignore the puffery: this is a Starmer manifesto more than a Labour one | Aditya Chakrabortty

The comparator isn’t any other Labour leader – it’s the Tory Edward Heath, says the Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

www.theguardian.com

Looks at research into manifesto by Kevin Farnsworth Professor of social and public policy at York.

Starmer manifesto comes closer to Ted Heaths. Corbyns was closer to Wilson. So it was Corbyn who was more traditionally Labour.

Farnsworth compared Starmer’s manifesto with Corbyn’s in 2017 and 2019, Wilson’s in 1964 and Clement Attlee’s of 1945. His first finding is that Starmer’s manifesto, in language and values, is way out of line with Labour tradition. Whether on state schools or universities, progressive taxation or pensioners, Corbyn was the heir to Wilson and Attlee

And this from Starmer who makes out he's bringing back Labour to its traditional roots. Away from the gesture politics of the Corbyn years.And his inspiration is Wilson.

Another thing Professor Farnsworth says is that political leaders and parties can push the agenda. After the banking crisis etc there was and is public appetite for change.

“A boldly leftwing or rightwing party shifts our views of what is politically acceptable,” says Farnsworth.
Without a strong leftwing party, politics drifts to the right.”

This is not how its being pushed by Starmer. He's making case that Corbyn years were an aberration.

This study of manifesto shows otherwise.

Drill into the policy, ignore the puffery: this is a Starmer manifesto more than a Labour one | Aditya Chakrabortty

The comparator isn’t any other Labour leader – it’s the Tory Edward Heath, says the Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

www.theguardian.com

 

[hash tag]

Here's the kiss of death
In a recent interview with the Sun on Sunday, the Labour leader made what the paper called a landmark pledge: “Read my lips - I will bring immigration numbers down." The paper said the promise "parks Labour tanks firmly on Tory lawns".
BBC News - Will The Sun newspaper endorse Keir Starmer's Labour Party? - BBC News

Will The Sun newspaper endorse Keir Starmer's Labour Party?

The paper has backed the Conservatives since 2010 but in 2024 that may change.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Kid_Eternity]

There's the difference where they could buy the Isle of Wight though.

Yep, someone with a couple million is in now way the same as someone with near a billion. Anyone who doesn’t understand really can’t count.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Yep, someone with a couple million is in now way the same as someone with near a billion. Anyone who doesn’t understand really can’t count.

They're not so different to someone who relies on a food bank to feed their family. Anyone who doesn't understand really can't think.

 

[Dystopiary]

Margaret Beckett:

"Starmer is, she says approvingly, perhaps “the most working-class leader we’ve ever had”, and a good trade unionist, one of her higher forms of praise."

The woman who led Labour: Margaret Beckett on fights, friends and ferocious change in 50 years of politics

 

[Sue]

Margaret Beckett:

"Starmer is, she says approvingly, perhaps “the most working-class leader we’ve ever had”, and a good trade unionist, one of her higher forms of praise."

The woman who led Labour: Margaret Beckett on fights, friends and ferocious change in 50 years of politics

All those years in the Labour party and yet...

Leader of the Labour Party (UK) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[DaveCinzano]

It took three writers to churn out this guff flamming up some party hack who has essentially never had a proper job.

Apparently his Big Idea was running a clandestine right-wing factional operation during the Corbyn years, picking a blank-faced Manchurian Candidate to be anointed as Rt Hon Centrist Dad, and secretively orchestrating bureaucratic rule changes to disadvantage his political enemies. Not a single hint of values or actual ideas - just control, power and inside knowledge.

Morgan McSweeney: Labour election guru and bogeyman of the party’s left

Starmer’s closest aide is credited with putting the party in a position to win but his popularity is not universal

www.theguardian.com

 

[DaveCinzano]

It took three writers to churn out this guff flamming up some party hack who has essentially never had a proper job.

Apparently his Big Idea was running a clandestine right-wing factional operation during the Corbyn years, picking a blank-faced Manchurian Candidate to be anointed as Rt Hon Centrist Dad, and secretively orchestrating bureaucratic rule changes to disadvantage his political enemies. Not a single hint of values or actual ideas - just control, power and inside knowledge.

Morgan McSweeney: Labour election guru and bogeyman of the party’s left

Starmer’s closest aide is credited with putting the party in a position to win but his popularity is not universal

www.theguardian.com

And painting him as the new Benji Wegg-Prosser doesn't make him sound - to us humble readers - like the astute political svengali the authors seem to think it does

 

[Lurdan]

It took three writers to churn out this guff flamming up some party hack who has essentially never had a proper job.

Five writers, if you count the profile in the Times two weeks ago which looks like its primary source .

Morgan McSweeney, the workaholic Irishman who built Starmer’s Labour - Times 1st June (archived)

 

[DaveCinzano]

Five writers, if you count the profile in the Times two weeks ago which looks like its primary source .

Morgan McSweeney, the workaholic Irishman who built Starmer’s Labour - Times 1st June (archived)

It's the Westminster hagiographer's lightbulb gag that keeps on giving!

 

[hitmouse]

a certain JC?

I'm nearly sure they've not made Corbyn a lord yet, unless Johnson snuck it through as part of his final honours list?

 

[hitmouse]

Be careful about "gotcha" questions. "How many children will you lift from poverty" is a trap: say "I don't know" and you're slated, say "1 million" and that's over your head every day of the rest of your time in office.

A good answer would be "targets are often missed and I'm not here to throw a number at you, my aim is to ensure that child poverty is tackled at every stage of their lives and only through Labour will you get the help you need."

Simple answer to that question: "This is a changed Labour party and the most important thing is I voted in favour of a nuclear deterrent. We have to be prepared to use it. And, after a nuclear exchange, I guarantee the number of children in poverty will be drastically reduced."