Keir Starmer

[Mr. Tea]

I can understand why Novara is what it is, and they copped, and still cop, loads of centrist abuse, but they dislike Starmer more than they dislike Johnson and it comes across in everything they do.

That lot would start an "Ian Huntley for PM" campaign before they said anything complimentary (or even fair) about Ser Kevin.

 

[Mr. Tea]

There were pro-EU Tory remainers. A progressive alliance between them, the libdems, greens, SNP and Labour remainers etc for a soft Brexit was possible. There were votes in the House of Commons about it iirc.

There was, briefly, a possibility of the fabled "government of national unity", but Corbyn wouldn't work with Swinson, and Swinson wouldn't work with Corbyn, so that was the end of that.

 

[hucks]

I think it's hard to remember how fractured how things were then.

There were pro-EU Tory remainers. A progressive alliance between them, the libdems, greens, SNP and Labour remainers etc for a soft Brexit was possible. There were votes in the House of Commons about it iirc.

At every juncture the polarised nature of the discussion meant that the remainers would not accept anything except remain and the moderate leavers got crowded out.

It really wasn’t possible. You could squint hard and make the maths work but ultimately the Tory party would not allow it. Starmer was irrelevant really.

Also it’s not true that the Remainers would only accept remain. All the remainers I campaigned with gave up on remaining straight away and moved to trying to stay in the single market, myself included. Absolutely no interest from the Tories in that, at all.

The second referendum stuff only came later, after the ERG lot had decided that nothing short of nuking France would deliver proper Brexit.

 

[wg-]

To my surprise this morning it turns out that the nonsense opinions I throw up into the air about Labour's lack of appeal have been latched onto by the Tony Blair Insitute. I feel like I need a good wash now. Does Tony have an account on here

.... However as a figurehead he was ultimately too niche and scruffy to really break through to the real aspirational majority which is the real swing vote ....

Tony Blair tells Starmer to drop ‘woke’ politics and focus on economy

Former PM says Labour leader needs to win back remainers who voted Tory in 2019 election

www.theguardian.com

The second group, whom Blair calls the “aspirational working class”, voted to leave the EU by a narrower 53% but backed the Conservatives over Labour by a 32% margin.

 

[Murphy]

To my surprise this morning it turns out that the nonsense opinions I throw up into the air about Labour's lack of appeal have been latched onto by the Tony Blair Insitute. I feel like I need a good wash now. Does Tony have an account on here

go to Lourdes and out-wash/out-catholic Tony, sorted

 

[Mr. Tea]

You hear a lot about the 'aspirational working class', don't you? Thatcher's big constituency, and whatnot. I feel like the 'working class who can't really be arsed' form an underrepresented demographic.

 

[wg-]

Frozen in apathy

i know the feeling tbh

 

[shakahislop]

You hear a lot about the 'aspirational working class', don't you? Thatcher's big constituency, and whatnot. I feel like the 'working class who can't really be arsed' form an underrepresented demographic.

i know you're joking, but tangentially, i often think about how hard it must be to come up with these kinds of categorizations and a useful descriptive vocabulary for them. you would definitely need to find ways to segment the population if you were involved in politics, and you'd also end up governing people who you basically had nothing in common with and know nothing about.

 

[john eden]

well get used to it because it’s not going to stop, ever.

Maybe we can examine what it actually means, which is that he voluntarily accepted the award of Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

This means his kids can get married at Westminster Abbey and he is up the rankings of precedence (he gets to enter official functions before the likes of us). Amongst other things that I don’t understand. Oh and robes and all that.

This suggests values that are at variance with mine, but perhaps the electorate in the red wall will lap it up.

Members of the Order who have had their status revoked include Mussolini (for declaring war on the UK, not for being a fascist), Mugabe and Ceausescu (the day before he was executed). Which raises the question of who is still in there with Starmer, but it’s a long list and it’s late.

Typical of all liberal scumbags he has voluntarily accepted the title, but prefers people not to use it.

 

[john eden]

 

[luka]

hes been paid to assasinate JC and take the heat out of the labour movement so nobody ever again makes the mistake of thinking change is possible through the parliamentry system. everybody knows this. some people think its good some think its bad but everyone knows.

 

[DannyL]

If he were to literally assassinate Corbyn that would definitely improve his image and the adjectives above.

 

[DannyL]

Like him or loathe him if he garrotted Corbyn in a stairwell at Millbank no one would call him boring.

 

[luka]

although reliable and competent might stay

 

[Mr. Tea]

Like him or loathe him if he garrotted Corbyn in a stairwell at Millbank no one would call him boring.

Corbyn, the born pacifist, would obviously never do anything horrible and underhand like that, even to an ideological enemy like Starmer.

He'd stand back and watch Seumas and Len do it for him, obviously.

 

[Murphy]

Think Jeremy could probably do Keith in an actual fight tbh. Biting, gouging, all sorts of kidney punches, Keith blowing after 50 seconds, hands on hips. Corbyn doing wee AlI shuffles, jab jab, loads of goading “see this Keef? WHACK”. Keith asks an aide to phone his mum...

Wazzack. Rayner could take them both out. Raab or Truss vs Boudicca of the north? Again, like watching crypto markets throw up ridiculousness. Nihilism? Partially, at least in restricted voyeuristic domains

 

[DannyL]

Think Jeremy could probably do Keith in an actual fight tbh. Biting, gouging, all sorts of kidney punches, Keith blowing after 50 seconds, hands on hips. Corbyn doing wee AlI shuffles, jab jab, loads of goading “see this Keef? WHACK”. Keith asks an aide to phone his mum...

Wazzack. Rayner could take them both out. Raab or Truss vs Boudicca of the north? Again, like watching crypto markets throw up ridiculousness. Nihilism? Partially, at least in restricted voyeuristic domains

I think that's probably true. You don't get to be an awkward cunt for 40 years in Parliament without being able to eye gouge. Starmer could probably win if he sat on him though.

 

[john eden]

Stop calling me boring, Keir Starmer tells shadow cabinet

Labour leader urges colleagues to focus on returning to government, after a string of negative stories

www.theguardian.com

 

[wg-]

Several of those around the table then echoed their leader’s calls for unity and discretion, in a lengthy exchange described by one shadow frontbencher as “ironically very boring”.

Great sentence.

*

I read a Spectator article earlier today about all this- the one in The Times is paywall and archive didnt work- & its interesting to see what the other side of the argument is i guess.

Why Starmer shouldn't relaunch

The Labour party leader Keir Starmer is doing badly. But that doesn't mean he needs a reset.

www.spectator.co.uk

Theres a poll in it that basically shows that every prime minister's approval polls since Blair just tank massively within two years and no-one ever maintains any kind of support regardless of what happens. Maybe he's already outstayed his welcome; I know i was bored of him within about two months max

 

[vershy versh]

It's a bit grim that being boring is somehow seen as worse than everything wrong with Boris Johnson, mind you.