Sir! Keir! Starmer!

Look at which tory is pushing this – it’s binners mate, james daly MP for Bury North.

Majority of 105; completely invisible to his constituents; blocks anyone who posts anything other than sycophantic posts to his social media.

He is a horse’s arse.

This whole thing is a tory confected nothingburger.

IF there was a case – too late to prosecute under election law and too late to pursue for unpaid CGT so…WTF is the point – other than low level shit stirring?

It has only received any publicity because Rayner can’t afford or chooses not to use a libel lawyer; compare & contrast with zahawi who immediately resorted to libel lawyers and empty threats when his financial chicanery was about to be exposed.

This is scummy behaviour by a scummy MP who is part of a scummy government who, in fact, are incapable of governing.

IF there was a case – too late to prosecute under election law and too late to pursue for unpaid CGT so…WTF is the point – other than low level shit stirring?

So the police are okay wasting time on it knowing that and then the CPS will throw it out due to being too late anyway?

The police are just a process in this, they have to investigate, it has to go through to the CPS, it’ll end with no charges, and no further action, Rayner will then continue, the tories will still attack, it’s politics.

The usual papers are still pushing the story this morning.

It’s all a bit desperate, I see they’ve even managed to link it to a “hard left take over of labour.” You know, the old, “you can’t trust these commies.”

Going to be a dirty campaign.

Yeah, they’re a bit annoyed that Rayner isn’t as easy to goad into a reaction anymore, she’s learning diplomacy and has grown as a politician over the last few years, so would be sad to lose her, but again, this is just the tories trying to undermine her, nothing more.

tory scum indeed

Missing Miliband has surfaced on Radio4. On now.

You can see why he has been hiding… anything good he had to say was drowned out by talk of how reduced Labour’s plans are from what they were (and the interviewer [ Justin Webb? ] was right to take it that way).

Missing Miliband has surfaced on Radio4. On now

Was on LBC too

Sounded like the youngest of three kids at Christmas trying to justify the disappointment of his presents.

WTF is the point – other than low level shit stirring?

She can’t be prosecuted so she can’t be found not guilty

It implicates Keir Starmer because he said that he’d sack anyone that breaks the rules. That’s two serious cases that he now has to deal with, it won’t go away

snip…compare & contrast with zahawi…

Dan Neidle, who took Nadhim Zahawi and others on, thinks that Angela Rayner has a case to answer https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2024/04/i-looked-into-angela-rayners-tax-affairs-heres-what-i-found

Did anyone catch Starmer being interviewed by Gary Gibbon on C4?, Gary may as well as walked up to him, kicked in the nuts and walked away. 😉

I’ve not seen Starmer much recently – he was along with Streeting outside the hospital my mum was in the other day.

I’d have had a word with Streeting and shown him all the broken heart/blood pressure machines we kept seeing – but I had other stuff on.

‘Reform’ some new machines into existence Streeting?

A worthwhile watch:

Alexei Sayle on Starmer – and if he’d run against him (youtube.com)

Labour is now “the true party” of English patriotism.

What will patriotic English Daily Telegraph readers do?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/20/labour-is-now-the-true-party-of-english-patriotism/

Labour is now “the true party” of English patriotism.

What will patriotic English Daily Telegraph readers do?

It’s behind a pay wall, but starmer has shown his true colours for agreeing with the conservatives in denying the right of british young folk to live, study an work in the EU.

He’s no better than Nigel Farrage, to be honest. He can stick his cross of St. george right up his ‘patriotic’ bum hole.

It’s not behind a paywall for me but try this:

https://archive.li/2024.04.20-200754/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/20/labour-is-now-the-true-party-of-english-patriotism/

Ahh thanks for that.. just from a quick skim…what a **** *****

It’s also about serving the country we love.

Hmmm

weakened the union

Which Union, The UK or the EU?  Sir Keir is doing a grand Job of weakening the UK

That is why I have no time for those who flinch at displaying our flag. Because the cross of St George belongs to every person who loves this country

His flag, maybe, My flag is blue with yellow stars on it, or at a push, a red dragon.

Ultimately, it’s about respect.

Oh, the irony.

but starmer has shown his true colours for agreeing with the conservatives in denying the right of british young folk to live, study an work in the EU.

I’m not in the habit of defending Starmer but he really had no choice. He’s spent 4 years (successfully) trying to remove the threat of brexit losing labour another election so wasn’t about to blow it all up at last minute. The EU were bloody stupid to make that offer now rather than waiting til Labour are in power, and they knew what the response would be so I can only conclude there were other motivations behind it.

The more I read about Starmer the less I like him.  Now he’s turned into a rabid flagshagger has he?  I’m going to find it very difficult to vote Labour, even though they now appear to have an outside chance of beating the Tories in Carlisle.  It’s very upsetting.

Now he’s turned into a rabid flagshagger has he?

He’s always been one. Long time Arsenal season ticket holder with a penchant for football hooligan culture so no suprise he’s directed his party to get the flags out for St George’s Day.

Have to agree with both of Dash’s points, both on the EU’s timing dooming their own proposal, and on Starmer. Not the hooligan stuff though… I know this is a cycling forum, but football culture is its own thing… without needing the hooligan element that nearly everyone rejects and sidelines. Labelling a football fan with the hooligan term is just lazy.

Labelling a football fan with the hooligan term is just lazy.

Anyone who is into football and wears stone island gear in public knows exactly what they’re doing.

I remember people being turned away at the door for wearing Stone Island… but things have moved on since those bad old days.

There’s some blinkered intolerant folk on this forum. Knee jerk bigotry isn’t big, clever or limited to the right wing.

No idea why thst surprises me after all these years.

There’s some blinkered intolerant folk on this forum. Knee jerk bigotry isn’t big, clever or limited to the right wing.

Yep, always has been on this thread, Starmer is now basically a member of the English Defence League for giving a positive press article on England and St George on the week when St George’s Day is on, why can’t he be really negative about it in an election year 🤣

There’s some blinkered intolerant folk on this forum. Knee jerk bigotry isn’t big, clever or limited to the right wing.

You’re not kidding. Some people automatically assume that right-wing Tories have a monopoly over flagshagging.

I think it’s far far more troubling that people on here give Starmer a clean bill of health every time he regresses ever more rightwards.

Sorry that we ever wanted a party to push back on Conservative policy, values and attitude.

The Conservatives don’t own the Cross of St George, and right wingers shouldn’t be allowed to claim it for their own political means. Removing the idea in the minds of voters that Labour are both anti-British and anti-English has been a long slow process… Starmer isn’t going to drop that ball now we’ve finally got to an election year.

“I have no time for those who flinch at our flag. The cross of St George belongs to all who love this country”

If those exact same words had been written in an article for the Daily Telegraph by Liz Truss, and posted on the Liz Truss thread, she would have been mocked and ridiculed for scraping the bottom of the populist barrel and draping herself in the English flag.

However coming from Keir Starmer they suddenly and magically become words which express his righteous commitment to England, and voters need to hear them.

I would be more impressed with Keir Starmer’s commitment to England if he spent more time arguing the case for English regional parliaments.

Waving the flag of St George proves very little of useful value imo. Although I won’t deny that it is likely to impress a lot of Daily Telegraph readers, who these days appear to be more right-wing than the Daily Mail.

ernie, can’t you have a word with him? That line of his is **** cringe, a little bit of me dies when he comes out with shit like that.

Political parties are a total farce.

It’s no longer about fixing things.

For instance BoE is pursuing policy in the name of the current government to actively create more unemployed because higher unemployment is linked to lower inflation (yes it’s idiotic and not supported by much – but this is what they believe.)

*And* at the same time Sunak is having his own little Tory war on the unemployed – to reduce unemployment.

So which is it – create unemployment to control inflation or get everyone back to work?

You absolute cross purpose dick-heads.

Removing the idea in the minds of voters that Labour are both anti-British and anti-English has been a long slow process

Some voters. Generally those who are fooled by the foreign owned right wing rags that wrapping yourself in a flag whilst selling the country off cheap and crippling our economy is patriotic.

Others who are actually patriotic might be concerned about the way he is aping those tories who hate the UK and just see it as something to trash for personal gain whilst waving a flag around.

“Long time Arsenal season ticket holder with a penchant for football hooligan culture so no suprise he’s directed his party to get the flags out for St George’s Day.”

This is by far the most silly conspiracy theory ever – that Kier Starmer is courting the fascist vote because he (checks notes) buys an expensive season ticket for the most arse-acheingly North London bourgeois football club on the planet.

It is a bit extreme to describe Daily Telegraph readers as “fascists” but you do realise that the article which Keir Starmer allegedly wrote was designed to court them, don’t you?

I say allegedly btw because I suspect that little of what Starmer says he actually personally believes. Undoubtedly most of it is decided by Morgan McSweeney. Starmer is the lawyer who puts forward his clients case, his personal opinions are irrelevant. Which is why he is able to change them with so much apparent ease – there is no real commitment to anything.

dazh
Full Member

I’m not in the habit of defending Starmer but he really had no choice. He’s spent 4 years (successfully) trying to remove the threat of brexit losing labour another election so wasn’t about to blow it all up at last minute.

Absolute rubbish imo. At the very worst, it’d have been a minor negative story for a party that is 20 points up

But realistically it’s a missed opportunity. The tory official line on this is just a straight up lie, they made it about “free movement”, but it’s just not. It’s visa based, it’s time limited, you can apply financial and health insurance restrictions. It’s about opportunity despite not having free movement. If Labour can’t take a pointless and easy to refute tory lie about something that’d be good for british kids and make a win out of it, what are they even for?

Their actual response on it is pretty much incomprehensible, they waffle on about vets and opportunities for business and none of it’s remotely relevant, they never attempt to say why they’re against it. It just makes it look like they don’t even understand the offer they’re rejecting

The race to increase military spending is  on and now the Tories have gone one better than Sir Keir Starmer with a commitment to not only match his 2.5% of GDP but pledging that they will increase military spending straight away.

Labour has said it would raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP “as soon as resources allow” if it wins the election.

Downing Street said UK defence spending would increase “immediately and rise linearly” to hit £87bn by the end of the decade.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68880171

So everyone agrees it is very important that there should a huge increase in UK military spending the only question is how quickly this should happen.

It reminds me of the 2010 general election campaign when Labour agreed with the Tories that getting rid of the budget deficit was very important but that they would take twice as long as the Tories to do it.

Convinced by the Tories and Labour that clearing the deficit was very important indeed voters backed, unsurprisingly, the side which claimed they would do it in half the time.

Whenever Labour decide to sing from the same hymn sheets as the Tories voters seem to be more impressed with the Tories.

So everyone agrees it is very important that there should a huge increase in UK military spending the only question is how quickly this should happen.

My bold, not the only question. On what? Should also be a very clear question. Spunking cash on a bunch of ineffective shite to prop up an ailing and quite frankly unimaginative UK defence industry is not the best bang for buck.

My bold, not the only question. On what? Should also be a very clear question.

Big shiny things of course.

Maybe a couple more aircraft carriers or we could possibly ask the yanks if they would sell us some B-21s.

The dreadnought subs and new missiles sort of count but they cant really be shown off as easily.

My bold, not the only question. On what?

Lasers, rail guns and more display teams for the raf

Always plenty of money for the military.

What about the wrecked public finances?

Ah I see. Because that’s what Labour’s junior team are peddling in every interview when it comes to the climate, NHS and infrastructure.

There’s no holes in the argument because there’s no argument.