Keir Starmer comes unstuck over Corbyn, his five missions, and his 10 pledges
Is Labour leader Keir Starmer really up to the job?
At the moment, he’s coming across as a shifty liar who doesn’t stand for anything and simply wants power for its own sake.
His latest pose is to say he was never on good terms with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who he supported as a prospective future UK prime minister in two general elections.
A real friend of Mr Corbyn – Diane Abbott – has corrected the record on that for him:
The first thing Starmer said once elected was "I want to pay tribute to Jeremy Corbyn … who energised our movement & who's a friend as well as a colleague. https://t.co/QTtu7NwzNr
— Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) February 24, 2023
We have video clips of Starmer saying Mr Corbyn would be a great prime minister. I know it’s not the same as saying he was a personal friend, but the support – at the time – was clear, and it makes Starmer’s current volte face all the more telling.
Never forget.
Keir Starmer tried to make Jeremy Corbyn Prime Minister – TWICE
He will do and say anything if the politics suits him.pic.twitter.com/8i0zeHHXJe
— Robbie Moore MP (@_RobbieMoore) February 23, 2023
Starmer’s big announcement last week was his ‘Five Missions’ for the Labour Party to restore the UK’s floundering fortunes – but he struggled to put meat on their bones at interview. For example:
He literally can’t answer direct questions that don’t involve Jeremy Corbyn or attacking his own left, can he?
Broadcast journos will run riot with that come the next general election. People hate evasion, none more than a swing voter. pic.twitter.com/eBZJQpvpMq
— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) February 23, 2023
Worse than that was a nearly 15-minute interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in which the interviewer – was it that notorious Tory Nick Robinson? – tore him to shreds.
It is a long-ish listen but well worth the time, and I’ve put it on YouTube:
Perhaps the lack of substance is best clarified in the following tweet from Clare Hepworth, whose observations are always well worth noting:
Where does
*Eliminating poverty
*Eliminating homelessness
*Tackling social deprivation & social exclusion
*Enabling Local Govt to revive & retain good local services.
Where do they fit in ?
I'm sure your headings cover the issues but I'm a simple person I deal in simple concepts. https://t.co/6Ln54KeaH4— Clare Hepworth OBE (@Hepworthclare) February 23, 2023
Yeah, he was criticised on Today for using a lot of jargon in his ‘Five Missions’ documentation too. Can’t this guy make himself clear?
And if he can’t – or won’t… is this really the man we want leading the UK after the next election – even if we know Rishi Sunak can’t be allowed to stay?
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Stammer the spammer
The Radio 4 interview was a good start in holding Starmer to account, but when it came to talking about Corbyn & antisemitism it trod the usual allowable path, Corbyn bad, Starmer good. Starmer was allowed to make so many unchallenged points, the easiest to counter being his assertion that everyone in Labour worked hard to win in 2017 and 19. The Forde Report shows that’s a lie, but as it appears the BBC doesn’t recognise the report the lie stood.
The Canary has stopped saying anything about the Labour party, as some deluded socialists still think that Labour can be brought back to Jeremy Corbyn just by getting rid of Starmer as Labour leader.
Forgetting that the majority of the Labour party, be they MPs, councillors, Peers or paid employees are Starmerites aka Blairites.
Starmer is a proven liar and traitor to all that is honest and decent! He is a total disgrace that must be booted out of the labour party!
Starmer is a weathercock who is incapable of answering “awkward” questions and it’s very obvious he doesn’t know how to back up these five “missions” – it’s all just a lot of fast talking out of both sides of his mouth while actually not saying anything useful. Jeremy Corbyn brought a lot of us back to the Labour Party and only lost the election because Johnson made it about Brexit. Starmer is haemmorhaging members because of his contempt for the Labour Party membership, his total untrustworthiness, excuses for his flip flopping and his habit of inventing new directions of policies because he doesn’t actually have any handle on the issues many of us are concerned about.
Clare Hebworth has the right of it.