How can we best sum up the political mood this morning? Like this, perhaps:

James was responding to a new attack advert from the Labour Party. It looks like this:

Twitter provided “added context” from responses by readers, as follows: “Tweet implies that the PM, Rishi Sunak, doesn’t support prison sentences for sexual assaults against children. The current sentencing guidelines for this crime has a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment. sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/crown… There is no conservative party policy that plans to remove this. conservatives.com/our-plan”

And economist Richard Murphy added the following in an outraged blog article: “Politicians do not sentence criminals, as Keir Starmer should know.

“They do not even bring cases to court, as Keir Starmer should know.

“And the provisions for sending abusers to prison for up to 14 years do exist, and have for a long time, as Keir Starmer should know. If they are not used we have to assume judges do not use them for good reason. As Keir Starmer should know.”

Skwawkbox went further:

Exploiting abused children to posture as the ‘party of law and order’ is not only disgusting, but also hypocritical: Keir Starmer was Director of Public Prosecutions when his department decided not to prosecute notorious serial rapist and abuser Jimmy Savile – and Starmer even went on to say that he thought this had been the right decision (Jimmy Savile: DPP to review 2009 police evidence | Jimmy Savile | The Guardian (archive.org)).

One of Starmer’s chief advisers, Peter Mandelson, was also close to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and has been pictured socialising with him.

The post was also at least arguably racist, feeding into stereotypes pushed by right-wing extremists such as the so-called ‘Tommy Robinson’ of ‘Asian grooming gangs’ – a stereotype thoroughly disproven this week when 21 white British paedophiles were convicted at Wolverhampton Crown Court – by showing a brown-skinned man next to a claim he doesn’t care about protecting children from sexual assault.

Labour politicians are already being hard-pressed on the issue in media interviews – and their answers are somewhat lacking:

Former Labour MP Chris Williamson tweeted: “Under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership, Labour is now giving lessons on how to swim in the gutter.”

Solma Ahmed tweeted: “I’ve seen many things in politics but this is just beyond belief. Who’s taken over Labour? The nasty party is back.”

Yes, but this time it is not the Conservatives – it’s Labour.

And only weeks ahead of an election, too.

---

Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:

1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the right margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.

2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical

3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com

5) Join the uPopulus group at https://upopulus.com/groups/vox-political/

6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical

7) Feel free to comment!

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.

The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here: