Keir Starmer’s speech was riddled with falsehoods when he delivered it to the Labour Party conference.
He was lying from the start, when he thanked conference attendees for “everything you have done to fulfil the basic duty of our party” so Labour can “return this great nation to the service of working people”.
Those of us who read The Observer on September 15 will be aware that Starmer’s top advisor, Morgan McSweeney, actively conspired to prevent Labour from fulfilling its “basic duty” – by undermining previous leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Starmer himself was one of those involved in the Labour Together conspiracy, according to the article. He had no interest in fulfilling the “basic duty of our party” then, and there is no reason to believe he has any interest in it now.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Recent revelations suggest he is more interested in lining his own pockets with donations from his cronies.
The UK could have been returned “to the service of working people” in 2019, but Starmer, McSweeney and many others in the conference hall during his speech did everything they could to ensure their party did not win the general election that year. Was it because they wanted power for themselves, now? So they could enjoy all those freebies?
Incidentally, sabotaging Labour’s chances of winning an election is an offence for which members should be expelled. This has not happened to Starmer, McSweeney and the others, indicating that Labour is corrupt to its core.
That is what listeners should have taken, just from Starmer’s opening words.
He continued with another lie – that Labour won the general election because he and others “changed the party”.
Between 2017 (Jeremy Corbyn’s first election as leader) and 2024, Labour lost 3,169,202 votes – almost a quarter of its vote. That was the result of Starmer’s changes, and those of his supporters.
Labour won the July election because Conservative voters were sick of Rishi Sunak and his cronies, and didn’t bother to turn out – or turned to Reform UK instead. It had nothing to do with any changes that Starmer implemented, which were for the worse, not the better.
Even the BBC has balked at Starmer’s claim that he has brought permanent change into the Labour Party – with a list of “achievements” that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
He said his support for Nato, Ukraine, combatting antisemitism within his party, reducing immigration and backing business were examples of how he has changed the Labour Party’s values. But Labour under Mr Corbyn would have supported Nato and Ukraine, and under Mr Corbyn – whether Starmer likes it or not – Labour had less anti-Semitism within its ranks than any other political party or the UK as a whole.
We know from the Observer article that the anti-Semitism witch-hunt was just an opportunist attack on left-wing party members by the Labour Together conspirators.
Reducing immigration is not, in itself, a good thing. If Starmer had said he was reducing illegal immigration, he might have been more accurate. Either way, Labour had a strong record on this before he even joined the party; it is only under the Conservatives that immigration became an issue and this is because the Tories cut funding to the services that protect us from illegal entry into the UK.
As for backing business – that is more a Tory value than one that Labour should be upholding, if it means supporting bosses against workers. If it means supporting UK businesses so that everybody employed by them can thrive, then that has always been a Labour value.
And even the BBC took issue with what Starmer said here. Political correspondent Henry Zeffman wrote: “It’s certainly true that many of those who most strongly disagree with Starmer have left the Labour Party.
“But when New Labour left office in 2010 few would have predicted the rise of Jeremy Corbyn five years later.”
Even the rehearsed line that Starmer delivered to a heckler was based on a lie.
After a protester was carted out of Rachel Reeves’s speech on September 23, it seems Starmer prepared himself to face the same – but he still did it badly.
“This guy’s obviously got a pass from the 2019 conference,” he said, which This Writer takes as a suggestion that the heckler was a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. Starmer continued: “While he’s been protesting, we’ve been changing the party; that’s why we’ve got a Labour government.”
As is already mentioned above, this is not true. Starmer’s changes worsened Labour’s chances of winning by discouraging nearly a third as many people as voted for him from turning out.
Labour’s only reason for winning was the fact that habitual Tory voters were even more disillusioned with their own party.
It is a shame Starmer had to pepper his speech with lies because, even under his leadership, the UK is likely to see change (yes, I’m using his catchword) for the better.
A little humility; an admission that he lost more than three million of the votes that his predecessor had won for the party would have gone a long way to improving his standing among people who were not among the party drones populating a hall in Liverpool during his speech.
That is why people like Professor Sir John Curtice are right to cast doubt on Starmer’s ability to win a second term in government, despite having gained a landslide victory this year.
When the foundation of a government’s relationship with the public is based on lies, it cannot last.
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’ (bottom right of the home page). 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.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is 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:
Keir Starmer’s speech was riddled with falsehoods
Keir Starmer’s speech was riddled with falsehoods when he delivered it to the Labour Party conference.
He was lying from the start, when he thanked conference attendees for “everything you have done to fulfil the basic duty of our party” so Labour can “return this great nation to the service of working people”.
Those of us who read The Observer on September 15 will be aware that Starmer’s top advisor, Morgan McSweeney, actively conspired to prevent Labour from fulfilling its “basic duty” – by undermining previous leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Starmer himself was one of those involved in the Labour Together conspiracy, according to the article. He had no interest in fulfilling the “basic duty of our party” then, and there is no reason to believe he has any interest in it now.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
The UK could have been returned “to the service of working people” in 2019, but Starmer, McSweeney and many others in the conference hall during his speech did everything they could to ensure their party did not win the general election that year. Was it because they wanted power for themselves, now? So they could enjoy all those freebies?
Incidentally, sabotaging Labour’s chances of winning an election is an offence for which members should be expelled. This has not happened to Starmer, McSweeney and the others, indicating that Labour is corrupt to its core.
That is what listeners should have taken, just from Starmer’s opening words.
He continued with another lie – that Labour won the general election because he and others “changed the party”.
Between 2017 (Jeremy Corbyn’s first election as leader) and 2024, Labour lost 3,169,202 votes – almost a quarter of its vote. That was the result of Starmer’s changes, and those of his supporters.
Labour won the July election because Conservative voters were sick of Rishi Sunak and his cronies, and didn’t bother to turn out – or turned to Reform UK instead. It had nothing to do with any changes that Starmer implemented, which were for the worse, not the better.
Even the BBC has balked at Starmer’s claim that he has brought permanent change into the Labour Party – with a list of “achievements” that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
He said his support for Nato, Ukraine, combatting antisemitism within his party, reducing immigration and backing business were examples of how he has changed the Labour Party’s values. But Labour under Mr Corbyn would have supported Nato and Ukraine, and under Mr Corbyn – whether Starmer likes it or not – Labour had less anti-Semitism within its ranks than any other political party or the UK as a whole.
We know from the Observer article that the anti-Semitism witch-hunt was just an opportunist attack on left-wing party members by the Labour Together conspirators.
Reducing immigration is not, in itself, a good thing. If Starmer had said he was reducing illegal immigration, he might have been more accurate. Either way, Labour had a strong record on this before he even joined the party; it is only under the Conservatives that immigration became an issue and this is because the Tories cut funding to the services that protect us from illegal entry into the UK.
As for backing business – that is more a Tory value than one that Labour should be upholding, if it means supporting bosses against workers. If it means supporting UK businesses so that everybody employed by them can thrive, then that has always been a Labour value.
And even the BBC took issue with what Starmer said here. Political correspondent Henry Zeffman wrote: “It’s certainly true that many of those who most strongly disagree with Starmer have left the Labour Party.
“But when New Labour left office in 2010 few would have predicted the rise of Jeremy Corbyn five years later.”
Even the rehearsed line that Starmer delivered to a heckler was based on a lie.
After a protester was carted out of Rachel Reeves’s speech on September 23, it seems Starmer prepared himself to face the same – but he still did it badly.
“This guy’s obviously got a pass from the 2019 conference,” he said, which This Writer takes as a suggestion that the heckler was a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. Starmer continued: “While he’s been protesting, we’ve been changing the party; that’s why we’ve got a Labour government.”
As is already mentioned above, this is not true. Starmer’s changes worsened Labour’s chances of winning by discouraging nearly a third as many people as voted for him from turning out.
Labour’s only reason for winning was the fact that habitual Tory voters were even more disillusioned with their own party.
It is a shame Starmer had to pepper his speech with lies because, even under his leadership, the UK is likely to see change (yes, I’m using his catchword) for the better.
A little humility; an admission that he lost more than three million of the votes that his predecessor had won for the party would have gone a long way to improving his standing among people who were not among the party drones populating a hall in Liverpool during his speech.
That is why people like Professor Sir John Curtice are right to cast doubt on Starmer’s ability to win a second term in government, despite having gained a landslide victory this year.
When the foundation of a government’s relationship with the public is based on lies, it cannot last.
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’ (bottom right of the home page). 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.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is 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:
you might also like
Workplace battleground: Labour and Tories at war over employment
A&E fears fall on deaf ears
‘Abolition of the Bedroom Tax’ Bill is launched in Parliament