Tag Archives: election

Keir Starmer’s right-wing stance is not a smokescreen. Here’s how you can tell

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Keir Starmer: he’s not left-wing but he’s definitely sinister.

Take a look at this prediction on the date and outcome of the next general election:

Personally, I think autumn might be leaving it late and we might get a spring GE, at the same time as the locals. This would save Rishi Sunak from a “lame duck” summer that could harm Tory chances at the Westminster elections even more than his premiership already has.

The prediction that Labour will go on to form a government, if accurate, heralds disaster for the UK and everyone in it, though. We would just be swapping one gang of hard-right headbangers, hell-bent on robbing the poor to fatten the rich, for another.

Voters who want to support Keir Starmer seem to be doing it on the basis of a daydream, as laid out by ‘Barney’, below:

John Holman’s response tells us exactly why any hope that Labour will move back to the left in government is forlorn: Starmer will simply say that he must honour his (right-wing) manifesto promises because that’s what voters have endorsed.

He won’t mention the fact that nobody in the Labour leadership will have given any of us, including rank-and-file part members, a chance to choose which policies should be in the manifesto in the first place.

Nor will he admit that all of Labour’s policies for the next government will have been chosen on the basis that they will win support – and donations – for Starmer and his cronies from the very rich and powerful elites of the UK, or will line their pockets in other ways. That would show that he has made his party just like the Tories.

He will keep quiet about those facts – which This Writer is sure will become self-evident to those of us with enquiring minds – because it suits him to permit the majority of voters to carry on as ‘BanAllHunting’, below, suggests:

That’s about the size of it. Without any evidence at all, people have persuaded themselves that, because he leads an organisation that still calls itself “Labour” and operates under a red banner, Starmer is their left-wing Messiah.

The actual evidence suggests otherwise. Look at the way he responds to Susanna Reid’s probing about the two-child benefit cap, here:

Confronted with what she describes as “a very unpleasant nickname” – Sir Kid Starver – he doesn’t acknowledge or respond to it – and certainly doesn’t deny it.

All he says is that his party will have an “anti-poverty strategy”, just like Tony Blair’s New Labour government did.

But it will be without any funding, apparently.

So you can see that, under even the slightest scrutiny, any claim that Starmer will create any real and lasting improvement simply falls apart.

The absolute tragedy of all this is that, deprived of this fantasy, Labour tribalists will fall back on the old falsehood that anybody who doesn’t support Labour is a “Tory enabler”. That might be effective if Starmer’s Labour had any policies to distinguish it from the Tories, but it doesn’t.

In real terms, you’re a Tory enabler if you vote either Labour or Conservative.

The only way to break this deadlock is to find someone else to support, and there is a really easy way to do this.

You simply look up the other political parties operating in your constituency, plus an independents who may be around, and find out what their policies are.

Then you choose a candidate or party to support. This will be whoever has the most policies that correspond with what you want.

And then you vote for them.

Unless you are a hard-right headbanger, hell-bent on robbing the poor to fatten the rich, that is the only sane course of action in the UK, at this time.

Why on Earth would you vote in a party with policies you don’t want, that will do things that won’t help? That’s self-harm. Anybody doing it would legitimately need treatment for mental illness.

Millions on Universal Credit may lose hundreds of pounds as Rishi Sunak threatens cut | Mirror Online

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Rishi Sunak: he likes money but he doesn’t understand it. By giving benefit money to the rich in tax cuts, he is cutting away the foundations of the UK’s economy. How will you be able to afford anything?

Once again, the Tories are threatening defenceless benefit claimants in their endless campaign to bribe donation money from rich benefactors.

That’s about the size of this, isn’t it?

Sunak has already threatened people with long-term illnesses and disabilities with changes that are intended to get a million of them off the benefit books – or at least onto the jobs market.

More people looking for work relieves pressure on employers to increase wages, because jobseekers will undercut each other in their desperation – and I use that word advisedly – to get a regular wage packet.

Now Sunak is threatening more than six million Universal Credit claimants – most of whom are in work – with an effective cut in payments if he decides to make the annual benefit increase next April lower than the rate of inflation.

The apparent reason is to fund another tax cut for the very richest, in time for the next general election; he’s buying support where he wants it by harming those he doesn’t ever expect to help him.

Here’s the Mirror:

the Prime Minister refused to commit to inflation-proof benefit rises next year, arguing that payments had already gone up by a “huge amount”.

For clarity, it doesn’t matter how much payments have already increased. Inflation is always a measure of how fast prices are rising. If the inflation rate slows, prices are still rising, only more slowly. Increasing benefits at a rate lower than inflation means millions of working people and benefit claimants will not be able to afford basic necessities.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is thought to be considering a real-terms cut this autumn. Payments usually rise each April by the inflation figure of the previous September – expected to be 6.9%. But the Government is looking at a lower figure, leaving 6.1 million on UC worse off.

A rise 1% below inflation would result in a low-income working couple with two children losing £220. Asked if he could guarantee benefits continue to rise with inflation, Mr Sunak declined but insisted he would “make sure we look after the most vulnerable”.

That has to be a lie; Sunak has already attacked “the most vulnerable” with his plan to push long-term sick and disabled people off benefits.

Be in no doubt: this is an attack on you.

The fear is that, by buying support from the rich, Sunak will be able to rely on their influence to persuade – or coerce – you or people like you into supporting yet another godawful Tory election win.

Source: Millions on Universal Credit to lose hundreds of pounds as Rishi Sunak threatens cut – Mirror Online

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Starmerite hypocrisy is at work again – and the subject is, inevitably, Jeremy Corbyn

Keir Starmer and Jeremy Corbyn: It seems Starmer is trying to backstab Mr Corbyn YET AGAIN.

Jeremy Corbyn has been urged to stand for the London Mayoralty, apparently – and the Starmer machine has leapt into action to put the kibosh on it.

As usual, the Starmerite’s have shot themselves in the foot – as far as anyone with any sense is concerned.

They have caught themselves in a classic contradiction:

People don’t like politicians who are overtly two-faced. This may go very badly indeed for Starmer.

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Is latest council loss REALLY a ‘bounce’ against Labour’s attack on workers’ rights?

Let’s answer the headline question straight away: This Writer doesn’t think so.

Keir Starmer’s announcement that he’s abandoning yet another pledge – this one to strengthen the rights of UK employees – probably came too late to influence the results of last week’s council elections.

It’s more likely to be part of a long-term shift towards Independent candidates that we saw enacted across the country at the local elections in May.

For clarity: the Ayresome ward in Middlesbrough has been won from Labour by an Independent candidate:

This Writer knows little about the winner apart from her name: Jackie Young. From what I can see, she is not a former Labour Party member, as so many of those who took seats from Keir Starmer’s party in May were.

My guess, then, is that she was offering policies that voters in Ayresome actually wanted, as opposed to the current Starmer Party we-do-what-we-want-because-you-have-to-vote-for-us nonsense. I’m willing to stand corrected if necessary, but experience suggests that’s how it is.

Remember what happened in May, when and expected Starmerite landslide turned into a trickle of extra seats for Labour while the Green Party and a large number of Independents who had been booted out of Starmer’s party (or had left of their own accord) cleaned up?

Here’s a reminder from Vox Political‘s article of May 5:

But the biggest kick in the teeth for the main parties – especially Labour – is the strong performance of councillors who have been expelled from that party for being too left-wing (other excuses are available).

Usually when a person leaves a political party – or is, as in these cases, removed – and stand as an independent, they sink without a trace. Look at the performance of the Labour quitters who formed Change UK while Jeremy Corbyn was in charge, and then lost their seats in the 2019 general election.

Instead, independent left-wing candidates are retaining their seats across England.

Here are a few examples:

This is in Portsmouth:

This is in Windsor:

To me, this indicates that people are starting to give up on political tribalism – they’re not all voting for candidates just because of the name of the party those people represent.

Instead, they are voting for the people they know will represent them.

We should bear in mind that these are council elections in wards with low electorates and low turnouts.

But council election results are regarded as forecasts for general elections.

The times are changing. The Parliamentary elites have tried to dictate the policies we can support and the people available to get our vote – and across the country, people are saying they’re not going to put up with it.

It’s the way we are. We’ll put up with a lot – but there come a point when someone will try to tell us what to do and we’ll say: “No.”

Keir Starmer won’t learn any lessons from this. My impression is that he’s too deeply into the pockets of right-wing donors to hear the pleas of those who actually vote election candidates onto councils and into Parliament.

Let us hope they make their message clear when the general election is finally called.

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The news in tweets: Saturday, July 22, 2023

Keir Mather: is this Red just another Blue?

By-election fallout 1: new Labour MP falls at the first hurdle

Labour’s newest – and youngest – MP, Keir Mather, has made his first contributions to national politics. Here he is being introduced to the nation:

A fresh start for the people of Selby and Ainsty? It sounds good – but is it just words?

After all, the very first thing he did was endorse Keir Stürmer’s decision to continue the Conservative policy that limits child benefit to two children:

So he 100 per cent supports a Conservative policy. And this is the change we need?

This Writer doesn’t think so – and I see that many others agree with me.

Here‘s Steve Walker: “Sir Kid Starver’s clique’s stranglehold on candidate selection is why we’re getting this privileged, fresh-from-the-petri-dish vapid Stepford Wife candidate parroting this miserable shit. People with character, integrity, principles and a capacity for critical thought need not apply.”

Mrs Gee #UpTheWorkers tweeted: “This is what Unite union members’ money is helping into Government.” To Sharon Graham, the union’s general secretary, she added: “There is not a cat in hell’s chance these people can be pushed left once elected. The time is now. Make them come up with policies for trade unionists/working class people if they want our money/votes.”

Kerry-Anne Mendoza suggested: “Do they breed these creatures in a little nest of pods somewhere? They all look and sound identical to me ‘Fiscal rules…blah blah…tough choices…blah blah…forensic…'”

She added: “A privately-schooled, Oxbridge graduate whose entire career consists of a brief stint at the CBI isn’t a political breakthrough for British working class youth. Keir Mather embodies exactly the opposite. Privilege seeking power. It’s embarrassing we have to point this out.”

Phil Gould tweeted in similar vein: “This is a New New Labour Nexus 1, a first-generation AI politician, programmed by the Tony Blair Institute. Empathy free, self-destructs after one parliament. One full charge lasts two PMQs or one full QT appearance (having to repeat programmed answers requires more power).”

Chris Williamson tackled the subject matter: “The new Labour MP for Selby and Ainsty backs the 2 child benefit cap citing the “economic mess” as justification. But that logic is flawed, Keir Mather. The government issues the currency so can’t run out money and can use taxes to control inflation. So there is no justification for leaving kids in poverty.”

And let’s not forget:

But then, what can you expect from a privately-educated Oxbridge graduate whose career consists of a stint at the Confederation of British Industry and a bit of time as a researcher for Wes bloody Streeting?

It seems his “career politician” credentials are proved by the following claim:

Still, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and Keir Mather has nearly a year and a half to prove his detractors wrong – or prove himself a puddinghead.

By-election fallout 2: Uxbridge and Ruislip Labour chair quits – because of Keir Starmer and not the election result

The chairman of Uxbridge and Ruislip Constituency Labour Party has quit his role and the party altogether – but he’s saying it’s not because of the party’s spectacular failure to win the constituency’s Parliamentary seat from the Tories.

David Williams said his problem is with the leadership of Keir Starmer. Here are his tweeted messages:

Fair enough – he didn’t want his resignation to have a negative impact on his (soon-to-be former) party’s performance, and rightly so because this could have been used by others to attack him.

As it was, he found himself having to re-fight an old battle with an out-of-her-depth BBC reporter.

Watch the interview and you’ll see that he made mincemeat of the false claims:

Why does this public sector worker get a 45% pay increase while the rest have to put up with real-terms cuts?

The King is getting a publicly-funded 45 per cent pay rise, it seems:

He’s a public sector worker – like doctors, nurses and teachers, and the discrepancy between what he can demand and what they are told to take has not gone unnoticed.

Fortunately, we have people who can turn it to advantage:

Yes indeed. Let’s see government pay negotiators explain this away – if they can!

Petition of the day: demand free school breakfasts for all

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Both Labour and Tories fail in two of three by-elections. Where are the calls for the leaders to quit?

It’s true – and was Labour under Mr Corbyn ever as far ahead in the polls as Keir Stürmer’s STP (Substitute Tory Party) is, even now?

To lose two by-elections, despite having a significant poll lead, suggests a significant divergence between what we’re being told about the Stürmer Party and the grassroots reality.

Let’s look at Labour’s losses, starting with Somerton and Frome, in Somerset. Here’s the result, with accompanying commentary by bakers’ union leader Ian Hodson:

Quite right. Only 1,009 votes? That’s just 374 more than Independent Socialist Rosie Mitchell.

Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats cleaned up, with more than 54 per cent of the votes cast in an enormous swing to that party from the Conservatives – their fifth-biggest since the war (by which I’m assuming commentators mean World War II).

This Writer has a few concerns about that. A (Liberal Democrat) commenter on This Site earlier this week strongly suggested that the only way to keep the Tory candidate out was to vote for his party. It’s a classic Lib Dem strategy – “never mind our policies, put us in to get them out” -and this time it seems to have worked.

It is a failing of the First Past The Post voting system that people believe they have to resort to this kind of tactical voting, not to get an MP with policies they want, but to avoid having one with policies they definitely don’t.

Well, the Liberal Democrats claim to support proportional representation. Let’s hope this one is joined by other MPs (not necessarily from the same party) who also believe in it. Then maybe we can get a government that does what we want, instead of one that works only for itself.

The Tory candidate came second with what is still a fair number of votes on a turnout of just 44 per cent – more than 10,000.  But second is not a win, and with 26,000 people who supported the Tories last time failing to turn out for them now, it is clear that Rishi Sunak needs to find a Brexit-level cause with which to inspire support.

With the cost of living rocketing, standards of living falling, poverty rising, inflation high, health care likely to become a costly racket under increasing privatisation, utility forms raking in unwarranted profits and Tory MPs apparently in the pockets of the privateers, it seems unlikely that he’ll find it.

Ah, but if Tory support fell, support for the party that used to represent Labour absolutely imploded:

Fair enough, it seems that Labour was never likely to win a majority here, but the scale on which the electorate has withdrawn its vote should be enough to give even the most tone-deaf party leader cause to reconsider his approach.

It isn’t very many years since people all over the UK were clamouring to join Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, making it the political party with the largest membership in Europe. Now, not only have most of those members deserted Stürmer, but it seems most of the voters have done the same.

It seems clear that policy is the issue. Voters don’t want an alternative government that is only willing to offer the same policies as the current administration – that is not delivering value for our tax money.

If Keir Stürmer is determined not to change course, but to continue dragging his party to the political right, then he faces yet another loss at the polls in late 2024 or early 2025.

Labour did slightly better in Uxbridge and South Ruislip…

… but the bar here was much lower; Stürmer’s party needed only a 7.5 per cent swing in its favour to take the seat.

The fact that this didn’t happen is being blamed on the fact that Labour enforces the ULEZ – Ultra-Low Emission Zone – where drivers with the most polluting cars must pay a fee to travel:

But ULEZ was launched by a Conservative – the same Conservative whose resignation forced the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election to take place: Boris Johnson.

It beggars belief that voters in the constituency formerly occupied by the politician who introduced the ULEZ should vote for his party’s candidate in protest against it.

Still, Stürmer’s party is running with this excuse for all it is worth:

But the evidence of the doorstep may suggest something different – that it is Keir Starmer and his Tory policies, or lack of Labour policies, who alienated voters. My information is anecdotal – from people I know live there – but it seems to have swayed this commentator (apologies for the strong language):

And if the ULEZ is such a sticking-point, why did this happen?

The message seems clear: if he wants to win a general election, Keir Stürmer must offer the electorate a Labour Party, with clear Labour Party policies that put a huge amount of difference between it and the Conservatives.

If he can’t – or won’t – do that, then he should be made to make way for somebody who will.

Still, Stürmer can console himself with his sole victory of the three, in Selby and Ainsty:

It makes 25-year-old right-winger Keir Mather the UK’s youngest MP. But there is no readily-apparent reason for the victory.

If Labour had won the other two by-elections by a similar margin, then we could say it was indicative of the national opinion polls being correct. But Labour didn’t.

Instead, considering this has been a Tory safe seat since it was created for the 2010 general election, it seems this was a protest vote.

Mr Mather himself has set out to capitalise on his victory:

He may be helped in this by the unsavoury attitude of Tory MP Johnny Mercer, who compared his victory with having a member of the cast of old Channel 4 comedy The Inbetweeners in Parliament:

Mercer’s comments have been shown to be quite astonishingly tone-deaf. Here’s a good reason:

The verdict:

The UK’s electoral situation is much more volatile than we have been led to believe.

According to the polls, the Stürmer Party should have won all three seats easily. It didn’t. Tactical voting scuppered it in Somerton and Frome – but conversely propelled it to victory in Selby and Ainsty. Distaste – either for the party’s leader or its policies – killed its chances in Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

The Conservative Party is in deep trouble, no matter what. It lost two seats and only held onto the third by the narrowest margin, despite protests against Stürmer and his policies. Rishi Sunak has nothing to offer the public – his party is riddled with corruption and self-interest and will not help struggling citizens. It is amazing that he isn’t facing demands for his resignation.

And the Liberal Democrat win seems entirely due to protest voting. Its new MP – Sarah Dyke – will have to work very hard indeed to prove otherwise.

Meanwhile, other parties and independents are growing in popularity. The Green Party beat Labour in Somerton and Frome and the Liberal Democrats in Selby and Ainsty and Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

It seems likely that Independents may have fared much better if they had been given equal media exposure to the “Establishment” parties.

The lack of such exposure merely shows what a slanted playing field democracy in the UK has become.

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By-elections: if you feel locked-out of choice, give Independents like Rosie a chance

Is there a media blackout on Independent candidates in the Parliamentary by-elections on Thursday (July 20, 2023)?

High-profile support: Independent Socialist Rosie Mitchell’s campaign in Somerton and Frome is endorsed by film director Ken Loach.

Many of them would say yes, it seems. Whether deliberately or by accident, the mass media are focusing on the usual Establishment parties – the Tories, Labour, Liberal Democrats and so on.

This is to ignore the rising force in UK politics: the left-wing Independents.

We saw in May that former Labour Party members – who either quit or were excluded by Keir Starmer and his cronies – are winning the hearts, minds and votes of an electorate that is desperate for change.

Thursday’s by-elections mean former-Labour Independents have a chance to take seats in Parliament – if they can bypass the media blackout.

Vox Political is not the force it once was – because there’s censorship of certain political sites on the social media – but let’s do our best to make sure voters know they have a choice.

We start here:

Rosie Mitchell – Independent Socialist candidate for Somerton and Frome

Like many of the new Independents, Rosie is a former member of the Labour Party. She joined in 2016 when Jeremy Corbyn was leader, but she and the party parted company in 2020, after Keir Starmer took over.

Rose has published three videos laying out some of her priorities. Here they are:

Isn’t it pleasant to hear a political candidate actually saying what they want to do?

She has published further details in a micro-manifesto on Facebook which you can read here.

Rosie, a conductor on GWR trains and member of the RMT Union, was raised locally and has lived in Frome since 2015.

She says: “Today’s party politics have left so many of us feeling disenfranchised, politically homeless and without that hope and excitement we had in the past.

“As an independent candidate I’m not hiding where my personal values lie, but I want to be very clear that I won’t be constrained to toe any party line – leaving me free to listen to your concerns, opinions and needs as my prospective constituents.

“Policy-wise we are focussing on the biggest issues of the day; the cost of living crisis and the undermining of public services.

“I will be working towards reform and reinvestment in our struggling NHS, fairer housing so people can live here comfortably, better transport links for our communities so people can access employment and essential services and the environment, cleaning up our rivers as a priority.

“I am committed to promoting equality at every level and a fairer, less profit driven system that works for society and for the planet. We do not need to understand every nuance of each other’s identities to have respect, compassion, and kindness towards one another.

“Likewise, our respect for the environment, our countryside and the liveable future of this planet need to be paramount in all decisions we make going forward.”

If you’re in Somerton and Frome and still need convincing, how about this: Rosie’s campaign is endorsed by legendary film director Ken Loach, who met her earlier this month.

He said: “The current crisis needs radical changes. I support Rosie Mitchell. She stands for returning the collapsing NHS to it’s first principles and removing the profiteers from health care; taking back our public utilities like water, to public ownership; an integrated transport system, owned by the people – as a railway worker, Rosie knows what she is talking about; an end to fossil fuels, action not words on climate change; peace and human rights, not slavishly following the USA’s lead.

“Rosie stands with the people she would represent and would fight on their behalf.”

Can any of the candidates from the big political party machines say the same?

Sadly, those big parties do have a lot of machinery to help them cajole voters into supporting them – and Independent candidates like Rosie do not.

Instead, she has been doing something else – actually going out to visit voters and talking with them.

But this won’t be enough. She needs help.

So if you are in Somerton and Frome – or you know somebody who is – how about doing your bit to help democracy by passing on this article and/or details of Rosie and her campaign?

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The news in tweets: Sunday, July 16, 2023

Clement Attlee innovated. Keir Starmer will privatise

That was one politician’s response to Keir Starmer’s interview in The Observer today (Sunday, July 16, 2023).

In it, Starmer contradicts himself by saying he won’t promise to spend any more money but will prioritise economic growth and wealth creation; these cannot be achieved without investment – and indeed, investment is mentioned later in the article.

He also says he intends to impose “radical reform of public services” – by which we may infer that he means more privatisation, despite the fact that the state of the privatised water and energy firms shows it is a disaster for service provision.

We can see evidence that he supports privatisation in an interview with Starmer’s political idol, Tony Blair, on Sophy Ridge’s Sky News show this morning:

The correct response to that is to point out that public sector innovation should come from the people in charge – who are politicians. Blair was in charge of the public sector between 1997 and 2007; if he didn’t bother to innovate, preferring instead to dick around with PFI and “Third Way” nonsense, that was his mistake.

And it will be what loses Starmer his election, if he follows the same road at a time when we can all understand perfectly well that we are being ripped off by the water and energy firms.

The social media responses have gone directly to the point:

Labour won’t lift the two-child limit on child benefit, says Starmer

After Independent candidate wins council by-election, call goes out to support Independents in this week’s Parliamentary polls

Expect to see more support for Independent candidates as the week progresses.

As the UK braces for more pollution-induced soaring temperatures, here comes a Bill to stop politicians benefiting from oil and gas profits

You can bet this won’t get anywhere, as the suits on both sides of the House of Commons link up and climb aboard the Gravy Train.

And finally: bathing water is pronounced ‘best quality ever’ – but is Therese Coffee lying to you (again)?

And that is why this happens:

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The Tories and the bankers are lying to you about inflation. Is this the reason?

It seems the Tories and the Bank of England are starving you of money with a lie – to cause problems for a possible future Labour government.

Take a look at this – and listen to the clip:

It’s true: driving down wages will do nothing to halt inflation because the only reason people want wage increases is so they can afford to pay prices that have already risen.

Wage rises don’t cause inflation – they are demanded because of inflation.

So what’s the real answer to the crisis – the one these rich Tories and super-rich bankers don’t want you to know?

Here’s Richard Murphy:

There’s your argument to put against twits like Victoria Atkins (above): for wages to be fuelling inflation, wage rises would have to have been above the rate of inflation – and they haven’t been.

In fact, wages have fallen so badly in real terms that teachers are said to have lost more than £65,000 in total since the Tories started cutting their pay.

That’s your answer in a nutshell.

But why aren’t the Tories and the bankers saying – and doing – this? Easy: they hate you.

So it’s perfectly fine for working people to have the pay rises they need, in order to make ends meet. Inflation will return to the normal level without any downward pressure on your pay.

So: greedy corporate bosses who are taking advantage of current circumstances to increase their prices beyond what is necessary are responsible for inflation.

They probably do; an election is approaching that the Tories do not expect to win. If they crash they economy and a Labour government has to deal with it, they’ll be able to criticise from the sidelines (especially if Labour honours its pledge to continue Tory economic policies until such time as the economy improves) and use Labour’s subsequent failure to sort out the mess to persuade voters to bring in another Tory government at the following general election.

So corporations are pushing up inflation so they can make a fat profit; they’ll still have that fat profit in the future when they use continuing higher revenues to pay higher wages, so their employees can still afford to buy the goods and services they need. The current inflationary cycle is a means for the already-rich to become even richer.

The claim that much of the pressure for wage rises is created by the Bank of England is supported by the fact that businesses will incorporate interest rate rises into their prices. Most, if not all of them, will have debts. Look at the privatised water firms: they have debts because they borrow to cover the costs of equipment and so on. This allows them to pay around 35 per cent of their turnover to shareholders – an enormous amount of profit.

But they must pay interest on the money they borrow and they add that amount into their prices so the customer pays more, not the shareholders.

The knock-on effect is to give us all another reason to demand pay rises.

So the Tory government and the Bank of England are deliberately engineering a recession that will probably harm the credibility of Labour, if Labour wins the next election.

To me, that seems a forlorn hope.

Mr Murphy has described a political struggle in which the Tories are using inflation now to attack a possible Labour government in the future.

The livelihoods of working people are merely collateral damage in that war. Nobody who can make a difference thinks you matter at all.

More meaningless pledges from the lying Labour leader

Labour leader Keir Starmer has come out with a couple more pledges to make voters happy for a while. Expect them to be reversed long before any general election.

The first is a promise to repair governmental relations with armed forces personnel who were used and thrown away by Tory governments. Starmer again played his ‘family’ card – that he had a family member in the societal sector concerned.

But he said his mother was in the NHS and is quite happy to privatise it into oblivion for the sake of a bung or two from private health companies, so it means nothing.

Also:

Didn’t Starmer’s lieutenant, Rachel Reeves, cancel a pledge to invest £28 billion on green initiatives in every year of a Labour government, in the name of a “fiscal responsibility” that doesn’t actually exist? The UK economy is such that money can always be found for initiatives that governments want to support; think of the £800 billion that Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak spaffed off to Tory friends and donors during the Covid-19 crisis, in return for nothing at all.

(If a Labour government was serious about “fiscal responsibility” it would get that cash back.)

So there you have two Labour pledges that mean nothing at all.

One Labour pledge that does mean something is its unswerving, unequivocal support for the government of Israel and the apartheid that it operates. Here’s Keir Starmer, categorically denying that any such apartheid exists…

(His appeal for Jews to return to the Labour Party is risible because he has expelled more Jews from that party than any previous Labour leader.)

… and here’s an expert from the United Nations, explaining that Israel is indeed an apartheid state.

Keir Starmer can say whatever he likes but the facts are against him. As long as he continues to make false claims about Israel, Labour will continue to be a racist party – and anti-Semitic because of its persecution of left-wing Jews within the party.

Also persecuted within the Labour Party is anybody who is not absolutely loyal to Keir Starmer. So we see the shortlist for candidates in the campaign to become the new North East Mayor, that does not have left-winger Jamie Driscoll on it.

This has outraged party members and supporters:

Now we learn that Mick Whitley, a member of Labour’s Socialist Campaign Group, has been deselected and will not be allowed to stand for re-election as the MP for Birkenhead in the next general election.

Commentators like This Writer have spent years warning SCG members that their supine acceptance of Starmer’s aggression will not help them; they cannot change Labour from the inside and will only be targeted for removal individually, over time. Sadly, we have been proved correct yet again.

Mr Whitley is not happy about his deselection and has made his feelings clear:

These are just two more examples of Keir Starmer’s disdain for democracy. It isn’t a secret – take a look at the following (and read the article) for further details (if you can get past the paywall):

There’s an obvious conclusion to draw: if Starmer is willing to “ride roughshod” over democracy in the Labour Party, then he’ll do exactly the same to the UK as a whole if his party is ever voted into government.

Isn’t it ironic? You were warned off voting for Jeremy Corbyn by people who told you he would turn the UK into a far-left Communist dictatorship. And now the same people are avidly egging you on to vote in Starmer’s far-right dictatorship instead.

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