Keir Starmer: if Tories and Liberal Democrats like him, he’ll be electoral poison for Labour.
How humiliating for new New Labour leader Keir Starmer.
A survey by Tory-run pollsters YouGov has given him an approval rating of +23 – higher than that of Boris Johnson – partly courtesy of people who vote Conservative or Liberal Democrat and have a vested interest in duff Labour leadership.
It is no reason for anybody associated with Labour to feel proud – and certainly doesn’t bode well for the party’s election chances.
New Labour leader Keir Starmer has been given a boost thanks to YouGov polling today that shows he has a net approval rating of +23, which is higher than that of Boris Johnson.
Asked whether they thought Keir Starmer was doing well or badly as leader of the Labour Party, overall 40% said “very well” or “fairly well” and 17% said “very badly” or “fairly badly”.
More Conservative voters said he was doing well than badly, at 34% and 25% respectively. Lib Dem voters were very positive about Starmer, with a higher percentage saying well (63%) compared to Labour voters (54%).
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You may be getting tired of this image, but it adequately describes the Liberal Democrat offer to the electorate.
This is awkward:
The Liberal Democrats are facing criticism over election campaign leaflets that look like local newspapers.
The party, led by Jo Swinson, has distributed material that mimics local papers as part of its election campaign leading to complaints from newspaper editors.
The Society of Editors has condemned the party for what it says “appears to be a concerted effort by the Liberal Democrats to mislead readers and voters”.
Ian Murray, executive director of the Society of Editors, suggested the move showed the party was taking a hypocritical stance on ‘fake news’.
He said: “It is ironic how it is often politicians who complain about fake news but then set out to at least blur the lines for readers – and in this case voters – by packaging their partial messages to ape independent newspapers.
“If political parties were genuine in their desire, often expressed, to both remove the effects of fake news and disinformation as well as support existing regional and local media they would take steps to ensure their political freesheets look markedly different to real newspapers.”
Indeed. This Writer received one through the door yesterday morning.
News from Jo Swinson’s Liberal Democrats, it thunders. When did Jo Swinson take ownership of the party as well as leadership?
And I wonder why Ms Swinson is being pushed as the bright beacon of the future, after her disastrous performances on the campaign trail and her disintegration in front of the BBC Question Time audience.
There’s a headline article about building a brighter future and a load of quotes from more and more people who are apparently backing the Liberal Democrats.
I’m willing to bet if I compared the quotes and the images with other Lib Dem election communications, I’d find the same things attributed to different images with different names. After all, they’ve done it before…
It’s all extremely propagandish and fake.
Still, at least it wasn’t a local leaflet ordering me to vote for them tactically, using a cleverly-inaccurate bar chart to convince me.
What a nauseating, patronising mob. Every time I receive one of their creepy leaflets I become even more determined to vote for someone else.
You may be getting tired of this image, but it adequately describes the Liberal Democrat offer to the electorate.
The Liberal Democrats are apparently enjoying a surge in support in marginal London constituencies – why? In office, they were a disaster for the UK.
Do people really have such short memories that they have forgotten the legacy of the Coalition government? Liberal Democrats helped ruin the UK – especially for young voters such as those who are being targeted by the party now.
As Rhiannon Lucy Coslett points out in The Guardian, the very first thing the Liberal Democrats did in government was renege on their election promises.
Where they had promised to abolish tuition fees, they tripled those fees instead. Current Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson gleefully supported this policy.
The Liberal Democrats also supported the Tory imposition of austerity on people whose income fell below a certain level. Young people most of all.
For further details of Ms Swinson’s “record of shame”, see:
— MerryMichaelW 🎗 😷 #T & T #BlackLivesMatter #BDS (@MerryMichaelW) November 18, 2019
Result: “Now, there are homeless people everywhere, food bank use has skyrocketed, the housing crisis has worsened, the right is now the far right, zero-hours contracts are common, and just over half the country [actually just over half those who voted] has voted to take away its citizens’ ability to live and work in 27 European countries.
“Racism has become normalised. An MP has been murdered, many others threatened and harassed. Disabled people, migrants and black British citizens face a hostile environment.”
These are consequences of Liberal Democrats in government, made possible by people voting for the Liberal Democrats.
Now, the Lib Dems are promising to revoke Article 50 and put a stop to Brexit. They know they will never take enough Parliamentary seats to make this possible.
But they also know that it will take votes away from Labour – online tactical voting tools are advising people to vote Lib Dem in marginals where Labour has the only candidate that could beat the Conservative, according to the 2017 results.
This means that, in many constituencies, a vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote for a Conservative government.
And we can see that the Lib Dems would support the Tories more than Labour. Jo Swinson loathes Jeremy Corbyn, even though – as Ms Coslett notes – Labour is offering what the Liberal Democrats said they wanted: a second referendum. She adds:
“Her party is not focused on reversing generational injustice; on the contrary, it has enabled it. The Lib Dems – with Swinson as a coalition government minister – were happy to work with the Conservatives to slash benefits, cut social care and play havoc with the health service. Their political conscience only seemed to return when Brexit threatened their world view and their interests. Ideologically, they largely overlap with the vanishing “moderate” wing of the Tories – whose MPs are now defecting to the Lib Dem party.”
The message is clear: If you vote Liberal Democrat, you will get Tory. For young people, that is tantamount to self-harm.
Also: what’s this about new evidence which confirms that the Liberal Democrats sold voter data to the Remain campaign in 2016 for almost £100,000 being withheld from public scrutiny by the Information Commissioner’s Office?
And what’s this about the Liberal Democrats spamming voters with junk mail?
Can everyone who is receiving unsolicited mail from Liberal democrats let it be known this is unsolicited mail using a third party which contravenes data protection and surely is breaking not only electoral laws but also laws relating to Data Protection @Liberaldemocrats
— Will Never Vote Labour Again **All Lives Matter** (@Isobel_waby) November 18, 2019
As I write this, the infamous Liberal Democrat policy – of putting bar charts on election literature claiming that their candidate is the only one who can beat the incumbents – is being ridiculed on the BBC’s Politics Live.
It seems they have been printing bar charts showing them as the biggest party in particular constituencies – by omitting the parties that had a higher vote share than them. The example quoted is notable for failing to show the Labour and Brexit Party vote.
So: take the evidence as a whole, rather than just Lib Dem literature, and the accurate picture of the Liberal Democrats is of a party that will promise anything to get into power and then break all those promises without compunction; a party that will lie to the electorate in order to secure votes; a party that will enable the Conservatives to get back into power, even though the majority of its supporters hate the Tories; and a party that will sell all our young people down the river once again – if it gets the opportunity.
You’d have to be crazy to vote Liberal Democrat.
Spread the word.
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Evolve Politics has called this one right, I’d say.
Starting from the terrible position into which the Tories have plunged us – huge and increasing national debt, with profitable public services privatised – it would be impossible for them to provide the investment we need and meet their “budget surplus” rule.
It’s playground economics – and may be worse even than the Tory economic plan revealed by Sajid Javid a few days ago.
The Liberal Democrats have slammed Labour’s plans to invest in public services and promised to put Britain into a state of permanent austerity if they win power in the upcoming General Election on December 12th.
Announcing the party’s economic vision at a speech in Leeds yesterday, the Lib Dem’s Deputy Leader, Ed Davey, hit out at Labour’s promise to pump investment into the NHS and other public services by labelling the plans as “fantasies” which would wreck the country’s finances.
Davey also promised that, if they attained power, the Lib Dems would implement a fiscal rule which would compel them to run a permanent 1% budget surplus at minimum.
Davey’s fiscal rule pledge would mean that, under the Lib Dems, spending on public services would remain permanently lower than the amount brought in through tax reciepts.
The Lib Dems’ plans would effectively prohibit the party from providing any extra investment into public services, such as the NHS or schools, unless the government were able to raise more money through tax rises or spending cuts elsewhere – even if the services were in desperate need of extra funds.
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Too close to Johnson: Jo Swinson (left) has made it seem she is supporting Tory Brexit after announcing her determination to stand a candidate in Canterbury, possibly splitting the vote to allow a hard-Brexiteer Tory to take the seat.
Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson was facing a swingeing attack today – from her own party, as she moved to replace an election candidate who has withdrawn in order to allow a ‘Remain’-supporting Labour representative a stronger chance to beat a Brexiteer Tory.
The decision to replace Tim Walker with another candidate has opened Ms Swinson to accusations that she wants Tory Anna Firth, a former “Vote Leave stalwart” to take the seat from incumbent Rosie Duffield, in a move that would support Boris Johnson’s plan for a ‘hard’ Brexit.
Mr Walker made his feelings clear in a comment piece for The Guardian. He wrote: “In the last election, she [Ms Duffield] won the traditionally Tory seat on the slimmest of margins – fewer than 200 votes – and, while I was confident I could substantially increase the Lib Dem vote on the back of my party’s national resurgence, it was clear there was a danger I’d divide the remainers. That would allow in our common enemy, Anna Firth, the Tory candidate and an avowed hard Brexiter and former Vote Leave stalwart.
“I share with many members of my party locally a visceral dread of the Commons being filled with people like Firth. Trying to stop that happening is now more important than ever given Nigel Farage’s unholy alliance with Johnson.
“I’ve therefore asked that my local party withdraw my nomination papers to stand for Canterbury… The nightmare that kept me awake was posing awkwardly at the count beside a vanquished Duffield as the Tory Brexiter raised her hands in triumph. I wanted no part in that.”
How sad that it seems his party leader does want a part in that.
Almost immediately after Mr Walker made his announcement, the Liberal Democrat leadership announced that Mr Walker would be replaced with another candidate – indicating a willingness to create exactly the situation he wanted to avoid.
Now, local party sources have said all four members approved to stand as MPs have said they will not. And if a candidate is parachuted in by Ms Swinson, they are unlikely to receive any support – and may even be met with negativity.
Genuinely unbelievable. Canterbury’s Lib Dems are literally refusing to stand and the national party is threatening to impose someone on them. It would be hard to imagine a more damaging or counter-productive move from a party which claims to want to stop Brexit. https://t.co/Iml1Dyc38L
I cried with joy when I heard that Tim Walker had stepped down to give Labour's Rosie Duffield a clear run. My faith in politics was restored for 10 whole minutes.Such a selfless action. Now I hear that Lib Dems are going to replace him. Crying again, but not with joy….
— Kerry-Anne Mendoza 🏳️🌈🏴 (@TheMendozaWoman) November 13, 2019
Ultra remainers need to ditch Swinson & get behind Corbyn.
Lib Dem candidate Tim Walker stepped aside to give Labour a clean run & stop the Tories.👏👏👏 What did Swinson do? She vowed to stand another Lib Dem in his place.
Swinson wants Johnson to be PM. She wants Tory Brexit.
And this is not the only problem the Liberal Democrats are facing.
Kevin McNamara has withdrawn as candidate for Thurrock after a series of images emerged purporting to show tweets posted by him that included racial and homophobic slurs.
It seems the Liberal Democrat campaign is falling apart, before it has properly got started.
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Beastrabban, over on his weblog, thinks the Lib Dems are leading their supporters right up the garden path to a “no deal” Brexit.
In response to my article earlier this week in which a Scottish Liberal Democrat MP admitted he would prefer “no deal” to putting Jeremy Corbyn in 10 Downing Street, the Beast wrote:
“I don’t see the Lib Dems as a genuine party of ‘remain’. Their stance on this is a fraud, as is their entire party.
“Apparently, the proportion of Lib Dem members supporting Remain is only 2% higher than the Labour Party. Swinson herself did precious little to back the ‘Remain’ campaign during the referendum. While Corbyn crisscrossed the country, Swinson issued one, lukewarm tweet.
“I very, very much doubt that she personally backs ‘Remain’ at all.
“But she does back the Tories. She consistently voted for all of the Tory government’s policies, including its attacks on the NHS, welfare state, education, the whole lot. She’s a ‘progressive’ who wants to put up a statue to Maggie Thatcher. Who was a friend of the Chilean Fascist General Pinochet.”
He adds that in his opinion “she’s a liar and a fraud. Her party are also lying to you. They want another right-wing government with them in it, which will privatise the NHS and cut welfare benefits even further. They also want a ‘no deal’ Brexit, but realise that to get support they have to pretend to be the party of Remain. And hence all the lying about how Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t have the numbers, isn’t the right man, etc.
“Behind the yellow facade, they’re just Tories. Treat them like it, and don’t listen or give them your precious votes.”
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I’m going to keep using this image because it clearly labels the Liberal Democrats.
Scottish Lib Dem MP Jamie Stone was caught on TV admitting that he would prefer a “no deal” Brexit to Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister, “every time”.
He has since backtracked – spectacularly unconvincingly – on his statement, claiming that the Liberal Democrats are hoping to find a prime ministerial candidate who can muster a majority in the House of Commons that Mr Corbyn can’t manage.
Of course, he neglected to mention that the only reason Mr Corbyn hasn’t secured such a majority is the fact that the LDs are set against him – possibly because they have the bizarre belief that they can foist Jo Swinson on the public as a prime ministerial alternative.
Mr Stone made his comments on the BBC’s Politics Scotland.
The presenter asked: “If no-one else does emerge and the choice that you face is between Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister or a no-deal Brexit, then your position is – you’re a pro-European party, you’re anti no-deal, where do you stand? Is it Jeremy Corbyn or is it no-deal?”
Mr Stone replied: “It is ‘no deal’ every time.”
That seems perfectly clear.
However, he later said: “I was quite clear in the whole interview that I oppose no-deal and oppose putting Jeremy Corbyn into Number 10.
So, “it is ‘no deal’ every time” means “I oppose ‘no deal'”? I don’t believe that.
“I is no use Labour deliberately misquoting me so as to twist the truth.”
It’s not a misquote; it’s what he said.
“People across the UK do not have to choose between no-deal and Corbyn. That is why the Liberal Democrats are working across parties to stop Brexit and want a new Prime Minister who can get the numbers to do that.”
That won’t be Jo Swinson, then. It would be Mr Corbyn. All the Liberal Democrats have to do is swallow their pride and put their weight behind him.
Otherwise, it’s clear they’d rather have “no deal”, as Ray Ellis asserts:
So there you have it: all the other opposition parties will unite behind the Leader of the Opposition to stop No Deal, but the "Bollocks to Brexit" party actually prefers No Deal to 2 weeks of Corbyn in Number 10. https://t.co/FS1sxW4WSU
You’ll have noticed I suggested that the Liberal Democrats actually believe they can get Tory enabler Jo Swinson installed as prime minister, in a weird rejection of reality. This is based on the revelation that they have a plan to win a future general election: “Team 320”.
It seems clear, then, that they are waiting for Boris Johnson to fail in his bid to achieve Brexit by October 31, in the hope that a general election will then win the support of Parliament and that they can win it.
This would be hilarious if it wasn’t so dangerous.
— Gracie Samuels 🌹#NotMyRacistPM #ToriesOutIn2Years (@GracieSamuels) October 2, 2019
Don’t they realise this means they are supporting the Tories’ bid to achieve “no deal”?
There won’t be a majority for a general election until they swing behind Mr Corbyn, so all they are doing is offering Boris Johnson more time to get the Brexit he wants.
And haven’t they worked out that they’re looking for support from the very people they shafted, in Coalition with those “no deal” Tories up until four short years ago?
#JoSwinsonFacts is asking people to donate £100 per month to the .@LibDems these are the very same people she voted with the Tories to axe their benefits! Including cutting benefits to disabled people and confiscating their cars leaving them suicidal and housebound.
— Gracie Samuels 🌹#NotMyRacistPM #ToriesOutIn2Years (@GracieSamuels) October 2, 2019
Jo Swinson is an embarrassment to politics. So is Jamie Stone.
But a worse embarassment would be letting them screw up our chance to get rid of our festering Boris Johnson-infested Tory government.
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This is nothing but sheer cheek from Jo Swinson and her Liberal Democrat upstarts.
They have said they are keen to consider electoral pacts with other pro-Remain political parties – but not Labour.
What make them think Labour would ever give them the option?
Liberal Democrats are liars.
They are right-wingers – Tory-lite, one might say – who will allow anyone into their party if it boosts their representation in the House of Commons.
They are not democrats – they have just voted to unilaterally revoke Brexit, if elected into government (fortunately that will never happen).
They mislead the public whenever possible – consider Jo Swinson’s claim that an electoral pact worked in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election. The Guardian reported her as saying:
There was obviously success for that kind of arrangement in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election. Plaid Cymru and the Green party stood aside, stood shoulder to shoulder if you like, with the Liberal Democrats and Jane Dodds was elected to be a very unequivocal voice in parliament for remain. So, that happened already and it’s successful.
In fact the boost to the Liberal Democrats was negligible and a convicted criminal – Chris Davies, the Conservative candidate – would have been elected again if the Brexit Party had not been standing.
Jo Swinson is a habitual liar; she just can’t seem to stop.
And if her party has been anything different since 2010, she is certainly modelling it in her own lying image now.
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This bird is dead – as dead as any reputation for honesty the Liberal Democrats may have once had.
This investigation by Koser Saeed of Spotlight Newspaper UK on Facebook speaks for itself.
But just in case you need the result of the evidence spelt out for you: The Liberal Democrats spent months promising to act on Female Genital Mutilation, then voted against a law to do just that.
You can be sure they’ll treat their resolutions at this year’s party conference with the same cavalier insincerity.
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Hypocrisy: Vince Cable, who was a minister in the Coalition government and oversaw the disastrous privatisation of the Royal Mail as well as voting for the increase in tuition fees, is set to announce the new policy at the Liberal Democrat conference.
The Liberal Democrats are saying they want to give people £9,000 to fund learning, nine years after they reneged on their promise to end university tuition fees and increased them to £9,000 instead.
Does Jo Swinson think we have forgotten?
It was the fundamental betrayal that set the tone of the so-called ConDem coalition for the next five years.
Here’s the Mirror to explain the idea:
A motion at this weekend’s party conference will see Vince Cable push a £1.5 billion plan for a universal Education and Skills Account which would see the Government hand every person £3,000 when they turn 25, 40 and 55.
The amounts would be designed to “encourage workers to retrain into shortage occupations”.
It is hugely hypocritical of Swinson’s party.
This is the party that took away people’s ability to get the qualifications they needed for the career they wanted.
Now it says it would use the money from that policy to shoe-horn the same people into jobs a Liberal Democrat government would say are needed.
This is a policy to deny people the ability to choose their own careers; their own paths in life.
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