Northern Ireland will have a nationalist leader for the first time in its more-than-100-year history after last week’s local elections. But will the unionists accept it?
Ever since the power sharing agreement was set up that made the NI Assembly in Stormont possible, the leadership has been held by a Democratic Unionist Party representative.
In practise, the post is interchangeable with that of the deputy leader, but the role is also symbolic – and the unionists may decide they don’t like the symbol they’ll be asked to support.
This Writer has previously heard rumbles that suggest the unionists would abandon the power-sharing agreements if they can’t be the leaders; that would have serious consequences for the representation of democracy. How can an elected assembly be democratic if only one party can be allowed to take the leadership?
It seems those rumours are not set to become reality quite yet. But the unionists are demanding changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol that prevents a hard border between NI and the Republic of Ireland by keeping Northern Ireland inside the European Union’s (EU) single market for goods. It also creates a new trade border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
The demand isn’t unreasonable; there should not be a hard trade border between one part of the United Kingdom and the others.
But it is a part of the agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland in 1998 that there should be no hard border between it and the Republic.
And the UK’s departure from the European Union means that a border where goods and people passing through are checked has to be placed somewhere, because the Republic is a member of that bloc.
It’s a problem that can’t be solved, it seems. Certainly the UK’s Tory government seems to have no intention of trying, with promoted-past-his-pay-grade Northern Ireland Secretary Damian Lewis hinting that there will be no plan to introduce new legislation on the protocol in the Queen’s Speech next week.
There may be leeway for discussion; new assembly members have until the end of 2024 to vote on whether to continue with the parts of the protocol that create an internal trade border within the UK.
One aspect of the change to a majority nationalist assembly that is unlikely to cause trouble – at least for now – is Sinn Fein’s aspiration to unite the Province with the Republic once again.
The law rules that the UK’s Northern Ireland Secretary may only agree to hold a referendum on reunification if it seems a majority of people in the Province are likely to support that change – and that hasn’t happened yet.
The most recent opinion poll, published in April, puts support at around 33 per cent.
Party leader Mary Lou McDonald has said planning for a unity referendum – also known as a border poll – would come within a five-year framework.
So it seems that, even if a way can be found to resolve problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol, arguments are likely to break out over reunification.
It seems clear that Northern Ireland’s history will continue to be difficult for some time to come.
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Public opinion is swinging wildly against Boris Johnson over the allegations that a huge Christmas party was held in 10 Downing Street last December. But how far does it have to swing before his Tory colleagues stab him in the back and find another leader?
We all know what’s happened by now: a video clip has been made public, showing Downing Street staff laughing about a party at Downing Street on December 18, 2020, and discussing how to lie about it if questions are ever asked.
The revelation that government officials, and possibly ministers, were whooping it up at a time when the rest of London was in Tier 3 lockdown and people were dying alone because of social distancing restrictions they had helped impose, has provoked a wide variety of responses.
Some have been humorous (be warned that the first clip includes part of the Wham! track Last Christmas, so if you’re playing Whamageddon you may not wish to hear it. The second clip is also based on that track but isn’t the track itself so you should be okay):
Let me get this right. The Cabinet Secretary is going to investigate a party which didn't happen, but which he attended. He will then take his findings to Spaffer, who will decide whether to take the report to the Met – who have already decided not to investigate!!!😂😂
— Sarah Pegg🏴#RepublicofScotland (@sarahpegg9) December 8, 2021
If you’ve got the power to check security tapes and visitor logs
Funny how the media can find Matt Hancock having a fumble in a locked room, yet 50 people can have a party in actual 10 Downing St and not a single lobby journalist hears about it for a year.
John Bercow – "I'm sorry to say it, but I've known 12 Prime Minister's in my lifetime & by a country mile Boris Johnson is the worst… this guy stinks in the nostrils of decent people" #GMBpic.twitter.com/V2PIUAVF6M
This is a reversal of the usual situation, which puts the Tories on around 40 per cent and Labour in the low 30s. Keir Starmer has certainly done nothing to make this happen so the responsibility lies entirely with Johnson.
And with the media full of people in North Shropshire telling us how they’re planning to turn their back on the Conservative by-election candidate because of Johnson, it may be only a matter of days before Tory MPs decide to ditch him.
It’s what they always do, when a leader becomes a liability. And there’s ample evidence that that is what he has become.
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But don’t get any grand ideas – this commentator has it right:
Fwiw, I don't think it'll last. This is just damage to the Tories. A sustained long-term Labour poll lead requires the party to really start convincing people of their proposition.
Under Britain's archaic and preposterously unrepresentative voting system, they'd almost certainly still only get 1 MP if they won 11% of the vote at a General Election!
The Conservatives have lost their poll lead to Labour – momentarily. It’s not because of anything Labour has done, therefore Labour is not likely to maintain it.
The beneficiary of the votes the Tories lost is the Green Party – possibly because of the backlash against the Tories for allowing the wholesale pollution of our rivers with untreated sewage.
But the Greens are no threat to anybody for the reason AAV describes: it would translate to just one Commons seat, as usual.
Unless the First Past The Post system is scrapped in favour of proportional representation, no smaller party will ever gain influence.
And neither Labour nor the Tories will have that!
Which means that, even with a (temporary) poll lead, Labour is propping up the Conservatives.
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Keir Starmer and Jeremy Corbyn: One of these has seen his popularity plummet after he attacked the other with false accusations. Can you tell which?
Sewage may be in the UK’s waterways but Keir Starmer is in the sewage, according to his latest poll ratings.
It’s all because he forced Labour into a factional war by barring former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn from the Parliamentary Labour Party – a year ago today (October 29).
… but it seems likely that most people have lost patience altogether and are looking elsewhere for their inspiration:
It’s been a year to the day that Jeremy Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party.
I spent months calling for them to return the whip, as did you, but now I would urge Jeremy and other socialists to come together and tell Labour where to shove it.
A year today since Jeremy Corbyn was suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party. To still be a member, but being barred as sitting as one shows how vindictive and venal the leadership now is and the stark contrast to the hope we once had.
Labour under Starmer has become infamous as a prejudiced persecution factory – to the point where it is constantly mocked on the social media for having abandoned all its policies to crusade against its own members:
'Hi! I'm from the Labour Party.' 'Great, tell me about your policies.' 'Well we hate Corbyn.' 'Uhuh. Anything else?' 'We scream "Antisemite!" at anyone who supports him.' 'OK. Anything…?' 'Here's a leaflet about how much we hate Corbyn.' 'Yeah…' 'Want a poster of Starmer?'
It seems, then, that if he is in the sewage, Starmer is in exactly the right place. Why would anybody vote for such a shower of sh*t?
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Here’s some ridiculous pro-Starmer propaganda from LabourList:
New polling has found that 47% of businesses say perceptions of the Labour Party have improved under the leadership of Keir Starmer, changing for the better compared to when Jeremy Corbyn was leader.
So 53 per cent of businesses say perceptions of the Labour Party haven’t improved. That’s the majority, isn’t it?
Look further down the article and you find that only one-third of businesses think Starmer is right for the job – meaning two-thirds don’t.
And young businesspeople still prefer Corbyn – although only by a larger minority: 46 per cent to 25 per cent who prefer Starmer – who is said to be “favoured” by those aged over 35, although the site does not provide any figures. Ashamed?
It all seems academic in any event, as a clear majority of businesspeople – 55 per cent – said a Tory government under that hopeless idiot Boris Johnson would be better for large businesses than anything Starmer had to offer, while 45 per cent of small- and medium-sized business leaders preferred Johnson, against just under 23 per cent for Starmer.
Those are terrible figures – and this poll was taken before this year’s Labour conference. I wonder how much worse Starmer would fare now.
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Keir Starmer: he was wrong and can’t admit it. The best he can do is quit but he’ll never willingly release the power he has, even if it is only power to attack his own party members.
The social media were full of this yesterday:
Labour takes the lead for the first time since January in our latest Westminster voting intention poll (8-9 Sep)
That’s right. Keir Starmer’s Labour was said to be ahead of Boris Johnson’s Conservatives for the first time since January, and Starmer’s fan club was crowing about it.
A pithy analysis from James Foster, there. Here’s some more detail – and I’ll pick out the most important elements:
2/ 35% is on the high end of #Labour's polling range under #Starmer this past year but it does not represent a significant uptick in support from what we've come to expect. The really interesting figure is that the Tories are on 33%…
4/ … and this is possibly the first time they have dropped below the high 30s. Essentially, the Tories have spent the past year chipping away at their own support base through mismanaging #COVID19, corruption and now the NI rise. Yet #Labour has barely benefitted…
6/ At this point its worth remembering that all polling is relative. When the Tories were up near 50% in May, it wasn't necessarily a sign of their huge popularity but their popularity relative to the available alternatives…
“Labour hasn’t crept into the lead, the Tories have snuck in behind them.”
8/ … and this is because the Tory narrative has never been seriously contested and there has been no functioning opposition. A lot of people have questioned why the Tories could remain so popular despite so many cock ups…
“Labour’s popularity hasn’t grown in any real sense.
“The Tory polling lead was softer than it appeared and this is because the Tory narrative has never been seriously contested and there has been no functioning opposition.”
And there is still no functioning opposition, is what they’re saying here.
10/ The combined vote share of the two main parties is now 68%. So while #Labour is comparatively more popular relative to the Tories, the main parties are together less popular than they were against all the other available alternatives…
“Perhaps [the Tories] never were that popular… just… preferable to Starmer’s godawful leadership.
“Starmer has never presented an alternative for people to vote for.
“The two parties are [now] together less popular than they were against all the other available alternatives.”
12/ This isn't good for Labour. Despite a big collapse in Tory support the party has failed to break out of the polling range it has been in for ages now. The lower base of Labour support this year has been 29 – 30%. 35% is a comparative high for them…
14/ It's also just one poll and may be an outlier. However, judging on past performance, #Starmer's team will likely see it as a vindication of their present "strategy," even though it absolutely isn't.
“Starmer’s team will likely see it as a vindication of their present “strategy”, even though it absolutely isn’t.”
And they did too. Fortunately, we have real people on the social media to bring the debate back down to Earth:
So, according to @YouGov, Labour have apparently gone up one whole percentage point in recent voter intention polls.
Perhaps @Keir_Starmer and all the other centrists and right-wingers, currently doing a merry jig, could tell us where the other 19 points promised got too?
No reason for Labour to cue the darts music and declare victory here
They're only in the lead (within the margin of error) by virtue of standing still as nearly one in ten Tory voters switch to Reform UK and a fith to Don't Know – who share their name with Labour's care policy https://t.co/PLXmH1Uz6N
And here’s a good reason. In fact, looking at Starmer’s performance failure in his interview with Beth Rigby, it will be good to compare what happened – and what was said about it – with what centrist mainstream media reporters said about Starmer after he was elected Labour leader.
The comparison shows up the centrist melts badly.
Exclusive: In Stoke today w @Keir_Starmer on a visit to a 6th form college – Asked 6 times, he finally says he backs a “wealth tax” (details to be worked out) to pay for social care – And why his conference speech is NOT make or break On @skynews 5pm pic.twitter.com/TkxrQNZU4y
#Starmer to @BethRigby after a school visit where pupils said he was ‘nice’ but not a ‘leader’: Starmer: ‘Leaders come in all shapes and sizes’. Leadership is neither a shape or a size. It’s this elusive quality that makes ppl believe, trust and follow.#RedFlag
Oh my God. Probably THE worst interview I've seen a politician give. Truly.
This is the tragic issue we have in Labour – Starmer is a man utterly devoid of policy or principle, destroying the party and offering zero opposition.
What’s going to happen at the next election when the media actually goes for him? He’s had an easy ride for 18 months and the public already don’t trust himpic.twitter.com/wbCoZYz18g
U.K. is so screwed. Watching Keir Starmer mumble and deflect answering a question on wealth tax was cringeworthy. A simple yes or no would have sufficed. Yet he couldn’t do it and the public are supposed to believe Labour are the answer to Tories 🤯 no difference between them.
This … the most puzzling aspect of the whole mess. But I guess the anti-Corbyn brigade within Labour gave every waking moment to his removal and simply had no time left for ideas or policies. https://t.co/3WZRnkh0ry
So has the British public – of Starmer and of his cult followers, both in the Labour party, the newspapers and television.
The issue that made Starmer choke in the Beth Rigby interview was reform of social care – causing deep confusion among Labour supporters who know that the party had devised a plan for a workable National Care Service along the same lines as the NHS.
Starmer could have – and should have – pushed it down Ms Rigby’s throat.
This is an incredible bit of work, put together by people who were serious about transforming social care. Any @UKLabour MP with integrity should be mining it for answers to the crisis we’re in right now, irrespective of what wing of the party they are on. https://t.co/5gxif4LQJbpic.twitter.com/dLaAvcaNy6
Burnham spot on here that we need a National Care Service. Rightly bold of him to deliver the point the day after Starmer rejected the idea. https://t.co/NQbqRaOJoL
Meanwhile, the creeps with whom Starmer has surrounded himself in preference to honest, genuine socialist politicians (he’s busy smearing them as anti-Semites, remember) are lining up to line their pockets…
You read stuff like this and think it really could be game over for Labour. A collection of spivs and 80s has-beens no discernibly different to the Tories.
And Starmer is still attacking his own – although his latest unjust assault against Young Labour chair Jess Barnard has collapsed after she called in her lawyers.
Skwawkbox explains what happened:
On Friday, Labour sent an email to Young Labour chair Jess Barnard, warning her that she was under investigation for supposedly ‘hostile’ language – when Barnard had in fact been ‘challenging transphobia’. The party quickly wilted under legal threat from her legal representatives and ‘rescinded’ the letter with a grovelling apology, claiming it had been sent ‘in error’.
The letter had been sent to Ms Barnard, who has made no secret of the mental stress she has suffered because of a series of vicious character attacks on her and Young Labour with no hint of support for her from the party’s leadership, at 1am on Friday.
Friday was World Suicide Prevention Day.
This is the state of the Labour leadership now.
This is Labour under Starmer.
He is the reason Labour is not popular – and no amount of “fluffing” by his client journalists will ever make him or his cronies acceptable to the public.
“What makes Keir Starmer so disappointing, is that unlike his predecessor, who gave supporters hope, he seems hell-bent on crushing it.”
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Please share the image, or even tweet it to @Keir_Starmer if you like it.
Keir Starmer’s recent past is catching up with him, if the latest approval ratings are any indicator.
And there is worse to come, judging by early responses to his latest moves.
The figures put Starmer’s approval rating at -39. It is a sad indictment against him that his most favourable rating comes not from Labour voters, but from supporters of the Liberal Democrats. Perhaps they believe he’ll open up electoral chances for them…
BREAKING: Starmer's approval has fallen to -39
Poll: "Do you think Keir Starmer is doing well or badly as leader of the Labour party?"
In contract with current prime minister Boris Johnson, Starmer also comes off poorly. Remember, this is Starmer’s rating against a known, habitual liar whose Brexit has caused a national food shortage, whose response to Covid-19 has killed around 200,000 people while corruptly funnelling cash to Tory donors and whose retreat from Afghanistan was so poorly-planned it may be likened more accurately to a rout.
Against this failure of a prime minister, Keir Starmer is 18 points behind…
At this moment, which of the following individuals do you think would be the better Prime Minister for the United Kingdom? (29 Aug):
— Redfield & Wilton Strategies (@RedfieldWilton) August 30, 2021
And nearly a year and a half after becoming Labour leader to shouts of joy from right-wing tubthumpers who swore that anybody but Jeremy Corbyn would put Labour 20 points ahead of the Tories, Starmer has put his party eight points behind…
… and questions are being asked about whether even this position is being artificially aided by right-wing media coverage after a period in charge that would have seen multiple challenges to his immediate forerunner:
That Starmer polls so badly and so consistently for over a year and yet the media is silent about a need for a leadership review is troubling to say the least and it leads to question about their impartiality.
— John Smith (son of Harry Leslie Smith) (@Harryslaststand) August 30, 2021
Latest developments in the Starmer debacle include a decision to refuse New Labour stalwart and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham an opportunity to make a speech at the party conference later this month:
The decision to block Burnham’s Labour conference speech shows how precarious Starmer’s position has become. https://t.co/0TjgP0uyv7
— Kevin Pascoe #PoliticsOfFairness (@KevinPascoe) August 30, 2021
Then there are these developments – some of which This Site has already covered:
This week in Labour:
• Labour staff vote for strike action • Young Labour reveal they’ve been silenced from participating at conference • Man who made Labour Party Political Broadcasts expelled • Oldest Trade Union affiliate expelled
He stands accused of hypocrisy as he prepares to betray one of his own leadership election pledges in order to exclude Ian Hodson, BFAWU president, from membership on fabricated, trumped-up charges:
As @Keir_Starmer prepares to exclude Bakers Union boss, Ian Hodson let us remind ourselves of his Pledge number 7 of 10, which he was elected as party leader:
'To strengthen workers’ rights and trade unions” — working “shoulder to shoulder with trade unions.” '
He is silent about current Tory plans to increase the privatisation of the National Health Service (because he supports them? I’ll be publishing an article on this shortly):
What the hell is @UKLabour doing about the privatisation of the #NHS. Not hearing much at all from them???
— Rose Shillito 🟨🟥 #FreeAssange (@rozzleberry) August 30, 2021
Meanwhile Starmer’s crusade against socialists in a democratic socialist party continues. Is it because the Labour Left is the only wing of the party that is actually pushing him to do his job?
Labour left pushes Keir Starmer to oppose cut to triple lock after '40 years of state pension squeeze' https://t.co/XDaf4wpB0e
As James Meadway points out, below, this is elementary politics. Starmer should know that it is an opportunity to claim thousands of votes from Boris Johnson’s Tories at the next election, but seems uninterested. Perhaps the rumours are accurate and he really is trying to undermine his own party?
Of course Labour should defend the triple lock. Aside from the merits of the case, Tories breaking a manifesto promise to hit their own base is a free gift electorally. https://t.co/AY17Dx7VK6
Underpinning everything is the false pretext for the removal of left-wingers: Starmer’s fake crusade against anti-Semitism.
Among the latest victims of this is Graham Bash. His crime? Signing an open letter from a proscribed organisation – 18 months before it was proscribed.
Those who know him, know that Graham Bash is a decent, thoughtful, principled & empathetic socialist (he would hate me saying this, but he’s not on any social media, so…) Now he’s auto-excluded from @UKLabour, along with scores of other left-wing Jews 🤬https://t.co/m1il69sXlE
Mr Bash is, of course, Jewish – and this fact alone makes a mockery of Starmer’s crusade. Think about it – he is expelling Jewish people as anti-Semites.
Doesn’t work, does it?
It cannot be just that Graham Bash, a Jewish socialist, a campaigner for over 50 years for Labour Party & trade union movement is now threatened with expulsion on these derisory charges. I support Graham & call for this disgraceful action to be dropped. https://t.co/wSe4ldUB8q
There is a possible reason for this illogical behaviour, though.
Starmer is widely believed to be acting under orders from the Board of Deputies of British Jews – a Tory-dominated organisation that campaigned hard (but failed) to depose Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour leadership.
It has now been revealed that the BoD works closely with the Israeli Embassy and has strong links with the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs (which campaigned against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to pressure Israel into ending its persecution of Palestine) and the Israel Defence Force (the Israeli military who seem to spend much of their time murdering defenceless Palestinians).
In other words, this organisation appears to be an arm of the Israeli government dedicated to influencing UK political advantages to carry out policies supporting that foreign power, rather than helping the people of the UK.
And Starmer is their puppet.
So, the Board of Deputies, an org that worked tirelessly to remove Corbyn, has said for the first time in it's 2020 Trustees' Report, that it has a "close working relationship with the Embassy of Israel in the UK" and "links to the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs & IDF." pic.twitter.com/aJ2PUoshjX
People are, understandably, angry that Starmer is fighting an undeclared war on the left of his own party…
I’m sorry but how are we meant to unite with the Labour right “to get rid of the Tories” when the Labour right are going to war with us – the left – instead of the Tories?
There are clear implications for Labour’s future electoral chances:
Any party wanting support of the Corbynite/socialist left is going to have to make it clear they denounce the fabricated 'Labour antisemitism crisis' created by HQ staffers to discredit Corbyn & the left, by weaponising & overstating antisemitism in Labour, because #ItWasAScam
I feel so proud to no longer be part of the cesspit that Labour now is. It is totally liberating not to have to abide by their rules or their ridiculous racist hierarchies. Free the people. Long live socialism.
That is how matters stand at the time of writing – although as I have been typing, This Writer has no doubt that Starmer and his cronies will have found another way to sabotage their own party.
At a time when the UK has the worst Government in its history, it also has the worst Opposition in its history. What a disaster.
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It will take more than yet another relaunch to save Keir Starmer’s Labour Party leadership.
And that’s doubly true when the slogan he chose – “Winning The Future” – corresponds with the Internet acronym WTF, which means “What The F***”.
That’s just a tone-deaf indication that the Labour leader is entirely out-of-touch with the rest of the UK, and particularly the electorate from whom he still demands support that he won’t get.
Pollsters Redfield and Wilton Strategies (who?) have recorded their lowest-ever net approval rating for Starmer: minus 18 per cent.
We all know the problem and we all know there is only one way to solve it:
It doesn’t matter what your Labour faction is; whether you’re a Blairite, a Corbyn supporter, a centrist, a Brownite, a Bennite or a Yvette Cooper fan, there is only one way to interpret this graph and only one solution to fix it. He has to go and go soon. https://t.co/BaoTetBvWK
Not against the Conservatives. Not against the dire response to Covid-19. Not against the disaster that is Brexit. Not against political corruption. Not against the injustices that have been heaped upon working-class people over the last 11 years of imbecilic Tory blunderings.
No – Team Starmer supports all of that insanity.
Instead, it seems the plan is to fight back against Jeremy Corbyn, who was recently proved right in his 20-year opposition of UK troops going to war in Afghanistan – and against the “straw man” pretend version of anti-Semitism that Starmer’s right-wing supporters have created in order to expel good socialists from the party.
A report quoted below refers to comments by Starmer insiders, referring to Corbyn’s suspension from the party, reinstatement, and suspension from the Parliamentary party:
“We looked on that as a moment of strength, but it seems the public saw it as weakness because one minute he was suspended, then he wasn’t, then he was again,” one source reveals. “All people took away from it was the mess and vacillation.”
A senior shadow minister adds: “What scares the Tories more than anything is if we make it clear that the loonies aren’t part of us anymore. The problem we have is we are 15 months into Keir’s leadership and we’re still talking about Corbyn and anti-Semitism.”
But one influential figure points out that unless the former leader complies with Starmer’s demands, he simply won’t be a Labour candidate at the next election. Crucially, despite his big majority, they are convinced Corbyn will lose if he runs as an independent.
There are so many false assumptions here that the mind boggles at how these people managed to squirm their way into positions of influence.
Firstly: there is no reason to believe the public thought Labour had been indecisive about the problem of Jeremy Corbyn, because most people don’t think Jeremy Corbyn is the problem. The problem is the determination of the swivel-eyed right-wingers to demonise him.
Next: The Tories aren’t worried that people like the “senior shadow minister” will be able to demonstrate that “the loonies aren’t part of us anymore”. That will never happen – that person is one of the loonies. It is the right-wing purge of Labour Party members who have done no wrong that is insane.
Starmer does have a problem in the fact that Labour is still bogged down in its attempts to persecute Corbyn and its false-flag “anti-Semitism” attack on left-wingers. But that’s not going to stop because of anything they do; it is being perpetuated by Tories like the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Why would they stop making false claims that weaken Labour and make it unable to oppose the Tories that they support?
This is the only explanation of the current situation that makes any sense at all.
As for whether Corbyn would fail to win an election as an independent – it’s a valid argument. No former Labour MP who has stood as an independent in recent history has got anywhere.
But Corbyn is not those people. They were all on the side of the Starmerites quoted above. And Corbyn’s popularity is demonstrable – he attracted rallies of tens of thousands of people as party leader while Starmer struggles to attract 10. They are making the critical mistake of comparing an apple with excrement.
Look at the comments attached to the quoted passage on Twitter. Solomon Hughes points out that “They think ‘we are not loonies’ is a winning message and have made a mess even of that.” Yes – because their actions scream the opposite.
And Aaron Bastani – himself demonised in some quarters – points out that denying Corbyn his Labour candidacy would simply “undermine” any campaign.
In politics there are enough problems without intentionally creating new ones.
Idea Labour would fight next GE – & a major talking point is the former leader is not allowed to run as a candidate – would massively undermine any campaign.
Starmer can’t even inspire hatred. His critics are simply sad that he has failed so monumentally.
Sad thing about Starmer, he could've kept 90% of 2017/19 manifesto, stood up to the Tories, hired a balanced cabinet, emboldened the membership, shown some backbone & he'd be on 45%+ by now. But he chose to listen to Mandelson instead, & is now dooming us to 5 more yrs of Tories.
… except where it comes to the witch-hunt. That has blood boiling – and rightly so.
Among the latest people to face false – let me reiterate it strongly: false – accusation is Pamela Fitzpatrick, a former applicant to succeed Jennie Formby as Labour’s General Secretary (Starmer appointed David Evans to the job and has yet to gain the approval of the party-at-large for the decision. Their record of persecution against large swathes of the membership suggests that this will now never happen).
She is facing auto-exclusion because she was interviewed by the proscribed organisation Socialist Appeal in May 2020 – more than a year before the decision was made to remove it and its members from any association with the party.
At that time, she had no reason to believe she was doing anything wrong. My understanding is that there was nothing in what she said that would justify penalties of any kind at all.
Absolutely sickening Stalinist behaviour from team Keith, team Paint, team resurrect Blair, team Mandy's back, or whatever they'll be called at the next relaunch. Whatever they are, it's unelectable, undemocratic & certainly not socialist.
Being threatened for expulsion from Labour for giving an interview to an organisation over a year *before* it was banned, seriously? This is the sort of thing the Soviet Union did under Stalin. Not a peep from the media that country’s main opposition party is doing it too. https://t.co/kWh1q5D1L8
It’s true. A new left-wing political organisation fronted by Corbyn and McDonnell would eclipse StarmerLabour humiliatingly, from startup.
But this is a battle for the soul of the Labour Party and – whether misguided or not – McDonnell and the other socialist Labour MPs have planted their flag there.
Others have also put their heads above the parapet:
I cannot see how expelling members for being 'guilty by association' in any way makes Labour more electable. Just look at the popularity of the 2017 election manifesto, imagine it without the PLP/media attacking the leadership and imagine what where we could be as a party.
Personally, I would take Ms Formby’s words more seriously if she had not presided over such “guilt by association” expulsions herself, while she was General Secretary. One of the false accusations against me followed that pattern. I pointed this out to her in correspondence but she never bothered to reply.
That said, the point she makes is valid.
We established during my NCC hearing that the reason Labour expelled me had nothing to do with its fabricated anti-Semitism claims; it was because I am a journalist who had criticised Labour policy fairly and accurately while being a party member.
It seems fairness is forbidden in Starmer’s right-wing party.
Tom London identifies the rot:
"Somebody must have made a false accusation against Josef K., for he was arrested one morning without having done anything wrong" – Kafka, The Trial
Something KAFKAESQUE is happening inside Starmer's Labour Party
Many facing expulsions without reasons, evidence or due process
Yes, BeastRabban is under investigation; he received the letter last week. The accusations are risible; it seems he is being persecuted because he wrote an article discussing comments by Tony Greenstein (a Jew who has long since been thrown out of the party). Guilt by association, again.
Leftworks, below, discusses one of the comments for which the Beast stands accused in detail, but the others are well worth examination too:
Just as a matter of interest: one of the charges against David Sivier is this. Apparently this is the quality of evidence that anonymous accusers have levelled against him. Seriously, this is part of the case against him. Someone actually wrote this charge down.@MidWalesMikepic.twitter.com/PYYoJTF0fy
— leftworks #WeAreCorbyn #IStandWithCraigMurray (@leftworks1) August 23, 2021
Yes indeed. The phrase “Two Jews, three opinions” is actually the title of a collection of quotations by American Jews, compiled by Sandee Brawarsky, arts and culture editor of Jewish Week, and Deborah Mark.
The use of the other quotations in Labour’s accusation suggest that the party now considers any criticism of Zionism as it is practised by the Israeli government, and/or that government itself, is unacceptable – no matter what is done in their name.
Does that seem reasonable to you?
Also considered beyond the pale is the claim that people who hold entirely reasonable opinions that are critical of Israel are being vilified, harassed and purged as racists and anti-Semites – despite the fact that the accusations against BeastRabban are an example of exactly such vilification and harassment – and that he faces being purged because of them.
What next from the @UKLabour – expelled for reading the Morning Star and The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist 😳😳😳😳
— SUSAN SIMPSON #NeverTrustaTory (@smartysue) August 23, 2021
Indeed.
It is this unreasonable – fascist – persecution of perfectly good Labour members on unreasonable grounds that marks out Starmer’s supporters such as those quoted above as the very kind of “loonies” they claim to oppose.
And it is Starmer’s own endorsement of the opinions taken by these supporters that has pitched him over the cliff-edge of public opinion and into the void.
He’ll never get out and Labour will never win an election with him at the helm. He’ll steer the party unerringly (dare I say forensically?) into oblivion.
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Rage: is this how Boris Johnson reacted to his latest fall in the opinion of the general public? Probably not. He’s so self-absorbed that he probably hasn’t noticed or doesn’t care.
Boris Johnson is now less popular with the UK’s voters than in January when the nation was in the grip of a Covid-19 wave he had failed to prevent, according to a new Opinium poll.
His approval rating is at -16, with 34 per cent approving and 49 per cent disapproving. Rounding accounts for the drop from -15 to -16.
Matters may become worse for the Bullingdon bully after an article stated that he is, basically, an emotionally-stunted overgrown schoolboy and is unfit for public office:
When you grasp this simple fact, in my case after a lifetime of conditioning myself to believe the opposite, so much slots in to place. Excellent article by @BeardRichard. Can’t wait to read his book. https://t.co/XlR2T4Ooyl
He had to be told how the Labour way “traditionally differs from the Tories”.
That has to be hugely worrying for the vast majority of Labour Party members and supporters: the party’s leader needed to be told how his approach needs to be different – nearly a year and a half after he got the job!
Interestingly, when Opinium asked voters who they would prefer to be prime minister, the most popular choice was “neither”.
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Boris Johnson: it seems we all think it’s time for him to go. He won’t accept that, of course.
He won’t be panicking.
Boris Johnson will be doing what every other Tory leader does when they take a pummelling in the polls – he’ll be telling himself there’s plenty of time to bounce back.
With a new lie, perhaps?
According to several mainstream papers (I’m taking the information from iNews), Johnson’s person rating among readers of Tory blog ConservativeHome has fallen by a massive 36 points – from 39 to just three.
Apparently the reason for this is his reluctance to self-isolate after being in close contact with somebody found to have Covid-19 (his own Health Secretary Sajid Javid, as it happened).
So it seems people really do care if ministers behave as though there’s one rule for the mob and a different rule for elites like them – and these people were Conservatives, which means their opinions actually mean something to Johnson and his grasping rabble.
Worse still, this dissatisfaction with a prime minister who ignores his own rules for personal gain seems to be translating into electoral abandonment, with an Ipsos MORI poll showing public satisfaction with Johnson’s government has fallen to its lowest in nine months.
And a YouGov poll added that the Tories could struggle to hold up to 16 seats in their traditional heartlands. That’s not the recently-aquired Red Wall, where people might be expected to ‘float’ back to Labour; it’s what have previously been Tory strongholds.
One wonders where these people would go. Not to Keir Starmer’s Fake Labour, that’s for sure. He’s even less trustworthy than Johnson (as the current controversy over one of his MPs writing for The Sun demonstrates).
And that’s what This Writer thinks the Tories are failing to grasp: that, after two years of his dishonest antics, people have realised that Johnson is an out-and-out liar who has only stayed where he is because Parliament’s rules have protected him.
But that can’t stop people seeing the facts – either via Peter Stefanovic’s viral video (which may need updating after all of the lies Johnson has uttered since it was originally edited together)…
This week Boris Johnsons approval rating is down 35%.
… and after Dawn Butler was ejected from Parliament by an acting deputy Speaker, for the heinous crime of listing the facts about Johnson’s lies.
But now we come to the other side of this coin; if people are deserting Johnson and the Tories, where will they go?
And the answer is clear: they won’t go to Keir Starmer’s poisonous Fake Labour.
Even after the self-isolation/dishonesty revelations about Boris Johnson, the voting intention polls look like this, and Damo is right to draw the conclusion he does:
Starmer’s personal rating is much worse, after a year in which he has relentlessly pursued and persecuted socialists who used to form the backbone of the party with false accusations of anti-Semitism, has pandered to the Tory narrative about Covid-19 even when it has caused more infections and deaths, and has lied about his own policies – rejecting those on which he was elected Labour leader and offering nothing to replace them because he knows if we discover his real plans, his party will end up consisting of himself and Wes Streeting:
Oh dear. What a shame.
And you brought it all on by yourself, @Keir_Starmer: it didn’t have to be this way.
There’s an obvious answer – for both parties: ditch the leader.
History shows that voters forgive parties with unpopular leaders if they get new ones – even if this does not result in a policy change.
It seems the British people are extremely shallow in this respect.
The first party to grasp this fact will be the one that gains most in the post-Covid political landscape that we are all soon to inhabit.
But Starmer – and Johnson – are both stubborn political survivalists.
Will they accept the inevitable? Or will they try to put it off at any cost, thereby causing huge harm to their party’s electability?
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