What I’ve come to realise about Keir Starmer….

Did any of you watch the TV programme ‘Keir Starmer: Up Close’. I thought he came across as very relaxed and endearing. Certainly, he’s not a comedian/clown/buffoon like Johnson, and I’m sure he must be on his guard a lot of the time. Let’s face it, if he blinks the media criticises him! Anyway, on the Up Close programme he appeared to let the guard down and seemed like a very honest, nice bloke. There was also an Up Close with Rishi Sunak as well, in which I found him extremely false / trying too hard to be ‘a man of the people’, which he clearly is not!

Kamiso

Grannybags

I read the Times article and one of his friends said that when he watched Starmer on TV at the party conference he seemed to be a different person, holding back and distant, almost wooden compared to the generous, numerous and empathetic man he knows.

I think he’s terrified of saying the wrong thing

It must be tricky having a Jewish wife and trying to lead an anti Jewish party that largely supports Hamas!

Being all matey and chummy with old friends doesn’t help when he needs to be acceptable to the general public. Most wouldn’t see a barrister as having an average life!

I saw a post recently asking how a person with brown skin can possibly be Prime Minister. They all have obstacles to climb.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Doodledog

^Of course^ it will take longer than a term to undo the damage caused by years of Tory mismanagement. Anyone who thinks otherwise is going to be disappointed, but anyone with a modicum of political awareness will be fully expecting improvements to take time. At least Starmer is not lying about it. He's doing his best to manage expectations, but then gets abuse for doing so.

Liam Byrne's note left in a drawer for his incoming successor in 2010
"Dear Chief Secretary, I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left"
Years of Labour mismanagement? All as bad as each other. How long before Labour ( who will almost certainly form the next government) blame to Tories for being unable to fulfill their manifesto pledges. Give it 6 months.

Don't care what he looks like as long as he gets in

Missiseff, exactly.

Missiseff

Don't care what he looks like as long as he gets in

At least he's tidy

ordinarygirl

I'm all for attacking policies but not the person. Some of Keir Starmer's jibes at Rishi Sunak are below the belt. so no vote from me. After voting for what I later found out was a lazy Lib Dem MP in Devon, i can't vote Lib Dem. My dad would never forgive me for voting Tory so there is nobody to vote for .

Don’t the policies matter to you? What about the NHS?

This is how I feel about Daniel Craig as James Bond......

Missiseff

Don't care what he looks like as long as he gets in

15-years-ago, a guy made a joke (yes it was a stupid joke) and that’s your focus 🙄 The Tories have smashed our public services to pieces, despite having far higher tax levels than Labour ever had. I worked in the NHS throughout Tory and Labour Governments. Services were always, without exception, better funded and functioning under Labour. Even Thatcher was a pussy cat on public services when compared to this lot! Maybe think about your children and your grandchildren!

it must be tricky having a Jewish wife and trying to lead an anti Jewish party that largely supports Hamas
Outrageous, in accurate comment.

Having made this provocative statement, dismiss him further by having a go at barristers.

He gives me the creeps!

Years of Labour mismanagement? All as bad as each other.

Plunger the 2008 GLOBAL financial crisis was caused by the greed of bankers, mortgage lenders & property speculators (beginning in the US) not by Labour mismanagement in the UK - unlike the 2024 UK recession, caused by 14 years of Tory mismanagement, incompetence & corruption.

There are those who would like us to believe that ‘they are all as bad as each other’. That the exact phrase is trotted out time and time again shows that it has become embedded.

As regards the trope about the note - another popular half-truth - here is an explanation from the man who wrote it:
amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/09/liam-byrne-apology-letter-there-is-no-money-labour-general-election

LizzieDrip

^Years of Labour mismanagement? All as bad as each other.^

Plunger the 2008 GLOBAL financial crisis was caused by the greed of bankers, mortgage lenders & property speculators (beginning in the US) not by Labour mismanagement in the UK - unlike the 2024 UK recession, caused by 14 years of Tory mismanagement, incompetence & corruption.

Nothing to do with Covid pandemic of course

I agree, there is no personality coming across and very little idea of his agenda. We are in a deep financial hole and if he does manage to get in, he will have to raise taxes to pay it all back.

I am a member of the labour party, my influence extends to which street I post the leaflets in, but I am going to suggest that the election slogan for Starmer is 'at least hes tidy'

Nothing to do with Covid pandemic of course

Again, a global event ‘*Plunger*, yet most other countries are not in recession!

Plunger

LizzieDrip

Years of Labour mismanagement? All as bad as each other.

Plunger the 2008 GLOBAL financial crisis was caused by the greed of bankers, mortgage lenders & property speculators (beginning in the US) not by Labour mismanagement in the UK - unlike the 2024 UK recession, caused by 14 years of Tory mismanagement, incompetence & corruption.

Nothing to do with Covid pandemic of course

No, it has nothing to do with the covid pandemic.

It has a great deal to do with Osborne's dreadful and completely unnecessary, 'austerity' programme which cut public spending and took vital money out of the economy. The programme continues and we can see its results today; the criminal justice system is failing, schools are short of resources and staff have been cut (not to mention some schools crumbling because there hasn't been money to maintain them properly or replace them), the NHS is on its knees; our watercourses and sea are polluted because the government agency responsible for them hasn't enough money to prosecute the offending water companies who are pumping sewage into them, roads are full of potholes and councils are going bankrupt and cutting services because they have been kept short of money by central government. There's more, but I think most people will get the idea...

None of this can be attributed to covid.

Perhaps someone could point us to any improvements in the UK that can be attributed to the last 14 years of tory government, but I can't think of any...

MaizieD 👏👏👏

Yes FranP he will have to raise taxes, because there will be no money left.
Hopefully we will see for exactly what use the taxes are planned and then see the fulfilment of those plans without excuses about why things aren’t happening but the tax rises are going ahead.

In light of tens of billions of pounds of uncosted tax pledges in the Tory leadership campaign, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has promised there will be “no magic money tree economics” if his party gets into power.

What am I hoping for from the next government?
A solution to the small boat problem.
Provision of housing for people who live and work in the UK that doesn’t get swallowed up, by buy- to-let and second homeowners (so my grandchildren can stop having to live at home with their parents, even when they’re earning.)
I’m looking forward to an end to the strikes. I’ve just had yet another leaflet from the teaching union about further strikes. The news every day includes further threatened strikes.
The NHS -no idea what will happen there, but I’ll be interested to see how they finance the problem of lack of dentists, Doctors, and hospital staff.
Saying they’re as bad as each other is too simplistic. Saying they all have their faults and they use the same excuses is nearer the truth.

MaizieD 👏👏👏

Doodledog -thanks for posting the link

LadyGracie

He gives me the creeps!

I think you need to give your head a wobble.

Yes FranP he will have to raise taxes, because there will be no money left.

No he won't, because the 'no money left' thing is nonsensical. The UK cannot run put of money because it is the sole issuer of our money. It's nothing like a household or a business.

The 'magic money tree' thing is nonsensical, too. Governments have always issued money they have created.

Taxation doesn't fund government spending, it is a result of government spending as the government taxes away excess money to prevent inflation.

MaizieD I wish you would tell governments that that is rubbish and that they can’t use that as an excuse.

Many posters have referred to the Times article but I couldn’t see a link so here it is..
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dee0d8b7-c480-4882-a0f2-4f31300f2c02?shareToken=b2a4a731e2c198fb2abafef4137744f8

Even though I liked Keir before, I have even more admiration for him after reading this.