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A year of Starmer What do you think?

(617 Posts)
Grany Tue 06-Apr-21 12:38:38

A piece by Jonathan Cook an award winning journalist

www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/keir-starmer-cautious-tearing-uk-labour-party-apart

I suppose Starmer's poll ratings could improve

PippaZ Wed 07-Apr-21 16:54:29

Oops, just seen other posts on this. Note to self; do not post until you have caught up with all the posts.

PippaZ Wed 07-Apr-21 16:52:59

Anniebach

Attlee was not a far left PM, he was a post war PM for 6 years then went to the Lords .

He was against the far right and far left of the party

I have wondered about that, because of the nationalisation of industries. Was it considered just an emergency action that would change eventually or was it seen as a move forward? I find it hard to believe it wasn't seen as a swing quite far to the left but those were different times and different mindsets I suppose.

I do get the impression the far-left are stuck in the past. Not just in ideas but in the way they want to carry them out. The underlying intention is a good one. Better to want to make life better for all than to want it to be better for just a few.

But then ... the far-right are well and truly stuck in a time that never happened so perhaps getting stuck is a thing of extremes.

Anniebach Wed 07-Apr-21 16:50:26

trisher so Corbyn would have sent troupes to N.Ireland ?

PippaZ Wed 07-Apr-21 16:40:21

PGAgirl

Kier is a North London Mafia Labour Party Member like Corbyn, he has no credibility within the Labour Party or out. Bussing in outsider candidates into Northern Parliamentary seats is so wrong. Labour had more credibility when they chose local candidates who had come up through local politics, they seem to be shooting themselves in the foot all the time

You cannot make people vote far-left if they do not want to. I imagine that the far-left don't mind if the Tories stay in power then. Do they intend to remain as just a protest movement?

trisher Wed 07-Apr-21 16:22:58

Ilovecheese

The NHS and nationalised industries are considered far left nowadays, not then.

Most things seem to be labelled far left these days. But no one ever admits which policies they don't like.

Ilovecheese Wed 07-Apr-21 16:20:26

The NHS and nationalised industries are considered far left nowadays, not then.

trisher Wed 07-Apr-21 16:20:25

Anniebach

Really trisher a far left Labour PM who sent troupes to N.Ireland , interesting, he wouldn’t have had Corbyn’s support if he had been an MP then

Annie troops were originally welcomed by Catholics in N Ireland, because they so distrusted the RUC. So actually few people objected, That came later.

Anniebach Wed 07-Apr-21 16:14:01

Attlee was not a far left PM, he was a post war PM for 6 years then went to the Lords .

He was against the far right and far left of the party

Ilovecheese Wed 07-Apr-21 15:53:09

Jaberwok

Annie was asking about left wing Prime Ministers, not MP's. There have been plenty of those, but P.M's? I can't think of a single one either!

I gave an answer to this at 15.00.

Iam64 Wed 07-Apr-21 15:40:13

The Attlee government was elected after two world wars which changed society. The working classes wanted education, the nhs, a fairer, more just and equal society than their parents and grandparents had.
I’m in a red wall area. What I heard repeatedly was Labour was (especially its leader) soft on defence, put terrorists over our military, cared more about benefit scrounges (not my term) than working people. Islington isn’t Burnley, Blackburn, Wigan, Leigh. People felt ignored and looked down on.
It’s ironic that somehow, it’s not the leader or front bench to blame for that catastrophic defeat.

PGAgirl Wed 07-Apr-21 15:36:03

Kier is a North London Mafia Labour Party Member like Corbyn, he has no credibility within the Labour Party or out. Bussing in outsider candidates into Northern Parliamentary seats is so wrong. Labour had more credibility when they chose local candidates who had come up through local politics, they seem to be shooting themselves in the foot all the time

Anniebach Wed 07-Apr-21 15:15:37

Really trisher a far left Labour PM who sent troupes to N.Ireland , interesting, he wouldn’t have had Corbyn’s support if he had been an MP then

Jaberwok Wed 07-Apr-21 15:11:17

Annie was asking about left wing Prime Ministers, not MP's. There have been plenty of those, but P.M's? I can't think of a single one either!

trisher Wed 07-Apr-21 15:05:52

Apologies Annie I misread MP for PM. What about Wilson?

trisher Wed 07-Apr-21 15:02:54

Casdon

He’s not untrustworthy in the eyes of most voters, although he has not fulfilled what the left of the party had pledged to do. Those are different things.

It wasn't the left of the party who promised to unite the party it was him.
Item No 4 on Keir Starmer's pledges
4. Promote peace and human rights

No more illegal wars. Introduce a Prevention of Military Intervention Act and put human rights at the heart of foreign policy. Review all UK arms sales and make us a force for international peace and justice.
And he is to be trusted shock

Ilovecheese Wed 07-Apr-21 15:00:29

Annibach and * Jaberwok* I would say Clement Attlee was a left wing Prime Minister. The welfare state is a left wing project and he won an election for Labour to bring about the NHS, which was a very radical idea, and one that some Conservatives would like to change.
Labour won a majority of over 140 seats, not by watering down their ambitions but by sticking with their values.
Maybe the electorate has changed since then and become more right wing, but once a radical, forward thinking, caring party did win an election.

MayBee70 Wed 07-Apr-21 14:58:53

Will people please at least spell Keir properly....

trisher Wed 07-Apr-21 14:56:24

Anniebach

Jaberewok a reply isn’t possible, there has never been one,

What not even Kier Hardy, or the late, great Tony Benn? Or what about Corbyn and McDonnell ? Were they not left enough for you? I seem to remember lots of complaints about them.

Doodledog Wed 07-Apr-21 14:56:04

MayBee70

So who should replace him? If he’s so awful there has to be an alternative that the voting public will vote for.

We have a couple of years at least before a GE, by which time my guess is that there will be more people in the running. As I said upthread, I would put a small bet on Andy Burnham. I think he will appeal to voters in the North, who often feel (and are) overlooked, and to younger and older people alike.

The younger people in the PLP (eg Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy) have had time to establish credentials and come over as more experienced, which they didn't before, so either of them are possibles, too.

trisher Wed 07-Apr-21 14:53:42

Jaberwok

Annie, I'm afraid you are not going to get a reply to your Labour PM query.

There is a list on the link of 33 left wing Labour MPs. But I don't suppose you really wanted an answer.

Kim19 Wed 07-Apr-21 14:49:20

Inconspicuous and uneventful for me.

Dinahmo Wed 07-Apr-21 14:47:20

MayBee70

So who should be party leader? Long Bailey perhaps?

Definitely not.

Dinahmo Wed 07-Apr-21 14:46:34

I find the question of arms manufacture very difficult. At the moment, with so many unemployed, the arms industry is still viable. I hate what the Saudis and others are doing but if we don't sell to them, someone else will. I would think that to explain to the workers in that industry that they're going to lose their jobs because we're not going to sell arms would be nigh on impossible.

Anniebach Wed 07-Apr-21 14:38:09

Jaberewok a reply isn’t possible, there has never been one,

varian Wed 07-Apr-21 14:38:03

Unfortunately the public will only vote the way the right wing gutter press tell them to vote. Their readers are conditioned day in day out to despise all non-Tory politicians.

Not one UK Prime Minister in the last forty years has won a general election without the endorsement of Rupert Murdoch.