Keir Starmer's definition of working class

My OH constructed a very nice wooden structure at the bottom of the garden when we first moved into our house.

He refers to it as his workshop because he's put tools in it.

It's a shed.

Yes, that can be said in a conversation but not that often, why would Mr Starmer senior say ‘my son works in my rented factory’ ? He wouldn’t

No, neither have I heard that phrase, But I ahve heard people say. 'Oh we live at........ We rent it'

Why these days ?

Really? ‘Fancy coming to my landlord’s house for coffee?’ I’ve never heard anyone say that ever.

If only Mr Starmer Snr used the space it seems perfectly reasonable that he would call it his.

Yes, I think people would, especially these days.

Would one say in conversation ‘my rented house’ ?

Probably because it was his factory in the sense that that was where he worked.
Please see Doodledog's spot on post. When I was teaching I went to my school, worked in my classroom, did departmental work in my office.. I did not own them and later when my role changed I would tell pupils to come to my office., a different office. My previous office was used by another teacher.
Why does it matter ?

"So why did his father refer to it as ‘my factory’ ?"

Pride? I would guess, or absence of a term for "trained skilled toolmaker working from small rented unit"

Isn't it the same as teachers talking about 'my classroom', or anyone talking about 'my office'? It is theirs for the time they use it, but nobody assumes that they are pretending to own it.

It's a lot of fuss about nothing. Keir Starmer didn't even say it - it was his father.

Pammie1

Dickens

Pammie1

Sago

His father was a toolmaker.

No. He owned the factory.

The factory was a rented workshop on an industrial estate.

He was largely a one-man band. A self-employed tradesman.

How many more times...

I'm not over-enthused about Starmer, but this idea that his father owned a conventional factory full of busy toolmakers is nonsense.

In busy periods he may well have had to employ extra hands, who knows, but he did not "own a factory" in the sense that people normally associate with 'factory owners'.

So why did his father refer to it as ‘my factory’ ?

So why did his father refer to it as ‘my factory’ ?

No idea.

Maybe in the same way as my son used to say, "I'm going to my studio... he rented a small workshop on an island on the Thames.

He didn't make anything in it, just a loud racket, as he used it as a recording studio.

Quite a few people are saying he "owned" the factory - his own factory.

Which is not the same as renting a workshop. And if you rent it, whatever it is, you don't own it!

Dickens

Pammie1

Sago

His father was a toolmaker.

No. He owned the factory.

The factory was a rented workshop on an industrial estate.

He was largely a one-man band. A self-employed tradesman.

How many more times...

I'm not over-enthused about Starmer, but this idea that his father owned a conventional factory full of busy toolmakers is nonsense.

In busy periods he may well have had to employ extra hands, who knows, but he did not "own a factory" in the sense that people normally associate with 'factory owners'.

So why did his father refer to it as ‘my factory’ ?

Yes - Keir Starmer never used the word class he said "working people", O/P was picked up on this.

Starmer was asked a question about class, O/P made error or
misheard

Ah, I didn't know that, Mamie.
It won't matter to me when I put my cross.

I've never cared for the definitions of class and putting people in boxes. If you're earning money you are working, but Class is more about the person, regardless of how much money they earn. No man is an island and we all need each other's expertise in different fields, it's just wrong to define people by how much money they earn.

MissAdventure

When is a workshop not a workshop?

When Keir Starmers dad owns it...

I am pretty sure he rented it....

When is a workshop not a workshop?

When Keir Starmers dad owns it...

In workshops one repairs, in factories one assembles

I do not think I have ever confused a workshop with a factory.

A worksshop is a place where one person works making something, might possibly stretch to 2 or 3. Over that it is a factory.

There have always been a plethors of small factories all over the place in small industrial estates all over the country and any country anywhere.

Doodledog

I think that referring to a workshop as a 'factory' is the sort of thing many people do - akin to calling a cupboard a pantry, or other things I can't bring to mind just now. Small affectations, really. It's very human, and if KS has decided to be less affected in his description, so what? those who want to dig at him would do so whatever he said - it's no wonder he tries to say as little as possible.

Well quite.

When I think of anyone owning a factory - I imagine those huge buildings that used to sit alongside the Great West Road and in which I worked occasionally, sitting in a tiny office partitioned off from a large factory floor with machinery humming, banging and rattling away outside.

I don't think Starmer Senior's 'factory' was anything like that.

But, it's essential for his opponents to paint him and Keir as champagne socialists in order to dent his credibility right from the offset.

Actually I was pointing out that Rod Starmer was proud enough of his business to call it a factory, and it seemed a bit petty to downgrade it to a workshop.

I agree that carers should be paid more, and I think they are eligible, like stay at home parents, to have their NI contributions paid.
That doesn’t mean that I think parents who choose to stay at home should be forced to either work, or do voluntary work. That’s completely unacceptable in my opinion.

Mamie

And to bring it back to Keir Starmer Doodledog, it is very clear that caring for his disabled mother and carrying much of the weight of the family on his shoulders, has shaped his character. The biography is an excellent read.

Thanks - I'll look it up. I agree that KS comes over as caring and that there is no comparison between his background and that of Rishi Sunak.

Sorry for diversion. I'm very much in and out today.

I think that referring to a workshop as a 'factory' is the sort of thing many people do - akin to calling a cupboard a pantry, or other things I can't bring to mind just now. Small affectations, really. It's very human, and if KS has decided to be less affected in his description, so what? those who want to dig at him would do so whatever he said - it's no wonder he tries to say as little as possible.