Mainstream Labour

I've seen more comments from political vlogs(?) on YouTube suggesting this is a trajan house for Andy Burnam's bid for leadership


Oh the curse of autocorrect!

All Labour do is spend and borrow. Not a good way for the country to carry on!

What successes??

Andy Burnham for Prime Minister!

I'm not sure Labour first principles would be enough to see off Farage. How would that work?

MaizieD

Iam64

Labour are doing many positives. It needs an Alistair Campbell to get ahead of the news.

Problem is, its negatives far outweigh its positives and its lurch to the right is horrifying many, many people.

I wouldn't vote for this government again unless it had moved radically back to its basic principles (and got a better Chancellor)

At this stage I'd vote for almost any party who could offer a competent chancellor.

Eloethan

I feel a bit like Babs. Those that have the power and the money call the tune and if Labour doesn't dance to it the mainstream media will finish them off.

Compass has been around for some time. I don't know much about it but I do remember being quite impressed with some of the things they put forward at political gatherings.

I became disenchanted with Labour when they treated Corbyn so badly and I left the party. I have not been tempted to return. Starmer, in particular, was a real turncoat who didn't hesitate to appear to be supportive when Corby was popular in the party but who put the boot in when it suited him to do so. I had hoped Starmer would be an effective leader but, true to form, he appears to have no judgment whatsoever and to rely entirely on what reaction each issue receives from the mainstream media and the public. It makes him look foolish and gutless.

I agree about Starmer's judgement, he washes about like seaweed on a rock. On every issue he appears to wait for a reaction and then chooses the most populist, regardless of any comments he's made on that issue in the past.

Babs03 - I agree. For me, voting has become a damage limitation exercise. I have no faith in any of the current parties but have to vote for those who will do me least harm. Isn't that a shame?

Anniebach

Quote Oreo Fri 12-Sept-25 15:48:56
The Labour voters I know would never have voted for Corbyn Anniebach
I think I expected more of Starmer but so far find him disappointing.He’s a reed who blows with the wind.

I couldn’t even be a member of the Labour party with Corbyn as leader.
Starmer, i don’t think he is a weak man , or a man of indecision, a man with a cool head and controlled thinking,
I may be so mistaken,

Starmer may very well be a man with a cool head and controlled thinking. However, that doesn't appeal to people facing increasing prices, unemployment/insecure job contracts, difficulties getting a GP appointment or seeing a dentist, neighbourhoods which are looking increasingly run down, etc etc.

Immigrants are being used as scapegoats for all the above. They're not the cause, but it's convenient to blame them.

The trouble with Starmer is that he doesn't give the impression of being very committed to any values. Labour needs someone who who can inspire and I'm afraid Starmer is a huge disappointment.

Labour currently has a massive electoral advantage and it's heartbreaking to see them throwing it away. I really can't believe that they can't get their senior policy advisers round a table and focus on the reasons they won the last general election.

I looked through the "Mainstream Labour" literature and I think they do know what their voters want. I don't know enough about the inner workings of the Labour Party to know whether they will be taken seriously. I hope they are because a Reform government (which is where the country is heading) would be a disaster and the Conservatives are at the moment dead.

Wyllow3:

“our branch is known as the "sensible lot"….We also discussed who should be the Deputy Prime minister, and agrees that Lucy Powell was best. “

Am really shocked at this. It is Lucy Powell who said In May 2025, on the BBC Radio 4 programme Any Questions? In response to a question about grooming gangs , “Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Let’s get that dog whistle out, shall we.”

How anyone can support her after that is beyond belief. Apart from demonstrating total lack of judgement and morals, it speaks volumes of how disconnected from real life she is if she thought that was in any a defensible position.

Sorry but I am very concerned about the grooming gangs issue and had expected Gransnetters would be too.

I saw an article this morning which I only skimmed as we were packing up to come home from holiday. I suggested Andy Burnham is starting to prepare a campaign to oust Starmer and run for PM. It also suggested he and Lucy Powell may be ready to swap seats if a general election is called. Burnham would take her relatively safe seat opening up his bid for PM and she would stand for Mayor. I don't really have an opinion on Andy Burnham as I haven't heard a lot about him since he has been Mayor.

If Burnham had been an MP and not Mayor of Manchester, I think he'd have stood for leader of the party and won. Then he would have become PM. Now, it seems that the plan is to return him to parliament and eventually challenge Starmer.

I am disappointed with the way Starmer's government has been quite clumsy and tactless. As far as I understand it, they do know what needs to be done, and have done some good and sensible things, but too often they completely miss the climate of opinion among their own supporters.

The Angela Rayner thing, in my opinion, was blown up out of all proportion and I hope she will come back as a minister eventually.

But Peter Mandelson as ambassador in Washington is a completely different matter. If a nobody like me thought it was a dodgy appointment, how did Starmer think he was a suitable person?

Maizie. This is what I picked up:-

Groups in Labour. There is (apparently) already a hard left Group, a socially conservative group and now a centre left group called, as discussed, Mainstream. Mainstream is a group that's saying "we don't like what the socially conservative group are doing (apparently)

The rest seems to be taking about the Mainstream Guardian article, which attacks Starmer and is seen as an attempt to split Labour. I think it was filling on a small news day. Other than the equine references I dont think much is concrete enough to discuss yet - so they didn't.

Doversole

Wyllow3:

“our branch is known as the "sensible lot"….We also discussed who should be the Deputy Prime minister, and agrees that Lucy Powell was best. “

Am really shocked at this. It is Lucy Powell who said In May 2025, on the BBC Radio 4 programme Any Questions? In response to a question about grooming gangs , “Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Let’s get that dog whistle out, shall we.”

How anyone can support her after that is beyond belief. Apart from demonstrating total lack of judgement and morals, it speaks volumes of how disconnected from real life she is if she thought that was in any a defensible position.

Sorry but I am very concerned about the grooming gangs issue and had expected Gransnetters would be too.

Lucy Powell’s reaction was a response to how the issue of grooming gangs was being used for political capital. It did not imply that the issue was not important, or that she didn’t take it seriously. It was out of frustration for how it was being used- it’s been around for a long time, and politicians (including Kemi Badenoch) who profess deep concern now showed no interest in the past when it was in their own hands to do something about it. The resulting attack on LP was not justified.

Anniebach

I left the party because of Corbyn, joined again as soon as he stood down as leader

I was the opposite - joined to vote for Corbyn; left when Starmer showed his true colours.

I agree with your analysis, Lahlah65. that's what it seemed like to me, too. Tory using a deflection technique in an interview. It's not an uncommon practice.

Grantanow

I'm not sure Labour first principles would be enough to see off Farage. How would that work?

Swap My Vote Grantanow Needed here to keep reform out.

www.swapmyvote.uk

Read and consider joining here for your local and national elections

Locally, in my particular ward, that means us LP quietly behind the scenes standing back. These particular Lib Dems are a OK lot anyway, helpful.

Graceless

Anniebach

I left the party because of Corbyn, joined again as soon as he stood down as leader

I was the opposite - joined to vote for Corbyn; left when Starmer showed his true colours.

The only time I left the Labour Party was when we joined the war in Iraq. I rejoined when the Tories came in and started Austerity big time, but now, finding Mainstream spot on.

I joined the Labour Party many years ago and left when Tony Blair took money away from single parents.
I rejoined because of Corbyn, voted for Starmer in the leadership election and left again when he broke all his pledges.

Anything with the word Kabour in it would make me cringe.

I had been in the Labour Party since my teens and, from what I can remember, kept up that membership for many years.

My pleasure at Labour winning under Blair turned to dismay when we invaded Iraq. I think I remained in the party but went on all the protests against our actions in Iraq.

I finally lost faith when I saw Corbyn being labelled an anti-semite and witnessed those that had previously lavished him with praise and supposed friendship (like Starmer) turn on him, once he realised who the sacrificial lamb was designated to be.

I then left the party and actually voted Green. However, when Labour came to power I sincerely hoped it would do well. Even though my instincts were to oppose measures like cuts in welfare, I accepted that, after 14 years of total ineptitude of the Conservatives, difficult and sometimes unfair measures had to be taken (though it would have been nice if at least one decision had affected the super rich).

Now I have to admit to myself that Starmer appears to have no moral compass whatsoever and is willing to support or desert anyone or any group if he feels it is what will keep him out of the firing line. I am hoping that the Greens, Corbyn, et al, and organisations like Compass can form some sort of coalition/alliance that will have a much greater degree of decency than currently appears to be the case.

It wouldn’t be at all popular with voters tho Eloethan not at all.

The reason Tony Blair did so well was that he was centre left as was Gordon Brown, the latter being a really good Chancellor and the former a good PM.

Partly Oreo. The other big factor, like him or not, was that he had charisma.

Boris also charismatic