Andy Burnham has plan to return to Westminster ‘within weeks’. Allies sayGreater Manchester mayor said to have identified seats where MPs would step aside to allow leadership bid.

I agree Galaxy.

However, when Keir Starmer was given a few pairs of glasses by a Labour Party donor - gifts which were declared - it was media headline news for days and days. It was apparently apocalyptic!

Fast forward to Nigel Farage’s secret, undeclared gift of £5 million from a Thailand based crypto guy … hardly a mention🤔 Even though Farage promotes cryptocurrency; says he’ll deregulate it ‘when’ he’s PM; and even promoted his donor’s crypto company Tether, in radio interviews.

Farage refused point blank to answer any questions about it in an interview with Beth Rigby the other day - she just accepted that and moved on to his agenda.

When Rigby asked Keir Starmer about glasses etc she was like a rabid dog with a bone. She would not let it drop, to the point of embarrassing herself.

Level playing field? I don’t think so!

LizzieDrip 👏👏👏

I agree LizzieDrip - Farage is in the main a media construct.

I think the safeguarding of women and children is important, but everyone is different.

Galaxy

I think the safeguarding of women and children is important, but everyone is different.

It should be important for all women in my opinion.

The emperor’s new clothes do not make an intact male female, they have absolutely no right to be in any female only spaces.

We really must ensure that safe female only spaces are available.

I think Farages financial dealings are important, I thought Mandelssons history and associations were important, I think Harman's failings are important. If any of those are minimised, it is difficult to take people seriously when they discuss the other failings .

LizzieDrip

I agree Galaxy.

However, when Keir Starmer was given a few pairs of glasses by a Labour Party donor - gifts which were declared - it was media headline news for days and days. It was apparently apocalyptic!

Fast forward to Nigel Farage’s secret, undeclared gift of £5 million from a Thailand based crypto guy … hardly a mention🤔 Even though Farage promotes cryptocurrency; says he’ll deregulate it ‘when’ he’s PM; and even promoted his donor’s crypto company Tether, in radio interviews.

Farage refused point blank to answer any questions about it in an interview with Beth Rigby the other day - she just accepted that and moved on to his agenda.

When Rigby asked Keir Starmer about glasses etc she was like a rabid dog with a bone. She would not let it drop, to the point of embarrassing herself.

Level playing field? I don’t think so!

👏👏

I'm in agreement with all that you post Lizziedrip.

Richard Tice has just spoken with Laura Keunsburg who challenged him about both offensive on line comments of some of newly elected councillors and the £5 million sum Farage received from Harborne, a Reform UK multi million 3 donor. He refused to answer direct questions, like do you consider it offensive to post- Nigerians should be melted down to fill potholes- etc. 

Instead Tice took the position that the problem is actually a smear campaign, ie the voters can see that the media constantly seeks to SMEAR Reform and Farage.

His position was repeated several times along the lines of: - "you and the media carry on smearing Nigel and Reform UK but it's not working. The voters know all that and still voted for Reform and want Nigel as their PM".

That is exactly the same tactic that Polanski uses, birds of a feather and all that.

Galaxy

I think Farages financial dealings are important, I thought Mandelssons history and associations were important, I think Harman's failings are important. If any of those are minimised, it is difficult to take people seriously when they discuss the other failings .

👏👏👏

Totally agree.

Galaxy

I think the safeguarding of women and children is important, but everyone is different.

I thought Jess Phillips was already in this role.

The 'smoking horse' has struck......

On Laura Kuenssburg show this morning, Catherine West, a Labour Party back bencher and former minister, said she would begin collecting the 80 necessary names for a challenge on Monday.

She is not widely considered a viable candidate herself but if she triggers a contest then she will smoked out other contenders such as Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner etc.

Mm, let’s see how well that goes for her!

It's entirely reliant on West getting 80 names in support.

She has said “I’m putting people on notice – if I don’t hear by Monday morning of some leadership hopefuls, I will be asking everybody in the Parliamentary Labour Party to put a name against my name, because we need to get this ball rolling.
“But my preferred option is for the Cabinet to do a reshuffle within itself, where there’s plenty of talent and for Keir to be given a different role, which he might enjoy, perhaps an international role, and then for others to come to the fore, who can communicate the message, who are very able, so we can have minimum fuss.”

Classic smoking horse tactics.

She certainly seems to like giving orders. Perhaps she’d like to put herself forward for the job?

No - oh, I wonder why?

It’s always easier to slag off the referee from the stands, than to go on the pitch and take up the whistle, isn’t it.

Anyway, let’s see how it pans out for her🤔

Casdon

What people consider important is different for each individual. A deal breaker for one of us, when we look at a politician in the round, has no impact at all on the view of that politician of somebody else.

That is true Casdon . For me, Harriet Harmen instructing Labour MPs to abstain on a policy that deliberately made children poorer has coloured my opinion of her for evermore.
I also think this appointment is an insult to Jess Philips.

All this infighting at a time when we need steady leadership!

Do they care for the country, about what is happening in the world or just about themselves and their own egos?
😡

Well it won't matter how it goes for her, it paves the way for the real contenders.

I agree Allira.

As a fervent Labour supporter, I know that the Labour Party is brilliant at tearing itself apart😡

Indeed LizzieDrip, it doesn’t need the right wing press, it happily self harms endlessly.

Reform the Greens and Trump. - very similar tactics

From The Sunday Times this morning:
The prime minister remains under increasing pressure from his backbenchers, despite summoning Gordon Brown to save his faltering premiership.
Sir Keir Starmer took the extraordinary decision on Saturday to appoint Brown, 75, a former Labour prime minister, and Baroness Harman, also 75, a former ­deputy leader of the party, to key government advisory roles

Is this too little too late?
An attempt to defuse the situation or drawing in support from experienced (ex) politicians?
I don’t understand the Labour governments apparent death wish.
Elected with a huge majority and with support from voters who might never have voted Labour before, it nevertheless seems set on destroying itself from the inside.
Or perhaps it is precisely the illusion of security created by this huge majority that has undermined what they have in common instead of what divides them.
Just musing. I can’t understand it and despair of seeing anybody putting the country first.

Luckygirl3

All this chopping and changing is so bad for the country.

I dont see things that way.

Can you explain why you do please?

I always live in hope of better times!

Andy Burnham is a brilliant Mayor of Manchester, maybe Wes Streeting would be a good choice for Prime Minister as he does seem to be a steady pair of hands.

Brown coming back - yes? Though syays something about 420 Labour MPs or whatever that they are not up to the job.

Harman - no.
Also says something about the current Labour Party[Sir Keir in particular I suppose] that she is returning.
Seems to be going back in time and not forward.
Back to woke.
Not what the current voters want?

I'm sure West doesn't see herself as a real PM contender. She may not get the necessary 80 names to join hers to force a leadership challenge tomorrow. But she does provide Starmer and his cabinet as an opposing force to Starmer's PM position. , West isn't the only opposing force.

Management/Leadership research shows it's critical for leaders, ie PMs to analyse all opposing forces when they want to seek change or survive tenure. Starmer is in great peril if he fails to do this.

The opposing forces against Starmer began quite early. with some policy decisions and later U turns. The opposing forces against him gained much more momentum with the Mandelson issue. They are now have accelerated to a critical peak in light of the opposing forces made known by the public expressed in the local election voter trend away from Labour. These opposing forces are factual, real and strong.

Starmer must not shy away from analysing these opposing forces by merely relying on determination to stay PM. That has a greater probability of leading to his downfall. The opposing forces will continue to gain momentum - did anyone see Sheila Graham this morning on LK?

You can deride West and her frustrations but at the same time it is also incumbent upon Starmer to accept responsibility for the position he finds himself in.

What he must do is have a plan to manage the opposing forces. Kurt Lewin developed a decision making tool to evaluate the forces driving change against the restraining forces resisting change. It is a classic and much used management/leadership tool to analyse the current situation and determine the best way forward to strengthen drivers for success or weaken obstacles.

Starmer needs to get his cabinet together (all good PMS should do this at the outset of government- but we are where we are) and:

1) Define the goal - clearly state the proposed change the LP now needs to turn things around
2) Brainstorm the forces- list the forces supporting the goal on the left (driving) and forces opposing it on the right (restraining) - 2 different colours
3) Score the forces- rate each force's strength- typically on a score, from 1 weak to 5 strong).
4) Analysis and strategise- determine if the change is feasible b comparing total scores. To succeed, you must strengthen driving forces or weaken restraining forces
5) Develop an action Plan- identify the key obstacles ( highest scored restraint forces) to address first.

If he is not willing to do it with cabinet he should do it himself- honestly.

This would result in a visual and structured method for weighing pros and cons of the current situation. It will help Starmer, with his cabinet ideally, to face and see visually that Starmer has become a restraining force on the party as PM. It will help Starmer and his cabinet determine whther the opposing forces against Starmer as PM can be sufficiently weakened to shore up his position. Or not- so plan succession in an orderly way to avoid chaos and further damage to public trust.

The Labour government turn around solution will be in such honest analysis. The answer does not lie in merely saying that smoking horses and detractors must stop stating their views. If you suppress a driving, opposing force it will just get stronger. Or by Starmer making "WE" statements to the public that have no clear message or resonance to regain trust in Starmer's tenure as PM.

B and HH have been brought in merely as 'advisors'. They are not MPs and have no cabinet office or MP role.

Focus on their merits or misdemeanours does nothing to address weakening all the current opposing forces facing Starmer as PM.