Gransnet forums

News & politics

Congrats Keir Starmer

(121 Posts)
Cossy Tue 14-Jul-26 18:46:31

Not everyone hates Sir Keir Starmer

Well done!

*”Sir Keir Starmer has been awarded the Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honour), France's highest national order. French President Emmanuel Macron presented the historic award in recognition of Sir Keir’s "personal leadership" in European security and the creation of the Coalition of the Willing to support Ukraine.

Sir Keir is the first serving British prime minister to ever receive the award. Macron bestowed the honor during a ceremony in Paris, noting that he found Starmer to be a "very reliable and friendly partner".*

knspol Thu 16-Jul-26 14:42:48

Not a fan but he was certainly a steadying force, without him we might have been drawn into a war by Trump and he appeared to do a good job with Europe, Ukraine and the US. Unfortunately it seemed to me at least that he never had a credible plan on domestic affairs and he also seemed unable or unwilling to 'manage' Rachel Reeves.

LemonJam Thu 16-Jul-26 14:44:48

Casdon

Zelenskyy has today awarded Starmer the Order of Freedom honour, which is the highest award for a foreign person in Ukraine. Far from being a ‘terrible ambassador for this country’ then, Gango, have you got domestic and foreign policy confused?

Casdon- that is good news and a good legacy of appreciation towards Starmer.

spabbygirl Thu 16-Jul-26 14:48:56

I thought he was ok too, a little dull and boring perhaps and despite his lowly upbringing a little out of touch with reality. If he's started with cutting winter fuel allowance to higher tax payers it would have been less controversial. As it was cutting that straight away was a step too far, people had had enough of Tory cuts and to serve up more set him off on the wrong foot.
He is a great guy though, far better than any for the previous 14 years

LemonJam Thu 16-Jul-26 14:54:29

spabbygirl- I agree with your post.

Delene100 Thu 16-Jul-26 15:04:02

tanith

Well done indeed, I'm sad to see him go, despite his faults he always had the countrys best interests at heart I'm sure.

I agree that he always had the country's best interest at heart but his Chancellor, Rachel Reeves let him down.

Delene100 Thu 16-Jul-26 15:15:37

Bukkie

I don't hate him. I didn't vote Labour but I recognised the country needed a change and thought he would be so much better than he has been. I think the real problem is the people who surrounded himself with including Angela half a brain cell Rayner, Calamity Lammy and Ed Minibrain.

You forgot to mention 'turn again' Rachel Reeves.

Delene100 Thu 16-Jul-26 15:24:28

Lovetopaint037

I liked him and thought he was a really good PM with the exception of his allegiance to Rachel Reeves. She produced the most anti growth budgets that decided businesses could no longer employ people in the normal way. The result was unemployment especially affecting young people. Then there were outcries at the cost of unemployment being paid out. She made very bad decisions but Starmer stuck by her.

So true. Along with the decision to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador, appointing Rachel Reeves as Chancellor was a great mistake and he failed to sack her.

Doodledog Thu 16-Jul-26 15:32:00

I wonder what future generations will be taught about him in history lessons?

MayBee70 Thu 16-Jul-26 17:11:41

Delene100

Lovetopaint037

I liked him and thought he was a really good PM with the exception of his allegiance to Rachel Reeves. She produced the most anti growth budgets that decided businesses could no longer employ people in the normal way. The result was unemployment especially affecting young people. Then there were outcries at the cost of unemployment being paid out. She made very bad decisions but Starmer stuck by her.

So true. Along with the decision to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador, appointing Rachel Reeves as Chancellor was a great mistake and he failed to sack her.

But our economy has stabilised even with the catastrophic world events of recent times. Which was the start of a long term plan.I often think that had she been a man she would have had less criticism.

Cossy Thu 16-Jul-26 17:25:21

LemonJam

The aim is to serve democracy- rather than undermine it, and discourage/curtail/stop divisive, fake news and toxicity.

We've seen how false rumours triggered Lucy Connolly to incite racial hatred. We've read an apology from Tommy Robinson today apologising for getting his facts wrong and stating false claims on his sm feeds claiming a Glasgow man was viewing children in a park inferring paedophile type activity thereby ruining that person's reputation and standing in his community based on false information.

This toxic culture and promoting of false and fake news is very damaging to democracy and society and anything that helps stop it is welcomed in m book.

Bring it on 🤗

👏👏👏👏👏👏

Cossy Thu 16-Jul-26 17:26:23

spabbygirl

I thought he was ok too, a little dull and boring perhaps and despite his lowly upbringing a little out of touch with reality. If he's started with cutting winter fuel allowance to higher tax payers it would have been less controversial. As it was cutting that straight away was a step too far, people had had enough of Tory cuts and to serve up more set him off on the wrong foot.
He is a great guy though, far better than any for the previous 14 years

I agree.

mum2three Thu 16-Jul-26 17:26:59

I find it astonishing that so many people admire Starmer. He has been a disaster for this country. He and his chancellor have come up with every way to take money from the British people and given most of it away to other countries. He didn't have the courage to give a definition of a woman. He changed his mind on so many things, which shows that he didn't think things through properly in the first place.
The very fact that his own party has forced him to resign is very significant.
I presume you are all quite happy to see our country continue to decline ...relying on imports instead of producing our own food...destroying nature and replacing it with houses (many of which are not being bought)...our children are not being taught about British history and heritage.
Hopefully it won't be long before a party which actually cares about Britain will take power and stop the destruction.

Primrose53 Thu 16-Jul-26 17:53:44

mum2three

I find it astonishing that so many people admire Starmer. He has been a disaster for this country. He and his chancellor have come up with every way to take money from the British people and given most of it away to other countries. He didn't have the courage to give a definition of a woman. He changed his mind on so many things, which shows that he didn't think things through properly in the first place.
The very fact that his own party has forced him to resign is very significant.
I presume you are all quite happy to see our country continue to decline ...relying on imports instead of producing our own food...destroying nature and replacing it with houses (many of which are not being bought)...our children are not being taught about British history and heritage.
Hopefully it won't be long before a party which actually cares about Britain will take power and stop the destruction.

Brilliant post. Agree with every word. Well done! 👏👏

MayBee70 Thu 16-Jul-26 18:21:42

Primrose53

mum2three

I find it astonishing that so many people admire Starmer. He has been a disaster for this country. He and his chancellor have come up with every way to take money from the British people and given most of it away to other countries. He didn't have the courage to give a definition of a woman. He changed his mind on so many things, which shows that he didn't think things through properly in the first place.
The very fact that his own party has forced him to resign is very significant.
I presume you are all quite happy to see our country continue to decline ...relying on imports instead of producing our own food...destroying nature and replacing it with houses (many of which are not being bought)...our children are not being taught about British history and heritage.
Hopefully it won't be long before a party which actually cares about Britain will take power and stop the destruction.

Brilliant post. Agree with every word. Well done! 👏👏

Can I ask which politicians you think worthy of admiration?

Doodledog Thu 16-Jul-26 19:22:57

And which party you think 'actually cares about Britain'?

Casdon Thu 16-Jul-26 19:52:29

The Independent Space Warrior, perhaps?

Dickens Thu 16-Jul-26 20:22:54

mum2three

I find it astonishing that so many people admire Starmer. He has been a disaster for this country. He and his chancellor have come up with every way to take money from the British people and given most of it away to other countries. He didn't have the courage to give a definition of a woman. He changed his mind on so many things, which shows that he didn't think things through properly in the first place.
The very fact that his own party has forced him to resign is very significant.
I presume you are all quite happy to see our country continue to decline ...relying on imports instead of producing our own food...destroying nature and replacing it with houses (many of which are not being bought)...our children are not being taught about British history and heritage.
Hopefully it won't be long before a party which actually cares about Britain will take power and stop the destruction.

Although I agree with you on Starmer's response on the definition of a woman - perhaps cast your mind back to the Blair years when most of our important assets were sold off to foreign investors - having already been privatised during the Thatcher era. Other EU member states - France, Germany, Italy, Spain - they held on to their strategic assets. They did this by refusing to privatise completely; Blair's approach was entirely market-led.
By contrast, Labour - under Keir Starmer - has taken a strategic British asset - British Steel - into public ownership. Had he not done that, the effect on UK rail, defence, and major construction projects, would've been catastrophic. Not to mention the thousands of jobs that would've been lost directly, and indirectly.
Blair also took us into a war that, it would appear, the majority were against.

So maybe you need to re-think whether he has been the disaster you say he has?

Barbadosbelle Thu 16-Jul-26 20:59:06

Valvadi

They obviously saw it in Hitler, Franco. Al-Assad, Mussolini, Weinstein et al too.
What great pillars of society they all were.

Thankfully many of us hold ourselves to higher standards. But not all it seems.
.

Barbadosbelle Thu 16-Jul-26 21:06:47

Doodledog

Nothing. After about six months we'll never hear his name again.
.

Delene100 Fri 17-Jul-26 11:41:47

Maybe, it is uturns Rarachel Reeves had to do. She didn't listen to her advisors and she was also inexperienced. If she had thought her policies out correctly in the first place, those uturns could have been avoided and she wouldn't have looked so incompetent.