Can Sir Keir Starmer revive the Labour Party?

[Johnnytheboy]

2xChevrons said:

What is it about David Miliband that means he has some sort of mythical 'king asleep under the mountain' aura for some people (often people who aren't or never have been Labour voters)? What has he ever said or done to make so many people dream of the day when he will return from across the sea, risen anew from misty Lyonesse, to rescue Albion and usher in a new age of...whatever it is he stands for.

Probably the same thing that makes people think John Smith would have been a brilliant PM. i.e. we never got a chance to find out.

People would probably be telling us Gordon Brown would have made a great PM if he'd never got the opportunity to show us.

[williamp]

On top of all his problems, Bercrow has now joined the party...

Is it to get into the HoL via Lanour party, sort of lordship for favours which the left wont see any problem with...


...or will be decide leadership is his thing, and hell try for a safe seat and MP and Labour leader?.

Im it sure anyone would want someone that toxic. He'll fit in well...

[anonymoususer]

Ignore the posters above. Ignore glowing stuff about Charity Milliband and Sensible Andy. Even ignore my previous support for Jess as leader
(She will still make a mighty fine deputy though

The new must have leader surely should be John "hate the tories" Bercow.
This pint sized powerhouse of a politician would be a sure fire hit. Jess isn't the only MP to love him, many do, the tributes to him as he resigned as speaker were truly moving and glowing testaments to this superb chap

It's Bercow from now on

[AmitG]

williamp said:

On top of all his problems, Bercrow has now joined the party...

Is it to get into the HoL via Lanour party, sort of lordship for favours which the left wont see any problem with...


...or will be decide leadership is his thing, and hell try for a safe seat and MP and Labour leader?.

Im it sure anyone would want someone that toxic. He'll fit in well...

My guess is that it's to get a peerage. Wasn't he denied a peerage by the Conservatives (going against the convention that the Speaker automatically gets a peerage) as a revenge for supposedly obstructing Brexit?

I guess that if he joins Labour they will put him on the list and he will get it that way.

I would have thought that if Bercow was going to change parties, the Lib Dems would have been a closer fit for his views.

[2xChevrons]

Johnnytheboy said:

Probably the same thing that makes people think John Smith would have been a brilliant PM. i.e. we never got a chance to find out.

People would probably be telling us Gordon Brown would have made a great PM if he'd never got the opportunity to show us.

That's almost certainly part of it. But at least with John Smith he was advocating a vision and ideology that was distinctive, different and which, with retrospect would probably have been successful and, perhaps, better for the country in the long term than what we got in reality. There's something there to be wistful about.

Miliband, D was barely offering anything and what he offered was tired and - surely? - would have flopped hard with the electorate.

And you do get people saying that Brown would have been an amazing left-wing PM if only he'd followed his personal instincts rather than the Blair playbook. I dunno what their evidence for this is, mind you.

anonymoususer said:

It's Bercow from now on

He's done more to increase the number of Labour MPs in parliament than Starmer has so far managed...

[williamp]

anonymoususer said:

Ignore the posters above. Ignore glowing stuff about Charity Milliband and Sensible Andy. Even ignore my previous support for Jess as leader
(She will still make a mighty fine deputy though

The new must have leader surely should be John "hate the tories" Bercow.
This pint sized powerhouse of a politician would be a sure fire hit. Jess isn't the only MP to love him, many do, the tributes to him as he resigned as speaker were truly moving and glowing testaments to this superb chap

It's Bercow from now on

Nah. The next labour leader will need to have a vagina, or identify as havng one. Being considered one isnt enough....
Jess "she'll sort this mess" Philips or Angela Rayner are the only logical choices.

[Northernboy]

Star,er needs to set out his stall. Do something, say something.

I think he’s been keeping his powder dry as the next election is so far away, but unless he comes up with something he won’t be the leader when it happens.

He did a tiny bit of a purge of the Corbynites, but then stopped, promoting the last one he tried to sack.

What does he stand for, what does he want? Why would someone vote for his party?

He needs a big message, a statement of what he stands for, and what he will deliver. It may fail, but better to fail for what you believe in than to stand for nothing and fail anyway.

[768]

He stands for everything the Conservative party is doing and nothing the Conservative party has done.

[Andy 308GTB]

AmitG said:

williamp said:

On top of all his problems, Bercrow has now joined the party...

Is it to get into the HoL via Lanour party, sort of lordship for favours which the left wont see any problem with...


...or will be decide leadership is his thing, and hell try for a safe seat and MP and Labour leader?.

Im it sure anyone would want someone that toxic. He'll fit in well...

My guess is that it's to get a peerage. Wasn't he denied a peerage by the Conservatives (going against the convention that the Speaker automatically gets a peerage) as a revenge for supposedly obstructing Brexit?

I guess that if he joins Labour they will put him on the list and he will get it that way.

I would have thought that if Bercow was going to change parties, the Lib Dems would have been a closer fit for his views.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57541836

Tory pensions minister Guy Opperman said: "Labour are welcome to Bercow."

[Burwood]

Bercow. He really is an asshole. Not for his repugnant behaviour whilst speaker but because he thinks anyone gives a st what he does now.

[633Squadron]

Surely, you mean Lord Bercow.


Oh....wait...

[768]

I'd almost forgotten we were pretending for all that time that he was in some way a speaker with notional allegiance to the Conservatives.

[B'stard Child]

768 said:

I'd almost forgotten we were pretending for all that time that he was in some way a speaker with notional allegiance to the Conservatives.

The only allegiance any MP has is to themselves - the sooner people realise that the better

[Ian Geary]

williamp said:

Nah. The next labour leader will need to have a vagina, or identify as havng one.

That's if the radical feminists and the radical trans groups haven't all obliterated each other about if the definition of a person with a vagina and women mean the same thing.

I can sort of imagine a conference hall where the last 2 surviving opponents finish each other at the same time

(Think Life of Brian sewers kidnap scene pfj Vs jpf)

Hey, of they can't beat the Tories, why not beat themselves up? I imagine Keir being under a table during all of this.

[Burwood]

eliot said:

clearly will do anything to remain on the gravy train

The first thing that I thought of was 'a shorter, fatter version of Neil Hamilton' and his wife could make a good Christine

[turbobloke]

Ian Geary said:

williamp said:

Nah. The next labour leader will need to have a vagina, or identify as havng one.

That's if the radical feminists and the radical trans groups haven't all obliterated each other about if the definition of a person with a vagina and women mean the same thing.

I can sort of imagine a conference hall where the last 2 surviving opponents finish each other at the same time

(Think Life of Brian sewers kidnap scene pfj Vs jpf)

Hey, of they can't beat the Tories, why not beat themselves up? I imagine Keir being under a table during all of this.

Bercow will get a new bumper sticker for his wife's wheels.

[Talksteer]

bhstewie said:

After losing their deposit..

Tactical voting innit...

This is potentially more serious for Conservatives, the 2019 vote in this seat was doubtless assisted by the existence of Corbyn.

In this context the voters are not worried about a lefty getting in.

This area voted remain and has HS2 running through it, the move is likely part of a gradual realignment of the more educated to Labour/Lib Dems.

[Touring442]

I've voted for both before, but Labour are finished. Any attempt to save it now would be akin to making a new suit for a dead man.
Corbyn wasn't really the entire cause of their demise. Like Trump, he was so very different to politicians like The Appalling May and he certainly lit a fire under UK politics, but sadly he chose his front benchers with heart not head (Abbopotamus, McDonnell) and soon attracted the like of Owen Jones and the usual raft of social misfits and clueless right-on kids. The dreadlock wearing whiteys who shop at Waitrose, the transistor LGBMGBGT smellies in the Hammer & Sickle over a pint of Old Stalin's Hobgoblin and the rest of the social rejects. They've taken over Labour, fuelled by the ttterati wokestains. Yep, they've gone.

As alluded to earlier, it's a Green / LibDem alliance that could be worth watching. Otherwise, it's business as usual with the 'EVAL TOREHS' unassailable as long as they don't screw it up too much.

[Tuna]

I'm hoping Bercow becomes the new leader.

[rxe]

Touring442 said:

I've voted for both before, but Labour are finished. Any attempt to save it now would be akin to making a new suit for a dead man.
Corbyn wasn't really the entire cause of their demise. Like Trump, he was so very different to politicians like The Appalling May and he certainly lit a fire under UK politics, but sadly he chose his front benchers with heart not head (Abbopotamus, McDonnell) and soon attracted the like of Owen Jones and the usual raft of social misfits and clueless right-on kids. The dreadlock wearing whiteys who shop at Waitrose, the transistor LGBMGBGT smellies in the Hammer & Sickle over a pint of Old Stalin's Hobgoblin and the rest of the social rejects. They've taken over Labour, fuelled by the ttterati wokestains. Yep, they've gone.

As alluded to earlier, it's a Green / LibDem alliance that could be worth watching. Otherwise, it's business as usual with the 'EVAL TOREHS' unassailable as long as they don't screw it up too much.

Interesting article in the Wail of all places on the dangers of identity politics. Apparently fringe nutters like Galloway are making significant ground in Batley & Spen. Corbyn’s anti semitism and support of Palestine played well with some sections of the community. Of course it turned off the traditional white working class who wondered why British politicians were blathering about Zionism. Now that Starmer has tried to eliminate the anti Semitic angle, his erstwhile supporters are looking else where.

The problem is that identity politics used to be simple and clear. Most people considered themselves within the group, and there were a few hardliners (on both left and right) who were considered unacceptable by all. Now we have large groups of people who will rip strips off Jews, and if you get in the middle of the trans vs. Feminist argument you’re only going to lose. If you start pandering to identity politics, then the splintering of identities will clobber you in the end.