No environmental content in this speech but that is understandable.
I preferred to read the speech than listen to it.
I’m happy with Mr Starmer so far – he’s sensible, he’s for fairness and he has some experience of doing a difficult job in the real world.
I’m keen to hear what he will say on environmental issues but I’m patient.
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Well said Mark, yes I think you are right.
The absolutely key point is that, as a moderate he is very definitely electable. Corbyn was not a moderate and was in no way electable. I think one of the telling things about a leader of any large organisation is the quality of the personnel that he/she appoints to important positions around him/ her. JFK in the USA made a point of assigning the very best “brains” in the country to his administration even if they were not politicians. In this respect I am impressed with a number of Keir Stammer’s senior shadow appointments including environment . I think Keir Stammer augers well for the future and for dragging this country out of the Victorian age and ending the associated many Tory privileges. Reform is desperately needed all round, nature and wildlife conservation being one of course.
You never know, but in just a few years time when leaving the EU clearly becomes such a total disaster to a large majority of people, , he may even take this country back into the EU where it should be all the time.
Stunned by their glamour and intellect, he [Lyndon Johnson] had rushed back to tell Rayburn, his great and crafty mentor, about them, about how brilliant each was, that fellow Bundy from Harvard, Rusk from Rockefeller, McNamara from Ford. On he went, naming them all. “Well, Lyndon, you may be right and they may be every bit as intelligent as you say,” said Rayburn, “but I’d feel a whole lot better about them if just one of them had run for sherriff once.” David Halberstam, The Best and The Brightest, pg41.First Ballantine Books Edition, 1993.
He’s not going to win back (m)any labour votes in Scotland.
Maybe he doesn’t want to. If he does (want to), then he’s been very badly advised.
Yes the Union Jack thing was cloth eared and politically inept. The SNP are at each others throats and he throws them a life line.
He appeals to the SDP element, but that’s about it.
I think the Haldane Society have got the measure of the man.
And what has happened to the Forde report?
On a personal note, his complexion is rather florid (the only red thing about him).
No environmental comment ‘understandable’ when we’re living in a full blown climate and biodiversity crisis. How about ‘inexcusable’, ‘deeply regrettable’ or at least a teensy bit disappointing. He’s got to do better than this.
Deja vu. Isn’t it the case that first impressions count and are often correct?
I do not want to hope that a politician will do the right thing, I want to expect they do so.
He doesn’t ‘want to go back’ but is willing to repeat the promises of Labour past.
The first thing you learn in the school of politics is never to be specific.
About anything! Well he has got that right. But I want specifics.
I want him to recognise that we are part of the rich west that ignores, or worse, uses the third world to feed off. That has to stop.
I want a commitment that he will stop all subsidies of fossil fuels, both here and abroad.
He mentioned climate change just once, but not how he would begin to tackle it.
He could have spoken about the environment, green jobs, equality for the planet, pollution. None of those got a mention
He could have promised to stop using GDP as a measure, he didn’t.
A promise of a fairer tax on the rich would have been a start.
And if he is to be a really fair politician then he would have spoken about reforming the electoral system so that every vote truly counts.
He didn’t and never will.
Still, you have to start somewhere. It’s just that a politician’s somewhere never seems to be the place I want to be.
He seems like a very reasonable guy, whilst not my choice to take over I’m actually delighted with him so far. The Tories are a shambles and all that is required to win the next election will be a sensible ‘left of centre’ alternative. I’m still struggling to see how so many people want to continue with the Corbyn path after losing two very winnable elections.
I agree with Mark, on one thing only. It reads marginally better than it sounds although neither are very exciting. Madeline Grant’s sketch in this morning’s Telegraph was alarmingly astute. But in my fifty years of having a vote I remain very suspicious of all politicians regardless of their bias.
One big message for the environment sector from Keir:
‘It is very important with this PM not to just listen to what he says but to see what he does’
We badly need good quality politicians at all levels, and with a variety of opinions.
How much are all you critics out there contributing to that? It’s not everyone’s job, but we all have some role, and the less you do in this sphere the less right you have to criticise.
The EDL branch of Labour speaks. Nah, if I was in any way minded to vote Labour, his march to the right has thrown that away.
Not really impressed with anything from Starmer so far. He seems to be offering us something sort of Tory Lite and the polls seem to indicate that people would rather have the real Tories(don’t ask me why given their execrable handling of covid, turkies voting for xmas maybe).
That is the thing. If you want Toryism, then you are already all in on that because the Tories already exist. Trying to be Tory lite can’t pick up any votes, since the theoretical Torylite votes will be hoping to drag the Tory party itself a little back. They ain’t gonna be interested in going to Labour. All trying to be Torylite does is throw away the votes of people on the left who are utterly opposed to Tory policies, whether lite or not.
This is exactly what happened with the Lib Dems in 2010 when Clegg split the LD party in the same way. The rightie LDs jumped ship onto the Tories, and the left leaning ones noped right on out because they hated Toryism and were LD so as not to be Tories. And it is also the same thing that happened with Scottish Labour after it cosied up to the Tories in the referendum campaign. The rightie Labourites jumped ship onto the Tories and the Scottish Labour voters who hated Tories peaced on out of the party [and some just out of politics entirely].
You cannot out Tory the Tories, and they should stop trying.
I spent a fair bit of time campaigning for a LD candidate in the 2017 GE. This was in a seat the Labour have never won, and are not likely to ever win. It has flipped between the Tories and LD’s over the last 50 years.
Three things really surprised me; one was the number of historical LD voters who disapproved of the coalition, and were planning to vote Conservative in protest, go figure that one. Secondly the number of Labour supporters who historically voted LD to ensure they didn’t get a Tory MP (Red Liberals) but because of the coalition were going to vote Labour in full knowledge that this increased the chance of them getting a Tory MP thus reducing the chances of Labour winning the election. And thirdly the number of historical Lib Dem voters who were going to vote Tory because of Europe e.g. they were leavers.
There is an old adage in politics that when presented by the choice of a open bastard or a hypocritical bastard, people will vote for the open bastard everytime. That explains the former group. They’ve understood Labour couldn’t win, but they wanted to punish the LD for being hypocritical and make them lose their seat.
The Red Liberals, they looked at the same choice and took a third option. They went for principled protest [ironically, this is usually what the LDs are in Labour/Tory seats] deciding if they were gonna get Toryism whether they voted for a LD or a Tory, they might as well go down colours flying. And this group is why Clegg really nuked his party with that coalition, Torylite or Plain Tory was the same old sTory to them, and a huge chunk of the LDs might have been lukewarm on Labour, but were red hot on not wanting to be Tories of any stripe. And also why Keir is nuking Labour right now too.
The third group are what Gene Wilder once described as the common clay of the west. And there is no saving or explaining those.
In other news I see that B&Q have listened to their Customers and are Thrilled and Excited to have made progress and are stocking a new thickness of Plank