To think Keir Starmer is toast as soon as the state visit is over

Yes.. that’s what we are all waiting for. When is he going to start?

The Parliamentary Labour Party tried very hard to remove Corbyn from the leadership of the party and were unable to do so. He only resigned after the party’s worst ever electoral defeat.

So removing Starmer won’t easily happen, unless he himself resigns like Harold Wilson did.

No, he'll hang on in there, even while the backbenchers queue up to stick the knife in. Will be interesting to see another re-set and phase three next week though.

The wheels won't start to come off until after the autumn budget. Then I reckon Reeves will fall and Starmer will be exposed ready for the inevitable shit-show of the May elections.

A lot of the Tories historic success was down to rigid party discipline. They abandoned this when they elected a clown for PM and the party has been in freefall ever since. Unfortunately for them, the wider party (who vote leaders in) and the parliamentary party (who vote leaders out) might as well be two completely different parties.

I remember watching some documentary on the Tories once.

Apparently a lot of their success is down to being ruthless about seeking and maintaining power.

If they think a PM is compromising the future success party there are mechanisms to get rid of them quickly and the party does not hesitate to act. See Truss.

I don't think Labour have the same mechanisms which in some respects may be a strength and in others a weakness.

It makes his position far safer than that of a conservative leader. There is no mechanism for a vote of no confidence in the labour party - the 20% actually need to back a challenger. Contrast with the conservative party which only require 15% to trigger a vote of no confidence with no challengers.

^^

Thanks. I wasn’t aware of that. It makes his position less safe. Who would people prefer? I can only see Wes Streeting or Shabana Mahmood as strong enough to govern. But it’s difficult to know who the backbenchers would go for. I doubt it will happen before May

@HolidayInCambodia25-we’re waiting…..

That's not correct. Anyone can launch a leadership challenge (or challenge any other sitting national officer) with nominations from 20% of the parliamentary party.

Only because Starmer wont let them near anything important

The talent pool for all political parties is not very big

Consider who is the least worst labour politician after Starmer?
And would you like them to be PM instead?

No. A challenger simply needs the support of 20% of the parliamentary party to trigger a leadership vote. The rules are here: https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Rule-Book-2025.pdf

I'm with you. I don't think he has a murky past. The problem he is an excellent administrator but he a poor leader. He should be working in the civil service.

So hypocritical as well - thought people didn't want "outside interference" and "being told what to do" by other countries? Otherwise what was Brexit all about?

Can’t roll my damn eyes high enough. We have this with EVERY SINGLE PM. Petitions for new elections, murmurs and rumours that it’s just a matter of time before they go.

The next GE is four years away,….you can oust him then but it’s unlikely you will do so before that.

Im politically homeless these days but even I can see that futility of all the campaigns and spin trying to force people out,

To: Kakhi Tiger: How did Farage pay for his house in clacton, sorry his partners house, even though she didn’t have any money?

Farage is a traitor to this country asking the US to impose economic sanctions against us, like we’re Russia or North Korea.

Labour have only been in power for over a year. We have had 14 years of Tory rule which have decimated public services, it takes time to fix. I think Kier has to stay to fix it (even if I would prefer Andy Burnham).

With regards to the boats if we hadn’t got Brexit done then we could have sent those boats back under reciprocal agreements with those countries, like France. Let’s not forget that Farage pushed for Brexit while royally screwing the rest of the country.

Liz Truss increased my mortgage by £300 quid a month thanks to her trickle down economics which Farage thinks was brilliant.

Labour is committed to growth in financial markets. They have invested millions more into the NHS. They support workers rights.

Farage has voted against workers rights, has voted against bills that would protect women from harm.

Farage has voted against bills banning upskirting (hardly surprising when his own nephew was guilty of it), harassment, stalking and spiking. Tell me again how it’s the women he’s trying to protect.

It’s got so bad the Rape Crisis for England and Wales put out a statement asking for the govt to intervene and stop the far right from
hikacking ‘protecting women’ nonsense as 90 percent of all perpetrators that commit rapes and sexual assault are known to their victims.

Yes Labour aren’t perfect and the disparity between the rich and poor widened under the Tory government and will widen further under Reform. Only Reform will have their scapegoats waiting - it’s the immigrants not the billionaires who will be blamed. Billionaires like Jim Ratcliff who has moved to Monaco because he doesn’t want to pay a 4 billion tax bill. Why are we the people allowing billionaires to accrue so much private wealth? Why do you think all the billionaire owned media hates Labour? They don’t want to pay tax, don’t want to pay NI.

Labour have made being part of a union recognised by an organisation mandatory next April. At the moment companies/organisations can ignore unions unless they get a majority recognised. That changes. We are all workers, these things benefit us all.

Anyway rant over and I am truly living up to my grumpy name.

Quite.

People so quickly forget the bollocks we had to listen to and suffer under the previous lot. He's doing his job ... imperfectly of course as he us human ... but at least he has a vestige of decency.

Is this you at the SYL racists' march 🤣🤣🤣

If there was any truth in those rumours, the press would have had a field day by now.

You raised it. You provide evidence.

This is an unpopular view I know but Mandelson was quite a clever appointment given he was dealing with Trump. He’d been a business negotiator in Europe and had massive relevant experience. He was also the right type of person to deal with Trump-they got on very well together. For another President he would have been abhorrent, but you are looking at what works with Trump. We got a good trade deal from Trump as a result.
Sacking Mandelson right before the state visit for links with Epstein when Trump has similar links isn’t a good look. It reflects on Trump’s behaviour too. I would have thought sacking him afterwards would have been better, but once again the back benchers forced Starmer into it. Bad move.

@FloridaCat They cannot keep taxing business snd individuals! Look at business. NO growth. Business doesn’t come here. Costs are too high and they are anti business. Individuals are squeezed financially. Everything is going up. Aldi CEO spoke about rising costs for food snd for the business. Look at John Lewis. It’s not going to help with a policy of taxing and spending. That’s Corbyn policies and it’s guaranteeing no growth. It’s fiscally and economically inept. Reform will drive a coach and horses through any policy like that and just watch pensions plummet. It would be Truss x 100.