AIBU to find Keir Starmer a charisma-free zone?

It’s like when Trump said don’t vote for Biden, politics will become boring if he wins. I think I’d rather boring and sane at the moment.

OP, I agree. I want to like him and I do but he is just so headmaster.
He talks to Boris et al like an exasperated adult to a naughty child. It actually just makes me laugh when I know it is serious and it shouldn’t. And when he sighs deeply at the latest outrage it is quite funny.
I know exactly what you mean, he does lack charisma and I know people are desperate for this not to be the case as so much is invested in him.
People say but but listen to what he says! Trouble is tone etc matters more sometimes, that’s just the way it is.
And if I hear how “forensic “he is one more time, he does need to be careful as that word is getting stuck on him.

I like them both. Keir and Boris. I also liked David Cameron and Gordon Brown. I initially thought Corbyn was an excellent leftie and changed my mind about him later down the line. As people, they don’t necessarily get my vote - the policies are what do it for me. But I prefer PMQs these days.

I think the media and populace’s over-regard for ‘charisma’ is part of the reason some countries are in the shitty place they are right now.

Another vote for ability over so called charisma. Starmer’s speech is that of a lawyer, measured and relating detail. Compare that with the ridiculous speech delivery from the PM we have now. What goes around comes around and I believe that soon we will be back in the realms of long ago when substance is valued.

Clement Attlee was the most ordinary and dull politician but his government gave us pensions, the NHS and kept us from starving in the Second World War. I should think Johnson is enough to deter anyone from voting for so called personality or charisma.

YABBVU! Notwithstanding that substance is more important than charisma, he has both! He is highly articulate, absolutely wiped the floor with Johnson in PMQ's, and is an extremely dashing ex human rights lawyer who spent his career fighting injustice pro bono. It's no surprise that Helen Fielding based Mark Darcy on Keir Starmer (in Bridget Jones' Diary).

We really need to get over this obsession with charisma instead of substance. On the other hand I’m a bit concerned about the substance too. We need socialist options (note, not communism, although I shouldn’t need to have to say that) back in peoples heads as viable alternatives. We need people to actually think. Which probably means we’re doomed.

You are not being unreasonable. He's like a robot, or the tin man. I saw him smile the other day - looked like too much of an effort.

I have also listened to what he has to say. Not much appealing to me.

OP, i'm with you on this one.

I think he is very good.

Or maybe even a nasal spray might help. I am no ENT expert either.😊

He’s very clever and competent which may just work against show and character but flaky

Yes that occurred to me as well goats. I’m not an ENT expert but I’m sure there was a politician once upon a time who had his adenoids removed to make his voice more convincing. Completely irrational obviously.

I think he needs his adenoids out.😊

I’m a huge fan (have been ever since his MN webchats, which were excellent) but in my shallower moments I do think his voice is unfortunate.

Charisma is for actors.
I'd take competent, empathetic and sensible leadership all day long in a PM regardless of whether they were as dull as a potato or not.

I find quite the opposite to be the case. KS's quieter, more measured demeanor is highly effective against Boris' bluster. Rather than being sucked into the escalation of shouting, hand-waving pantomime (May vs Corbyn used to be virtually unwatchable) he speaks calmly and clearly, pauses when he needs to and takes his time. He's very organised and prepared. He shows Boris up for the bloated bag of wind we all know him to be.

So far he's come across well. It's good to see a politician being calm, controlled and up to the task of thinking their way around things whilst answering/posing questions.

Most politicians seem to be like Arnie in Total Recall when he's trying to get through Mars customs. His suit's computer can only answer one or two questions, then it comes unstuck and explodes! A lot of politicians seem to have this, if a question is asked that's not on the cards prepared for them they can't offer an answer of any substance or merit and start dithering like inept fools I wish some would actually combust but that may be sadistic.

I thought the whole idea is that he's deliberately being bland so Johnson can't start up the culture wars to distract from the covid/brexit shitshow being entirely on him.

Boris is a salesman/showman, not someone with the kind of long-term focus needed for this job. He should have recognised this and brought in someone like Jeremy Hunt (I know, I know) who can actually ruthlessly pursue an objective (like improving testing) and doesn't care what he has to do or who he has to upset to carry it out. But JH being a remainer and all...

The man is just completely out of his depth.

The worst bit about Boris's speech last night was the Churchill tribute act. He started one sentence with 'Never...' and you could just tell he wanted to say '..in the field of human conflict'

He actually grinned when he said it. It's all a bloody game to him.

Johnson's method of defence against him is just bluster, with no substance coming out of his mouth, as per usual.

Over the lockdown period, he did an organised Zoom call with all people that wanted to join from Cornwall. We went on it and he was completely different to what you see at the dispatch box.

I'm far from a Labour supporter (or any party for that matter), but I'm certainly watching what he does with a lot of interest. There is finally a leader of the opposition who appears statesmanlike.

If that's the worst thing you can say about him, then he's doing an excellent job. To me, he speaks in a considered way, you can see he's actually putting thought into what he's saying rather than using a script.

Last night, Johnson used the phrase "a stitch in time saves nine". Many people picked up on it. What most didn't realise is that he said exactly the same thing at lunchtime in the Commons. He didn't even write what he was saying, the extent of that man's brain is playing with his hands (which is annoying and very unprofessional for a trained speaker).