Keir Starmer wins Labour leadership

I am very much hoping that Keir Starmer will be more swayed by his past close working with Helen Steel on the McLibel Trial than by his "longtime acquaintance" Peter Tatchell.

Tatchell on Keir Starmer ("longtime acquaintance")

"Keir Starmer Is Not Who You Think He Is"
The human rights activist who became a top prosecutor. Political to the core but not a natural politician. It's not clear what kind of Labour leader Keir Starmer would be.

Buzzfeed News, February 12, 2020
Emily Ashton

"Peter Tatchell, a human rights campaigner and longtime acquaintance of Starmer, remembered him as always being “very open to representation from outside his own circle” as DPP.

“I was involved in helping to defend two Balochistan activists who the government of Pakistan was trying to frame on terrorism charges,” he said. “When I approached Keir about the case he immediately said ‘Come in and see me. Let's talk about it.’ He was a very high-profile, busy man at the time but he took the time, you know, which I think is a measure of his character and integrity.”

Tatchell said Starmer would make a “fine Labour leader” but said he hoped he would take on some of the “very thoughtful, intelligent proposals” made by Clive Lewis, the left-wing Labour MP who dropped out of the leadership contest in the early stages."

www.buzzfeed.com/emilyashton/keir-starmer-profile

Anyone got any idea what those “very thoughtful, intelligent proposals” made by Clive Lewis, the left-wing Labour MP" were??

McLibel Trial

The McLibel Trial story:

www.mcspotlight.org/case/trial/story.html

"McLibel: full documentary (Official)" by Spanner Films

Story behind the McLibel documentary:

www.spannerfilms.net/films/mclibel

Most of this video is Keir Starmer praising Helen Steel and Dave Morris:

"McLibel: DVD Extras: Keir Starmer interviews 1996 + 2005"

Helen Steel

So much that could be written and linked!

If he has not already done so then Keir Starmer could do with watching Helen's speech here:

"A Woman's Place is on the Platform: Helen Steel (23 November 2017)"

Video description:

"Helen Steel - trade unionist, social justice and environmental activist, McLibel defendent and heroic campaigner for justice against state spying and insitutionally sexist abuse by the police. Attacked at the Anarchist Bookfair for defending the right of women to distribute leaflets voicing concern about the Tory government's review of the Gender Recognition Act. Woman's Place UK were honoured to give her a platform in Cambridge on 23 November 2017, alongside Linda Bellos and Anne Ruzylo.

erratum: at 15:42 the date should be 1944, not 1994."

womansplaceuk.org

. . . and reading this:

‘Those involved in progressive politics need to commit to ensuring women’s voices are heard’
HELEN STEEL talks to Jo Bartosch about the violence and threats she’s received from supposed leftwingers for attempting to discuss the issues of sex and gender

The Morning Star 27 June 2019

archive.vn/o4rhe

and this . . .

"Radical Intransigence"
Mike Hannis finds a much-needed debate being shut down.

www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/radical-intransigence-0

and this . . .

"That horrible anti-transgender campaign"

kaygreen.blog/2019/07/07/that-horrible-anti-transgender-campaign/

and listen to this . . .

"SCR Extra. Interview with Helen steel"

makemorenoise.libsyn.com/scr-extra-interview-with-helen-steel

"In this episode DJ Lippy interviews social justice campaigner Helen Steel.

She will be discussing her role in the McLibel case and her relationship with an undercover police officer in what has been dubbed the Spy Cops scandal. She also talks about the sustained campaign of harassment she has received from those within the radical activist community for her feminist beliefs."

Wikipedia

The usual suspects who erase women's achievements from Wikipedia and promote its unwaveringly pro-trans propaganda have been at work to try make everyone forget Helen Steel.

Thank you "Rosguill" for this on 26 October 2019:

"It has been suggested that Steel is not notable enough to warrant a stand alone article. Heres my response to that; . . . "

continued at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Helen_Steel

Keir - remember Helen - you listened to her once and lent her your support. Listen to her again now!

Having listened to the 2018 Nick Robinson interview, it appears he has conviction personally, and I think he admires it in others.

But maybe I heard what I want to hear.

Also, it's not impossible that leaving the EU will turn out to be a complete disaster and that in five years' time people will be desperate to go back in. But a lot depends on the impact coronavirus has on the economies of the various member states

The U.K Leaving was just the beginning...the fault lines in the EU will be blown wide apart by this current crisis. The U.K may well end up coming out of all of this relatively lightly compared to some EU countries - certainly those dependent on the European Central Bank.

Neither is continuing to rehash Brexit but he seems committed to doing that.

That might change, though. And don't forget, 48% of voters voted to remain in the EU, which is a hefty minority. I doubt you'd get 48% of people voting for self-ID.

Also, it's not impossible that leaving the EU will turn out to be a complete disaster and that in five years' time people will be desperate to go back in. But a lot depends on the impact coronavirus has on the economies of the various member states.

Who'd have thought little OJ's principles would be so flexible?

Imo he's not a conviction politician so he will go where the soundbites (and let's be honest

That's certainly my impression too. He's about consensus rather than conviction, and that will go for how he handles the clamour from certain groups for Self ID, as it will for how voters in Wigan feel.

he understands it's not going to be a priority for people in the former Labour heartlands
Neither is continuing to rehash Brexit but he seems committed to doing that. Atm he is playing to the Blairites/anti-Corbynites not the heartlands. But his ultimate priority is protecting himself not women. imo he's not a conviction politician so he will go where the soundbites (and let's be honest

• the money/funding) lead ...

*to win the party vote i mean, doh.

i think he had to pretend to be kind of pro- twaw to win the election but he is intelligent enough to know a- its not true and b- it wont win him votes.

(tbf i have nothing to base this on other than the fact he is clearly intelligent)

I see he's made Angela Rayner party chair. How significant is that does anyone know?

I like to think Starmer's pre-candidacy comments on GRA were soundbites

That could well be a case of hope over reality.....I would not trust that to be the case at all, myself. Angela Raynor is now deputy leader, and Starmer will be looking towards being a consensus politician.

There is a long way to go.......and the Labour party is going to have to take a long hard look at itself......It is still very much split between Momentum members, and their new 'plants' in the CLPs, and most of the older, long standing members.

On the issue of pragmatism, this made me laugh this morning. Who'd have thought little OJ's principles would be so flexible?

With Starmer, I think we just have to wait and see. He strikes me as a pragmatist above all else. He has to tread a very careful line: he wants to get rid of all the Corbynites from the shadow cabinet but he doesn't want to piss off his opponents within the party. I think from that point of view he had no option but to give Nandy a job. I suppose he'll have to find something for Wrong-Daily too.

I don't know what he's going to about gender recognition, but if he has any sense (which I think he does) he will find a way of dropping it, because he understands it's not going to be a priority for people in the former Labour heartlands.

What we have to remember is that Labour is a deeply divided party, so he's going to have to find some way of uniting it while also not letting the far left anti-Semite wing have any significant influence. That's going to be a difficult stunt to pull off.

Keir Starmer has a) committed publicly to reforming the GRA to self ID and b) prevaricated and evaded all questions about how the manifesto promise on single sex spaces could be maintained under a self ID regime.

He has been marginally less idiotic than his fellow leadership candidates not because he's aiming to protect women but because he is better at weasel words.

The iron hand in the velvet glove is still an iron hand.

We need to demand more from Labour not cling on to forlorn hopes.

He spouts TWAW but he wouldn't say you should be expelled from the party for not believing it. Whether that was because he genuinely believes in free speech or because he's just smarter than those other fools, I don't know. But for me that still puts clear daylight between him and the other candidates. I wish I could say more and it's not enough to bring me back but at least I'm watching,

I like to think Starmer's pre-candidacy comments on GRA were soundbites but focus on that issue means he might now have a more in-depth understanding of the complexities. He probably didn't need to give it a whole load of thought prior to his leadership campaign. I'm an optimist, what can I say.

He's a caretaker leader until Labour works out wtf they stand for now. But he wouldn't bring me back to them that's for sure

I agree! His function is relative neutrality - while the party fights it out and decides what it is to be going forward.

Also don't forget he said that he didn't think Self Id was "going far enough" - and that other countries " were doing more".

The smears have started already, I see...

I don't think Starmer is better than the others tbh. He just judged the anti-women/TRA pledge was too public so he fudged his position but in everything and everywhere else, he's been as TWAW as the rest of them.
He's a caretaker leader until Labour works out wtf they stand for now. But he wouldn't bring me back to them that's for sure.

Nandy at FO is very very clever
ignore her past woke comments - focus on the genetic material in her cells.
She will have the remit of dealing with other countries and gently counteracting Priti
hopefully she'll have the nouse to shut up and listen to advisors

Dear God, Why Nandy why? Nandy will sign ANYTHING - She can't see anything wrong with male rapists in women's prison - if they want. Can you imagine her dealing with Putin or Saudi?

He'll have the canny to keep Nandy away from prisons, hopefully. Otherwise Dr Long's video is going to be on a loop for years to come...

For reference:

OP RoyalCorgi wrote Sun 16-Feb-20,
"Lisa Nandy says child rapists should be in women’s prisons if they identify as female

Extraordinary."

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=oUon9j1zJ_E&

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3824781-Lisa-Nandy-says-child-rapists-should-be-in-women-s-prisons-if-they-identify-as-female