AMA with Tom Baldwin: author of "Keir Starmer: The Biography" - the Sunday Times bestselling biography of the Labour Leader

[RhiannonEMumsnet]

Hi there,

We're pleased to announce that with just a few days to go until the General Election, Tom Baldwin, former Labour advisor and author of "Keir Starmer: The Biography" - the Sunday Times bestselling biography of the Labour Leader will be joining us for an AMA on Sunday evening.

Tom's biography of the man who looks set to be the next Prime Minister has been described as "the first serious and consistently readable biography of Starmer" (Patrick Maguire, the Times) and "absolutely riveting and very timely" (Amol Rajan). You can join him live on this thread from 7.30pm on Sunday, or post your questions in advance below.

Thanks,
MNHQ

@GailBlancheViola you certainly speak for me

I want to make the point again that this was not an 'official' appearance - we asked Tom B on because he's recently written a biography of Keir Starmer and we thought he'd have some interesting insights. It wasn't done via Labour HQ with whom we've been talking separately about a chat with Keir (thus far they've not found us a time).

Being a bulwark against right wing populism at home and abroad. I've interviewed Paf McFadden in today's Observer and he talks about how politics is changing and may be more about fighting far right populism in the next few years.

A government that plans to 'fight' a section of the populace is creating a divisive and unhelpful situation. Framing this as some kind of moral battle actually gives me chills - that's exactly how we see society fragment and get into turmoil.

Instead of ever considering why people are voting for Marie Le Pen, or Reform, etc, that section are othered and railed against.

The end result is just about always a polarising one, and ultimately a strengthening of the 'other' side.

See also: Brexit, Trump, etc.

I really hope Labour do start listening to mums on mumsnet, Justine. I think something switches when you become a mum as someone else becomes more important than you. All of this is about keeping children and others safe. It’s the overriding theme.

If Tom is right about Keir being so passionate about tackling VAWG then his advisers need to listen to mums. We are the ones going through this across the country in real time.

Perhaps I'm being naive about politicians wanting the best outcome for the most possible people, when of course many people have other concerns, often to do with their own interests.

Broad comment, not aimed at any one party.

A government that plans to 'fight' a section of the populace is creating a divisive and unhelpful situation. Framing this as some kind of moral battle actually gives me chills - that's exactly how we see society fragment and get into turmoil.

Instead of ever considering why people are voting for Marie Le Pen, or Reform, etc, that section are othered and railed against.

The end result is just about always a polarising one, and ultimately a strengthening of the 'other' side.

See also: Brexit, Trump, etc.

Completely agree. From what I've seen, Trump is currently bookies' favourite to win the US election.

It seems really obvious to me. Protest politics come from disenfranchised people who aren't being heard. The solution isn't to not listen even harder. Unless you actually want a long-lasting civil unrest and a fractured society.

Raising children has taught me a lot about politics. 😊

that was made clear earlier in the thread. however, tom is closely associated with labour and keir and for opinions to form, it doesn't matter if something is 'official'. tom was introduced thus:

just a few days to go until the General Election, Tom Baldwin, former Labour advisor and author of "Keir Starmer: The Biography" - the Sunday Times bestselling biography of the Labour Leader will be joining us for an AMA on Sunday evening.

the above positions his AMA alongside the general election and describes him as a labour advisor, albeit a former one. presuming tom wishes to support keir (?) it might be prudent to align any audience engagement so close to the GE with keirs' comms team. one wouldn't want to, inadvertently, undermine good efforts. Apart from that, I can imagine that a deep link to tom's book on amazon, could be mutually beneficial for tom and MN.

nothing against tom, I'd be interested in reading the biography when it lands in the local library.

It wasn't done via Labour HQ with whom we've been talking separately about a chat with Keir (thus far they've not found us a time).

Not a criticism of MN, I just thought an interesting snippet.

Actually I would if they were coming to discuss safeguarding my children. I'd think it was incredibly disrespectful given the matter being discussed.

He wasn't here to discuss the football. It was an 'ask me anything' not an 'ask me only socially polite questions that you'd have if a friend popped around for a cup of tea one evening'. No one would bother if it was the latter. We wouldn't be here.

We're talking about democracy - or IMO in the case of Labour their actions suggesting they'd quite like to destroy it - this is weighty stuff. Women on here care about women's human rights and child safeguarding. If he'd spent 5 minutes on the site he'd know this would be the line of questioning he'd get.

Well said, and this thread was an example of this. Women with serious questions about child safeguarding being ignored.

Hey Zonder - we've asked the party leaders of Labour, Cons and Libdems on to face questions live - so far only Rishi Sunak has agreed to do it but only as a written q&a (said he didn't have time in schedule for a live appearance). This chat with Tom was not a substitute and had nothing to do with Labour HQ - was more of an insight into the man who most likely will be PM. We're still hoping for Keir (but I guess it's a long shot, seeing how risk averse they've been).

We don't typically 'fact check' politicians' answers (we're not the BBC) - were I asking the questions direct on video chat I would press on things that were factually dubious but we've found our users do a pretty good job of doing that themselves on written chats.

Thanks

He was asked "Does Kier recognise there is a serious child safeguarding scandal happening right now? Is he aware of the NSPCC's handling of James Makings and Munroe Bergdorf, and if so, what would his government do to ensure the NSPCC has made the necessary changes following that incident?"

I'm pretty sure Tom didn't answer because he simply doesn't know the answer to that specific question. Again he's not a labour party spokesperson and he's not Keir Starmer.

To be fair, he did cross the line quite a lot from giving insight into Starmer to giving his own opinions and speaking from the Labour Party's point of view. This answer here, for example was to a question on what will happen in Europe as it becomes more right-wing when we have a left-wing government.
It contains his own summary of the situation, nothing on Starmer, and a reference to Labour politician Pat McFadden's views.

Thats an interesting response, thank you,

Can you see why it all appears a little disingenuous how you had two guests in a few days because of their political experience, in the run up to a GE, and don't appear to treat the two main parties equally?

Fair enough re fact checking but absolutely no come back? Sunak gets to peddle his lies (£2094 tax rise) with no comment at all? Poor show.

Hi all,

Thanks for posting your questions - we're closing the thread now.