Thread 17: Starmer: Treading softly.

[DuncinToffee]

Lettuce pray

Keep it civil

Cat, dog, flowers tax much appreciated

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5257111-thread-16-starmer-mad-world?page=40

From Politicslive, The Guardian. Andrew Sparrow's take on the BBC 'investigation'

"In one respect, the story just implies that Reeves was a generous manager who may have been a bit free-and-easy with the company’s money. We’d all like a boss like that, and that happened a lot in the corporate world pre-financial crash, especially in banking. If Reeves was found to have deliberately broken the rules, that would be different. But she denies that, and the BBC is not directly making that claim."

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/feb/13/new-towns-england-keir-starmer-angela-rayner-labour-donald-trump-ukraine-vladimir-putin-uk-politics-live-news

Regarding the 'Farmer's' protest. Those tractors have never ploughed a field. It's all staged with brand new tractors. Actual farmers are in the fields now preparing for Spring - it's a very busy time of year.

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats - the chances of Reeves disclosing this to the Labour Party, if there was no action (there was none) seem very small.

Ultimately this is similar in the attack on Rayner (council house - no findings of wrongdoing) and also Louise Haigh (criminal offence of fraud).

I am bound to say that I find it unusual that Reeves has a "narrative". Haigh was worse because that was fraud. But one is a narrative and the other is hard fact.

Would I employ someone who I thought had a problem with abusing expenses? No. But currently there is no actual hard fact to support this story.

If Tory in origin, Reeves is perfectly safe. If it is one of her own, she is dead in the water. Time will tell which one it is.

The calibre of the BBC reporting currently is disappointing.
And quite juvenile.

@bombastix
My real issue here is the drip feed of corrections / updates to her LinkedIn profile. There is no doubt that RR's CV has been factually incorrect in several places and blaming it on someone in her team is I think a very poor explanation.

Her comment about the expenses allegations (that she wasn't aware of them) may of course be true.
But this is just more noise that Labour could really do without. You'd have thought she would have updated her CV in one go and made sure it was accurate, rather than make more changes as people spot errors.

It is a very muddled article tbh, and really badly written. Probably because the BBC can't definitively say RR is guilty of wrongdoing as the investigation never came to that or any conclusion. It seems to me the rules about expenses were a bit haphazard, but that might just be down to the bad writing.

I did chuckle a bit at the sly attempt to make a connection between RR's presence at HBOS, her possibly dodgy expense claims and the near collapse of HBOS.

RR definitely seems a bit slippery when it comes to expenses, but not an unusual trait in a politician, sadly.

I think the bigger question is why something that happened over 15 years ago before RR was an MP is being dug up now? Is someone in her own party behind this?

I look forward to the Rachel from Accounts threads which will no doubt pop up again.

I think the bigger question is why something that happened over 15 years ago before RR was an MP is being dug up now? Is someone in her own party behind this?

That's the most interesting question.

If it is her own party behind this and RR does get the boot, who might be her successor?

Torsten Bell, apparently

Nonsense

Really? He's so new.

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats - yes, looks rubbish, I agree.

However, she isn't the first politician to gloss her CV, and she won't be the last.

@PandoraSox - very clean, very clever they say

Happy memories of Jeffrey Archer 🤣

That would be quite the meteoric rise. Thought his work at Resolution Foundation was interesting.

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats - tbh he looks like the good old days.

Archer used to run donor parties for the Conservatives where he served champagne and shepherds pie. He may be an oik who bought his own furniture (thanks Alan Clark) but this combination of food and drink is indeed a classic. So Archer is not all bad.

Don't disagree - but in terms of being 'economical with the truth' he was quite an expert.

All of this bullshit about Reeves while a convicted abuser wipes the benches with his arse ?

Do me a fucking favour.

And we have to pay for this shite with a tax licence fee ?

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats - should have gone to prison just for the criminally bad writing. No mitigations available imo

I had forgotten all about Clark. I remember both my parents being entranced by his diaries. He made those comments about buying furniture about Heseltine.

I liked Clark but what a bullshitter. Much like Mogg with his double breasted faux poshness.

Atleast Mogg married an adult.

Jane was just 16 wasn't she? His attitudes towards women (apart from Thatcher where he seemed to have some kind of desire to be dominated) were unevolved.

Unevolved sounds about right!

My husband worked for one of the major blue chip companies and I can say Corporate hospitality was quite the thing before the 2008 crash.
Things are very different now and quite rightly so.
I really wish we could take a breath and just give Labour a chance , so exhausting seeing all this mysogyny.
I'm old and despair at how women still need to prove themselves again and again under the scrutiny of jealous men.