Thread 24 Starmer -Casting the net wider

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5329855-thread-23-starmer-reflux-remedy?page=40&reply=144419737

The only blind loyalty I see politically on MN tends to be to the right wing. I'd be curious if that's just me.

The narrative that suicide is down to one single issue, event or government policy is wrong and goes against every single mental health organisation’s policy @derxa . Please stop the dangerous lies about this case, if you care even one iota about the mental health of the farming community or anyone else.

So you only want to hear from people with identical views. In broad terms I have more in common with posters on here than I disagree with. I’m a Remainer (but cynical about the EU). I don’t like Reform and would never vote for them. I wasn’t worried about Labour getting in. I thought it would be a dull socialist administration. However,.,,I’ll never forget driving up the A1 listening to the budget. The announcement about the farm tax. It felt like a declaration of war against farmers. Details started to trickle through like Rachel Reeves’ husband works at DEFRA. The appointment of a numpty like Steve Reed as ‘Environment’ minister. I could go on and on. There’s only so many hits my industry can take. An industry which puts food on your plate.

Not just you. And unremitting criticism of anything and everything this government does with anything they could only see as positive ignored.

So you only want to hear from people with identical views.

Did you even bother to read what I wrote? There’s a huge range of views expressed here, there’s frequent respectful and thoughtful disagreement. Often I see viewpoints expressed that make me question my opinion and even sometimes change it. If you genuinely think what you’ve just said is true I honestly despair.

Also - although rare - I have seen praise for the Tories when they "get got it right" in these threads.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/05/labour-warm-homes-plan-will-not-face-cuts-in-spending-review

Ministers have decided not to cut Labour’s landmark £13.2bn fund to fix draughty homes and install heat pumps and solar panels in next week’s spending review, it has emerged.

Let’s take PMQs. Keir Starmer’s misogynistic behaviour towards women. It’s appalling but dismissed yesterday as ‘condescending’ on a post on here. That was okay because Kemi Badenoch was so awful 🙄.

The staged theatrics of PMQ do not equate to overall condescension towards women.

The whole point of PMQ's is to belittle one's political opponent. Should Starmer put the kid gloves on for Badenoch? She is shit at PMQs, even her own MPs admit that.

He was bloody rude to Liz Saville Roberts (and ws criticised for it on these threads) but he apologised.

Keir Starmer actually had to apologise to Liz Saville Robert’s for calling her question rubbish.

Yes he was rude to her. Very. But that doesn't make him a misogynist.

If the point of PMQS is to belittle your opponent then they should scrap it. As it stands opposition MPs ask questions and KS doesn’t answer them.

Posts aren't all in agreement on here, go back a few weeks and posters were critical of Starmer's Island of Strangers speech, i.e. I don't think (and other posters didn't think) Labour should be grovelling to Reform voters. Equally, having discussed this with DH who is an Architect, there are other things Rayner needs to look at as I never see my husband now due to having to work late all of the time on the The building Safety Act regulations for clients. Land banking takes place but it is more complex than that and I do post about that so I don't think we are all in agreement. I voted Greens in 24 as anything else is a wasted vote where I live but obviously the Greens aren't going to be running the country anytime soon.

He answers more dir3ctly than any PM for a number of years. And being condescending to one woman isn’t misogyny. Badenoch calls for condescension. I’d condescend to her and I’m as feminist as they come.

Not answering the question (except friendly ones) is what every PM has frequently done during PMQs. I wouldn't be averse to it being scrapped as it serves little purpose.

Yes but wouldn't it be more condescending to not say things to a politician because they are a woman?

That the best news we’ve had in ages 😇

Here is some condescension from Mel Stride today. Badenoch is so awful, she invites it.

"If you look at the nature of the challenge and the approach to it that I have set out, which is deep thought through through time and thoughfulness, she (Badenoch) is the person to lead us.

She will get better through time at the media. She will get better through time at dispatch box though PMQs, just as Margaret Thatcher, when she became leader in ‘75 , was often criticised for everything from her hair to the clothes she wore to the pitch of her voice to heaven knows what else, in the end, she got it together, and Kemi will do absolutely that.

What she is doing behind the scenes is leading a shadow cabinet that is united, and our party has not been united in that way for a very long time.

And she is going to drive through the process with me and others, so that we come to the right conclusions"

🤣. I totally agree! It’s entertainment as far as I’m concerned.

You claimed the farmer died by suicide due to the IHT on farms.

Fact.

The farmer died by suicide before the
announcement was made was he was
worries about what would happen and was already struggling caring for his wife with cancer

Fact.

The son told the inquest he wished he’d waited for the actual announcement as it wasn’t that bad.

Fact.

see the difference between the first fact and the subsequent facts.

I’ll tell you. The first is an incorrect and misleading claim you made.

The second are facts from the reporting of the actual case without the bias towards a point.

I’ve actually said before I can see why farmers have concerns. But I can assure you that your presentation of the farmers concerns is making me back away from listening because it’s just misleading propaganda.

JC however made some really good points the other day and delivered them well and so I read, digested and listened.

If you tried that tact you may find that beyond us all agreeing with you that Labour aren’t getting everything right - we may just are able to converse with you better rather than the point we are at now.

It is not

Have you only just started watching.

Johnson spent weeks answering direct questions “was their parties in Downing Street” with “no”

I mean is answering a question directly with a lie better?’

PMQs is just an extension of the Eton school common room.

It’s a game of who can semantically destroy the other.

It’s been that way for the past few PMs.

o think what’s annoying people is
Starmer is actually quite good at it - I expect his barrister work has
prepared him for that. I also expected him to drown at PMQs but I’ve taken it as a pleasant surprise - come take him doing well as a personal insult 🤷‍♀️😂

It’s been that way for the past few PMs.

It's ALWAYS been that way. Since TV came to HoC we now see it but it's a 'tradition'. Should it change? Probably.

But the last few PMs didn't invent it.

I would be perfectly happy for PMQs to be scrapped, but claiming that KS is a misogynist based on how he handles Saint Kemi is a reach veritably worthy of an an actual giant.

And misrepresenting someone's death for political point scoring is low.