Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think Keir Starmer as Leader could win the December election?

161 replies

saltandvinegararethebest · 31/10/2019 19:47

Could he win it? He is very popular and a different character to Corbyn. I think he would appeal to a lot of the electorate who are left leaning but unkeen on JC.

OP posts:
W0rriedMum · 31/10/2019 20:53

I’d vote labour in a heartbeat if momentum didn’t run the show...
^^ this - Yvette, Keir, Andy Burnham, Sadiq, even Milliband etc.
We should be voting tactically but there is no way I'm voting Labour with him at the helm.

OtraCosaMariposa · 31/10/2019 20:58

I would never in a million years vote for Labour under Corbyn, Abbott and McDonnell.

I would consider a more centrist Labour party and Keir Starmer is an impressive, bright, well-educated man who would be an excellent leader. Momentum will be having none of it though. Comrade Corbyn all the way and a lurch to the left, they're so blinkered they can't see it's making htem unelectable.

LucileDuplessis · 31/10/2019 20:59

I agree OP

clairethewitch70 · 31/10/2019 21:01

I live in a very strong Labour area and strong Leave area. A lot of people in the groups i go to are struggling with who to vote for. If we have a Brexit Party candidate I reckon they may, just may take a South Wales valley seat. Also Remain friends are going to Lib dem who were previous Labour supporters.

Frankiestein402 · 31/10/2019 21:11

It doesn't matter who leads Labour now - they get painted as extreme - the simple fact that so many people decry Labour/jc and even momentum shows the portrayal has worked.
If you disagree just compare the 2017 manifesto with any of the Wilson manifestos - he was never considered 'hard' left why is JC?

BanKittenHeels · 31/10/2019 21:21

YANBU.
I would never vote for Labour under JC and momentum. Never, ever and I say that as a former Labour member and voter.

WallyWallyWally · 31/10/2019 21:22

I’m currently re-reading John O’Farrells book (he was a writer for Spitting Image back in the day) Things Can Only Get Better about his years as a Labour activist in the 1980’s, thé Micheal Foot / Neil Kinnock era. It’s actually quite eerie how many of the events / how much of the text could be repeated now, 30 years on: the Tories dominated by a far right, extreme leader (Thatcher / Johnson), who’s successfully manipulating external events to distract the public by appealing to their jingoistic, nationalistic side (Falklands war / Brexit), while Labour swerve to the hard left, put up an unelectable leader (Foot / Corbyn) and that the inner circle of the Party are convinced that standing by their socialist principles is more important than actually winning an election.

CendrillonSings · 31/10/2019 21:23

They would need to ditch both their hard-left leader and their hard-left policies too.

No chance of that now that Momentum has a death grip on the party.

Callistone · 31/10/2019 21:26

I worked with him. He was an arrogant, condescending that who acted like any of us who didn't do the big, well paid jobs weren't worth anything.

W0rriedMum · 31/10/2019 21:27

I must re-read that @WallyWallyWally. I remember enjoying it a lot back in the day.

Alan Johnson's autobiography is another one which is talks at length of the futility of the 1970s/80s party.

StarbucksSmarterSister · 31/10/2019 21:32

Wonder if this chap has any more idea where the Midlands or the North are than JC?

Starmer went to Leeds University so I imagine so.

Corbyn incidentally grew up in Shropshire, not far from where I did, so he's not a southerner either.

CoolCarrie · 31/10/2019 21:35

I remember that book, it was excellent and you are right, Labour are reliving the 70/80s and it’s ridiculous that they haven’t learnt from that. OP you are right about Kier Starmer, but I think the Torys are going to win, and Trump will also be re-elected! what a fucking bizarre time this is, I despair

Sunshine93 · 31/10/2019 21:36

It doesn't matter who leads Labour now - they get painted as extreme

This in a nutshell. Don't you remember how they smeared Ed Miliband? He was a commie because his Jewish dad said some marxist things years ago. Red Ed remember.

The IHRA code thing was about allowing people to be critical of Israel without it being considered anti-Semitic. I am not legally astute and don't know how the wording mattered but I don't think it had anything to do with racism. Corbyn and many on the left are rightly very sympathetic to Palestine.

Original poster
saltandvinegararethebest · 31/10/2019 21:38

There is something cyclical about all this, I agree @WallyWallyWally

OP posts:
Sunshine93 · 31/10/2019 21:38

@clairethewitch70 that's a lot of people to hate!!

AgeLikeWine · 31/10/2019 21:39

New Labour’s key insight was to understand that you can have as many left-wing principles and right-on policies as you want, but none of that matters a damn unless you can actually win.

In order to win, you need to convince mainstream voters that you can provide credible leadership for the country and earn their trust that you will not destroy the economy. Corbyn will never have that credibility and he will never earn that trust, so he will never win.

In many ways, I hope he proves me wrong, but I am not holding my breath....

Original poster
saltandvinegararethebest · 31/10/2019 21:40

@Sunshine93 yes, and the bacon sandwich. That was shocking to me. It was though Ed had to prove/disprove something.

OP posts:
Original poster
saltandvinegararethebest · 31/10/2019 21:42

yes @Age I agree. You have to be able to get yourself elected first, then bring about change. New Labour knew that well.

OP posts:
Sunshine93 · 31/10/2019 21:43

And lots of people on twitter now saying things like, "oh what i would give for Chaos with Ex Miliband" but we've got another chance to elect a good guy like him and people aren't taking it because they have been convinced by the latest round of smears.

GrumpyMug2 · 31/10/2019 21:43

The thing is who has my voice. I am a single mother, not claiming benefits working to the end of my pay each month. I rent because I can't afford to buy. But I contribute. Who has my back? Not the Torys and certainly not Labour under Corbyn. I feel like we are the forgotten demographic.

GrumpyMug2 · 31/10/2019 21:45

I always felt Ed Miliband had a good overall picture and could see how to improve policies. His manifesto was one of the best

chomalungma · 31/10/2019 21:48

Not the Torys and certainly not Labour under Corbyn

What policies would you like to see that would help you?

Woofbloodywoof · 31/10/2019 21:53

@Callistone I met him when I was a party member and he was angling to be selected for the seat he now holds. I did not like him one bit, you have articulated what I suspected.
HOWEVER
I would love to resume paying my subs and return the party but I cannot do that until Corbyn, McDonnell, Milne et al are returned once more to the fringes where they belong. Far from uniting the party at a time when the nation needs a real opposition most, is in fact crying out for it, they have splintered it beyond all recognition. If it takes Starmer to bring the party back into mainstream electability, so be it. I don’t like him but I would much rather Starmer was PM than any of the other options we have right now.
Jess Phillips is great, she’d be my first choice and I wouldn’t hesitate to rejoin the party with her at the helm.

Woofbloodywoof · 31/10/2019 21:55

@Sunshine93
I initially thought ‘smears’ but nah, sorry, the Labour response has been atrocious. Horrifying in fact. It took me a while to get my head out of the sand but I did eventually.

GrumpyMug2 · 31/10/2019 21:57

Ok here we go: rent control, an actual wage for British workers, no Brexit, investment in British companies, a reduction in business tax for local companies