Is Starmer seriously going to resign???

[Swayingpalmtrees]

I have been waiting for a thread to come up about this, but I can't see one to date. I can't believe Keir Starmer has now said he will resign (and Angela Rayner as well) Potentially leaving the Labour party with no leader at all!

Looking at the 'evidence' that is well known and has been published, it appears the Indian takeaway was pre ordered (due to its size) and pre planned according to the staff at the Indian and the leaked memo, it did include quite a number of people and bottles of beer etc and drinking. It was late into the night, so not work related, and no one is suggesting anyone continued to work afterwards as it was so late. I don't see how this is any different to the No10 arrangements! So how on earth will they avoid a fine??

Sir Keir's speech was so wobbly I actually thought he was resigning there and then, and although I appreciate the sentiments of integrity and honour, where on earth does that leave the LP with under two years to the election or less?

Who would replace him? Do we have any thoughts on a plan of any kind?

I am kind of aghast, we are in the middle of a European war, on the cusp of potentially WW3, I am not sure this is a responsible action given the seriousness of our predicament with Russia whom are threatening us on a weekly basis with nuclear war. At the very very least, we need a firm hand on the tiller, so to speak, we do not have time to be squabbling over beer and cheese.
AIBU?

Do you know something that none of us know about when the next election will take place, OP? In the highly unlikely event that Starmer has to resign, any new leader will have been in post for pushing two years by the time the next election is due on the normal timetable. Hardly "brand new".

Is there any chance you're going to give us details of where you get your version of the relevant law from?

The only query about that I have is:

If they want Starmer gone, why are they posting panicky thoughts about how a change of leader would throw the country into crisis? That you can’t do that when there’s a war on!!!! And it would be awful for Labour because the only person the OP can imagine to replace him is Emily Thornberry(!) (which is an interesting switch in tactics from suggesting it would be Angela Raynor who is obviously now out of the running).

I’m getting the impression of someone who wants Keir to have broken the rules (definitely going to be fined! And if not, police corruption!!) and yet who nonetheless stays in the job (can’t possibly quit…Ukraine, no successor). Those are the arguments being used to support Boris.

I'd put money on OP being a long standing MNer tbh rather than a bot. They do this sort of thing

Yes I absolutely am, for many years and shock horror I have an opinion.
And moreover, I am disgusted at both parties for drinking and having dinner parties or cheese etc when the rest of us were suffering.

Labour have decided to take the moral high ground for weeks now, even knowing about their 10pm beer swilling and Indian dinner parties, that has annoyed me, and I am sure all the other dinners and drinks we don't know about. As they are not so closely watched.
It is the hypocrisy and the faux outrage and demands for resignation that now make them look like clowns and incompetents!

To his credit at Johnson actually apologised, no such thing is forthcoming yet from Ange or Keir.

I think OP works for a rival Chinese takeaway bitter they didn’t get the business

I think it’s very strange that the former DPP can’t say if he’s broken the law unless he gets a fixed penalty.

Having said that, I don’t give a flying fuck about any of the parties, etc.

I'm certainly not a regular drinker and don't have a particularly strong head, but I would be (and have been) perfectly capable of sending out work emails after a bottle of lager, especially if it's soaked up by a curry. And I work in a similar field to you.

I think OP works for a rival Chinese takeaway bitter they didn’t get the business

😂

Come on OP you can't actually be serious? Johnson apologised only after lying repeatedly in the House of Commons? Something he ought to have resigned for.

If an Indian takeaway is your idea of a dinner party, you lead a sad life.

The state confused laws and guidance throughout the pandemic as many an MN thread made clear.

That's an excellent point

He has said a number of times that he hasn't broken the law!

To his credit at Johnson actually apologised, no such thing is forthcoming yet from Ange or Keir.

Johnson has been found guilty of breaking the law. Starmer and Rayner haven't.

Do you think Johnson should have resigned, OP?

Not weird at all - much of the law is down to interpretation, particularly in an event as unprecedented as covid. He believes he didn't, and it incresingly looks that way, but he accepts if the police think differently enough to fine him then he'll have to go.

If Keir resigns, the Tories no doubt will wait until the newly lamb for slaughter is installed in the opposition camp and call a snap election!

Then what???

If I did not know better I would think Keir is on the conservative pay roll...
As an observer from a neutral spot in lovely England, this to me is a crazy risk, Labour have now cornered themselves.

One more photo is leaked or another 'working dinner' comes out of the woodwork and they will be toast.

I really don't care who is the next PM but I am mindful that we are turning slowly into a one party nation and that does worry me.

He has said that he hasn't broken the law.

Do you think Johnson should have resigned, OP?

Yes absolutely.

I think calling an election would be madness but who knows

Oh dear. Throw in a bit of teeny tiny competitive undereating too. 😂

Tweet from Uber-Tory MP, Andrew Bridgen this morning...

'After declaring that he will stand down if fined by Durham police, when he knows full well they don’t issue fines for first offences, Sir Keir is the sort of 'honourable' man who would challenge you to a duel, but ensure your pistol was not loaded whilst his was fully charged.'

I guess that Johnson et al didn't get fined for their first offences, but for their second and subsequent....

Oh Dear...bit of an own goal Mr Bridgen 😁

Yes you have an opinion, shock, horror. No I meant name change and post in exactly this style rather than own it in your usual name.

If Keir resigns, the Tories no doubt will wait until the newly lamb for slaughter is installed in the opposition camp and call a snap election!

They can't do that. Fixed Term Parliaments Act. Plus they'd look pretty bloody stupid having spent so long saying that it would be wrong for Johnson to resign when the Ukraine war is still going on.

I hope he goes. He is a totally ineffective leader and undermining democracy by failing to provide a robust and credible opposition, evidenced by huge volumes of people feeling politically homeless.

Starmer, unlike Johnson, has promoted talented people around him.

Johnson has a habit of filling his cabinet with total incompetents because they take some of the heat off him and clearly pose no threat.

The Tories look behind Johnson and see the likes of Raab, Patel, Truss and think ‘fuck, shit as he is, we can’t get rid’.

Labour, on the other hand, have a reasonable selection waiting in the wings.

Under eating!!! I would be serving PP's long list to our whole family not just snaffling it all myself to be fair, we don't have the money to have courses and courses of wasted food.

He also said the Met should have investigated Starmer's Durham work dinner, to make it 'fair', further proving he doesn't understand how constabulary law works.