To wish Sir Keir and his wife would not hold hands when working

[BeaQuiet]

They've arrived in Washington DC on official business clutching hands like the Macrons, the Obamas and the Sussexes.

AiBU to find it a bit cringey?

And before anyone asks, yes I do have bigger things to worry about but I fancy a chat.

See I wouldn't mind her holding his hand at the footie. She might need to, I bet it'll be quite daunting with all the shouty fans.

It's doing it on official business that jars. And yes for the twentieth time for those at the back that applies to anyone ot any political leaning be it Sunak, Trump or Starmer. Just look professional and save the hand holds for social events.

Yet you think looking unprofessional by lounging on the benches of the HOC is perfectly acceptable.

How on earth do you extrapolate that from what this poster said?

...and yet, and yet..... we didn't seen any threads in the past complaining about Conservative PMs holding hands on the world stage....

And despite the fact that most many world leaders have been photographed doing so

Double standards, much

Happy to be pointed in the direction of such threads.

What do you think this means?

What?! That's discusting. How dare he mock in the HOC they're all such a well behaved bunch

If you don't see the point I made I see little point in explaining it further.

I’m totally confused. From what I can work out, the suggestion is that anyone saying that they don’t like watching Keir and Victoria Starmer hold hands must be a Tory who supports everything the Tories do (including disrespecting the HOC by lounging) and hates Labour?

I’m a Labour supporter, voted them in, am delighted with the new government, think Keir and Angela will do an amazing job, but I still agree the holding hands thing is a bit retrograde. It’s not political, it’s a conversation about social conventions and body language.

If he's going to the footie cos he's the British PM then it is official business and he doesn't need his hand held by his wife.

I think that anyone who wanted to make a serious political point against the new Labour government would use a better argument than a bit of chat about hand-holding!

They are often a baying jeering mob. I think being semi recumbent on a bench pretending to be bored to sleep is nothing compared to some of their antics. Didn't someone once bellow 'Tory Scum!!'?

Oh what a compliment! Another intelligent, wise poster who posts inconvenient facts. Thanks I'm happy you got 'mixed up' 😘.

YABU. Your replies make you sound jealous and a bit rude too tbh.

Oh, mate.

Are you suggesting that Angela Rayner's comment was made in Parliament?

OP says she is a labour supporter from way back. Ok—what strange pathology and anxiety causes you to vote for a party, support its presumed goals, and then start a thread that deliberately holds the new representative of the party up for a wide range if contempt for a public act of such tiny significance? Even if you don’t like it what impels you to elevate a personal preference to a public beating? To me it’s like complaining that the Prime minister likes chocolate cake. So fucking what?

ha ha @pikkumyy77 , I think you are massively over-inflating the significance of a Mumsnet chat thread. “Public beating”? Come on, it’s not like OP went on Newsnight and made the criticism to Kirsty Wark. Even the Daily Mail crap journos are not going to waste their time picking this one up. Starting this thread is only a small step above casually saying to your school mum friends over coffee that the hand holding is a bit cringey.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/21/angela-rayner-accused-of-calling-tory-mp-scum-in-commons

My apologies. I was thinking about the comments she made to an activist group at conference and I'd forgotten that.
Nevertheless I don't consider the conduct of Rees Mogg acceptable.

I agree with you. We would raise an eyebrow in other professions. How are presidents and prime ministers any different?

Why do his looks matter? How shallow is it to say that? I disapprove if the jibes about Sunak 's trousers too.

Criticise the politics, not the man. Do otherwise and I'll just assume all you have are sour grapes.

This is really not a normal reaction to seeing a man holding his wife’s hand. As you’ve been shown repeatedly, all the leaders do it - whatever their level of experience or political stripe. Thinking it makes him look like ‘a little boy on his first day at school, about to wet himself and burst into tears’ is so beyond what you’re seeing it’s not even hyperbole. It’s vitriolic crap.

Well, they’re elected for a start. It’s not comparable to any other job, is it?

Whether you think he looks steely is irrelevant. He’s generally known to be very determined indeed and to insist on high standards and hard work. Look at the changes he’s made in the famously difficult to control Labour Party (whether you like what he’s done or not). That couldn’t be done by a ‘rabbit in the headlights’ easy to trample person.
that said I’ve no idea what you mean about him looking like a rabbit in the headlights. He looks perfectly at ease and confident to me.

You know attending NATO is literally ‘cracking on’, right? And have you look at everything that’s been done in the last 6 days and compared it with the last 6 years of the Tories. You’re having a laugh. Or deluding yourself.

I think he's looked very confident and assured since winning the election.

Yup.