Time for a new PM and Chancellor?

[Whenwillitgetwarm]

I wrote this on another thread but feel it should have its own thread.

Although I voted Labour (the current Tory’s are too insane), I think it may be time to swap out Starmer and Reeves. If this is done early, there’s enough parliament time left to bed a new PM and Chancellor in.

They both lack ideas, seem confused, no vision etc. They had 14 years to think up workable plans. Coming in and throwing their hands up saying there’s no money so they can’t do anything is very poor. They want to continue austerity on the sly. They indulge in stupid culture wars like VAT to rob Peter to pay Paul (and Paul won’t see a penny anyway). They have bad advisors and are arrogant. It looks like they are just excited to have the job titles and don’t know what to do.

Get a top two who will come up with a bold plan. We’re in the gutter so there’s opportunities to deliver quick wins. They don’t always need funding, simple policy changes can make big and quick differences. If they gave each department a target to deliver one quick legislative win by Christmas, we’d start 2025 differently.

Unfortunately we’re stuck with two people who can’t believe their luck, and who are afraid of the Daily Mail, Murdoch, some loud Redwall types and bots on X who wish our country economic harm. They are weak.

If Labour were a football team, there would be fans screaming for Starmer to be sacked now.

This is not about getting rid of Labour. I believe there is talent in the wider party, much more than in the Conservatives who hollowed out their party under Johnson. Nevertheless I just don’t think Starmer and Reeves should have their roles.

I don't believe it broke rules. There are very strict blasphemy laws in Islam, and no matter who you are, you will be punished for saying what was in the mind of Mohammed when he said anything. We are living in a violent world. I only said that if you say to someone of another faith what you said to me, you would not be ignored, because I repeat, there is no blasphemy laws in Christianity. You can say whatever you like.

Christian cults are not acceptable to the Church of any country. If someone sets themselves in charge of a new brand of Christian faith, in order to control others who are attracted to them, it is not acceptable. This year the reports of a cult in Africa which coerced people to kill themselves is a criminal offence.

The problem the world has is that the Islamic extremists are doing the same thing. They want control of a country and it's people and will fight for that. They have publicly announced that their end is to have one religion in the world - Islam - and will do whatever it takes.

I can tell you that in all the years I travelled in the Middle East, I did not see women covered up as they are now. I could almost pin point when it happened though, but I won't. I will only tell you that when the laws were tightened up, women were warned that if they did not cover up, it was their own fault if they were attacked.

You can say that you know what Jesus Christ would think of something someone said. We do not have blasphemy laws in Christianity. You can say what you like. For my part, I may discuss what Jesus might have said when he spoke, but I would not presume to tell anyone what he WOULD have thought, unless it is in the gospel. My late husband was 20 years older than me, a great theologian. His books are still required reading. I would not insult his name.

We need SMEs to thrive

That September index in pp shows an issue with messaging. An issue with policy will be more problematic but remains to be seen

You actually post in such a pompous way that you will never command respect for your views.

There’s a great deal of respect for pointy’s views. Which is more than can be said for yours.

That's your opinion. Others might well respect what @pointythings has to say. I'm one of them.

And even if you don't believe your post "broke rules" MNHQ deemed it to breach the talk guidelines, and I can see why.

I don't think any MP's of any party should take freebies but especially the party in Government. We already know Ali got a pass to Downing Street in return.

Do we?

Well, I don’t disagree. But they weren’t in government for most of that. Lord Alli had a temporary pass to arrange an event. No indication t was ‘in return’ for anything. He’s a member of the HoL anyway so it didn’t really give him much more access anyway. However, the rules at present say they can.
What are your thoughts on Jenrick’s shady funding?

Blasphemy in Christianity is not a criminal offence against the Church or the law.

It still exists as a crime in Islam and is punishable under Sharia law by death.

Well that's a matter of opinion.

You like to lecture, that much is clear - some people will like that, others not so much.

I agree that things are terrible in many Islamic countries, and have never said otherwise. But that is not the same as saying you can't ever, ever challenge a Muslim on issues of faith. Like I said, I've done it many times and I'm still here. It is actually possible to agree to disagree with most people of most faiths, Islam included.

The figure was £107,000 - do we need to add the extra £16,000 worth of clothes to that figure?

How is it less than many Tories?

The press have only been looking at 'gifts, benefits, and hospitality' - a specific category in parliament's register of MPs' interests. Other donations, e.g. for Starmer's leadership campaign are not included in that figure - some of the biggest donations here:

Name of donor: Robert Latham
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £100,000 for my campaign for leadership of the Labour Party
Date received: 2 January 2020

Name of donor: Clive Hollick
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation, or nature and value if donation in kind: £25,000 for my campaign for leadership of the Labour Party
Date received: 23 January 2020

Name of donor: Martin Taylor
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £95,000 for my campaign for leadership of the Labour Party
Date received: 12 February 2020

Name of donor: Waheed Alli
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £100,000 for my campaign for leadership of the Labour Party
Date received: 24 February 2020

Name of donor: Trevor Chinn
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £50,000 for my campaign for leadership of the Labour Party
Date received: 26 February 2020

Name of donor: Ecotricity Group Ltd
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £20,000 for my campaign for leadership of the Labour Party
Date received: 27 February 2020

Name of donor: USDAW
Amount of donation, or nature and value if donation in kind: £25,000 for my campaign for leadership of the Labour Party
Date received: 27 February 2020

(there are loads more - £25k, £12k, multiple £10k and £5k...)
https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/mp/keir-starmer/financial-disclosure

@Clavinova donations to campaigns are a whole other area. They don’t go to the person. It’s how our politics is funded, for good or ill. What’s your view on Jenrick’s obscure funding?
Tories definitely received more gifts. See the image below.

Political parties accepted £93m in donations last year, boosted by new Conservative and Labour mega-donors, with the 2024 election on course to be the highest-spending contest ever.

Figures from the Electoral Commission show the Tories raised £9.8m and Labour £6m in the last quarter of the year.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/07/donations-to-uk-political-parties-nearly-doubled-to-93m-in-2023

Yes. I saw that post.

And me.

O'Brien's tweet is dated a week before the revelation about the extra £16,000 worth of clothes accepted by Starmer. Not to mention that Boris Johnson refunded Lord Brownlow for the flat decor after the media furore. Does James O'Brien think Starmer should refund the £107,000 (+ £16,000) like Johnson?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdd4z9vzdnno

Boris Johnson is not "many Tories" - just one Tory.

Donations to 'political parties' - not to specific MPs.

cardibach
What’s your view on Jenrick’s obscure funding?

Lord Alli has a business interest in the same tax haven as Jenrick's donor;

The long-time Labour donor at the centre of Sir Keir Starmer’s freebies furore will face scrutiny over a firm in the British Virgin Islands.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/lord-alli-investigated-over-undeclared-role-in-tax-haven-firm-npljz62hd

You would. Others have, what makes you think you could get away with it?

Are you a politician? That wasn't an answer to the question asked by @cardibach .

@Clavinova I don't remember any threads on all the freebies enjoyed by Tories and Labour last Summer.

It was OK in 2023 for MPs to have freebies to Billy Joel, Glastonbury, the Flower Show, the Ashes, Royal Opera House, Coldplay (which was Starmer, but no one said a dicky bird on MN about it at the time) and more but not Taylor Swift in 2024, it seems.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/23/more-than-100-mps-received-freebies-worth-180000-this-summer

A Tory MP, Scott Benton, was filmed by undercover journalists talking of how MPs can get around the hospitality rules by accepting tickets worth just under the £300 limit for declarations. “You’d be amazed at the number of times I’ve been to races and the ticket comes to £295,” he said.

I wonder why freebies have only been a major issue since July, when all MPs of all stripes have been at it for years?

I see that Keir Starmer's rivals in the Labour leadership campaign in 2020 criticised his less-than-transparent approach to publishing his campaign donations. As can be seen from the list above, Starmer was keen to delay publication of some of his biggest donors;

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/mar/03/keir-starmer-challenged-to-publish-all-campaign-donations

You would. Others have, what makes you think you could get away with it?

So are you saying that everyone who has ever said to a person of that faith that they were not behaving in accordance with the tenets of their faith is now dead? Really??

I said to you

"I think Jesus would not approve of this"

Can you give examples of people who have been killed for saying those words about deities of other faiths?