First 100 days

[Iwishicouldflyhigh]

whoever you voted for, what are your thoughts after the First 100 Days?
I didn’t vote for Labour, but I was quite excited in their first few weeks as Keir got his head down and I was excited fir change.

Now I just feel deflated. Same old….freebiegate, nitpicking, infighting. A bit depressing really.

i don’t even think there was a decent alternative really….and that’s even more depressing!!!!!

Maybe it’s because for the last 14 years the opposite has happened and they are redressing the balance?
Also some PS parents work for the public sector and might be (gasp) unionised, so that doesn’t work.
Anyone can be unionised you know. It’s not limited to the public sector.

Why would I let him know? It’s over a year ago n
Yes. Sometimes Labour politicians talk nonsense too. Still prefer them to Tory ones, on the whole.
I’ve repeatedly said they’ve got the cut off wrong.

I thought this was a thread about Labour’s first 100 days?

Which can only be evaluated in the light of the performance of other governments, surely?

No. If the immediate response is “but what about the Tories” it just comes across as whataboutism.

I don’t think comparing their performance is ‘but what about the Tories’.

I had made criticisms of Labour in my previous post & this was in response to a reply saying that it was difficult to unpick & unjustifiable to pin stuff on the Tories
Just seemed to me that the hypocrisy of condemning Starmer for his declarations (some of which are inappropriate - no doubt) when compared to the flagrant abuse of the Tories seemed overdone

The hypocrisy is Labour’s self-righteous attacks on Tories for, what Labour said was, greed and extravagance with public funds…and then Labour indulging in greed and extravagance with public funds as soon as they got into office.

Plus attacking the ‘callous’ Tories for supposedly considering cutting the WFA…and then Labour cutting it.

Shakeoffyourchains
Hell, Starmer isn't even the worst 'offender' when it comes to donations, with Jenrick, Badenoch and Cleverly all having received significantly higher gifts than him but there's nothing being said about that of course.

Jenrick, Badenoch and Cleverly have not received more 'gifts' than Starmer. Donations for campaigning and leadership contests (e.g. for staff, mailshots etc.) come under a different category in parliament's register of interests. The press have only been looking at Starmer's 'freebies' - declared under 'gifts, benefits, and hospitality' in the register. In addition to that tally, Starmer has received hundreds of thousands of pounds of other donations, e.g. for his leadership campaign in 2020:

Name of donor: Robert Latham
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: 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

(there are loads more - £50k, £25k, £20k ...)
https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/mp/keir-starmer/financial-disclosure

March 2020
Keir Starmer challenged to publish all campaign donations

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

Whilst I disagreed with a couple of the declarations Starmer made e.g. the designer glasses & £18m penthouse usage, they were not claimed from public funds - instead from donations by Lord Ali. There was also no corruption or non- declarations that I'm aware of.
& whilst I noted that these 'freebies' were paltry compared to the political donations freebies enjoyed by Tory MPs e.g. Bojo (Mustique holidays, wedding reception, gifts, food, wallpaper etc = £350k on these alone) from donors e.g. Bamford, Desmond, Hester etc the real hypocrisy you seem to be gaslighting Labour with was exactly this misuse of public funds you cite e.g. PPE medro - £200k of an 11billion black hole, Jennifer Acuri- £100k) & the non declaration of taxable assets e.g. £4.5m -Zahari, 7 flats -Jeremy Hunt, 400k - Geoffrey Cox etc that some Tories seem determined that we suddenly forget but which is clearly an appropriate & an appalling benchmark.
Sure we can judge Starmer & certainly hope they don't misuse public funds or not declare assets but we must never forget how bad the Tories were

You’re mixing up different things.

I’m talking about hypocrisy. You know, holding yourself out as against something and then doing that thing.

(Just since you raise it, the last government started civil proceedings against Medpro. That contract had nothing to do with ministerial interest. None of the other contracts did either, but that’s a whole other story.)

If these are political donations then surely all political parties receive them & didn't the Conservatives receive some £15m from Hester alone (him who wanted to shoot a BAME female MP) and didn't Richard Desmind give Jenryk a direct donation of £75K which helped him secure a planning application worth 100s of millions, which I'm sure was a coincidence & not corrupt & neither was Owen Patterson breaking lobbying rules on behalf of Randox or Failing Grayling (who awarded a ferry cintract to a company without a boat) & was forced to resign from "intelligence"

Daddybegood
freebies enjoyed by Tory MPs e.g. Bojo (Mustique holidays, wedding reception, gifts, food, wallpaper etc = £350k on these alone)

Boris Johnson refunded the cost of the flat donation so you are £200k down in your estimate already.

the non declaration of taxable assets e.g. £4.5m -Zahari, 7 flats -Jeremy Hunt, 400k

Tax expert Dan Neidle (who is a Labour Party member) doesn't seem to think Jeremy Hunt owes any tax on the flats;

Dan Neidle
@ Dan Neidle
Finally the question we started with: did Jeremy Hunt avoid tax?
11:35 AM Jun 3. 2024
I would say clearly not.

Ofcourse it had nothing to do with the Conservatives
Hypocrisy is trying to label your opponent with things you've done yourself but the fact that the Tories enjoyed these freebies so much more makes any criticism of them by the Tory press a bit rich to say the least

and id contend that it was you who mixed this up with accusing Labour of 'misuse of public funds' (which is evidently wrong) but yet was true of many conservatives when they were in power - and let us all hope that we never ever go back to that

Daddybegood
Richard Desmind give Jenrick a direct donation of £75K which helped him secure a planning application worth 100s of millions, which I'm sure was a coincidence & not corrupt

The Good Law Project wasted money on that one!

Oh OK, he (BJ, Zahawi, Cox) all got caught & paid it back - their integrity should be admired then (FFS!)
As for Hunt, if he held the 7 flats in a company that he owned 50%of, & didn't sell the flats then ofcourse he had no tax (e.g. CGT) to pay ....but he didn't declare them (as he was required to) because he "forgot" seems a little remiss

If that was proved to be incorrect then I withdraw the comment

Daddybegood
If these are political donations then surely all political parties receive them

Yes, obviously - but I have quoted from Keir Starmer's register of interests (not the Labour Party in general) and some posters seem to be unaware that Starmer has received other donations in addition to the 'freebies'.

I'm happy for Starmer to be criticised or scrutinized - was merely pointing out the false equivalence or hypocrisy of the Tory press doing it

The tax on the flats was stamp duty (purchase) - not CGT. Hunt's accountant forgot to register the flats at companies house I believe and Hunt made a further incorrect assumption about the register after speaking to the cabinet office. If Dan Neidle is happy then I am.

Keir Starmer has refunded a paltry £6,000 and decided not to accept any more clothing (or glasses) donations after being 'caught' and shamed.

I think you'll find that the Tory press was all over Boris Johnson's freebies and the left leaning press is pretty aghast at Starmer's unforced errors.

Ok, last response.

I haven’t said anything about Labour ‘misuse of public funds’. Which I take to mean irregular, rule-breaking use. I don’t know whether others have made that allegation. This is a new one on me.

What I did say was ‘extravagant’ use of public funds - because I had in mind Labour’s bitter and aggressive attack on the Tories using private jets. The basis of the criticism seems obvious: profligacy with tax payers’ money.

But within 3 days of taking office Labour ministers were jumping on private jets on the public purse.

A number of you are going off piste here.

The early sleeze and hypocrisy is one thing, but my focus is more on the macro ie. the economy and fiscal policy. Yes, some of you will say wait for the 30th, but all the signs are that Labour will regally screw it up.

Labour’s actions are dripping in ideology.

At least they stand for something. I genuinely couldnt see what the Tory party were doing except infight, lie and back stab for their last months in office. They total forgot their reason for existing. Give me a party that stands for something apart from themselves any day.