To think Keir Starmer is looking more ridiculous by the day

[Viviennemary]

I've just seen an interview with Keir Starmer talking in riddles. If he knew then what he knew now then this mess wouldn't have happened. Three hour debate about it tomorrow in Parliament. Surely his time is up. But if a lefty takes over it might be worse.

Neither.
Just pointing out that all Governments blame their predecessors. It's not unique to the current government.

And I'm sure you pointed that out to Tory voters when they were in government.
So just because previous governments do something means it excuses Labour? I thought they were the "grown ups" and "transparent" etc. Oh no sorry that's just what they tried to convince the electorate that they were. Thankfully they've dropped that pretence now.

I didn't say it excuses Labour. Just saying that it is a well worn tradition. 🤷‍♀️

Sorry but can you remind me what "massive majority" the Tories had when Johnson attempted to prorogue Parliament in August/September 2019?

I don't think they had an outright majority at all between the 2017 election and the run up to the one in December 2019.

Again Johnson tried to prorogue Parliament because he didn't have an outright majority and he wanted to avoid what May had gone through with the Labour, Tory, Lib DEm and Scot Nats remainers all denying the democratic will of the electorate by not endorsing May's efforts at reaching a deal with Brussels That (ie Labour sticking its head in the sand over the referendum result hoping it would go away) is what caused harm to the country and led to Johnson hurrying through a muddled deal.

The electorate then had it's say about the remainers in the Decmber 2019 election in which the Tories made a net gain of 53 seats against Labour. That was for ignoring the refernedum result and blocking a deal.

Exactly. He has led the agenda in British politics for years now. The two (formerly) main parties are just dancing to his tune.

I’m a leftie so I despise what he stands for. But he’s obviously very talented.

That’s a big chunk of red to turquoise isn’t it?

Labour to Reform

Yep and supports the Red Wall deserting Labour. As does the Grauniad today.

Well 72% still think he is ridiculous and only 11% approve of him.

Thank you.
I thought the pp's chart didn't look quite right. Makes sense now.

Very true 👍

No problem 😊

Latest polling for Wales

NEW | Poll shows Welsh Labour WIPEOUT
➡️ REF – 29% (+5)
🟩 PLAID – 23% (-1)
🔴 LAB – 18% (-2)
🔵 CON – 11% (-2)
🟠 LD – 9% (-)
🟢 GRN – 7% (-)
Via @YouGov, 4-10 Sep (+/- vs 23-30 Apr)

Reform are a threat to us all just a lot of people don't realise it.

You're right, May had pissed away the majority by calling another general election before Johnson.

So many errors, fuck ups, mistakes, and a massive amount of idiocy from the Tories at that time. I got confused about the order they came in.

I think Starmer is broadly making the right decisions but getting undermined by his own MPs and perhaps his own lack of bravery in attempting to push through certain policies even if he risks a defeat in the Commons.

The one thing about his period in charge that I absolutely do not understand is when the pressure came on for a new inquiry into the grooming gang scandal. This started after it became known that Oldham council had requested a government inquiry into what had happened in their area, and for some reason Jess Phillips told them to investigate themselves. She then came over all I-said-no-and-I-mean-NO and amazingly, a minister treating the nation like primary school children made the government unpopular ... who'd have thought?

All Starmer had to do was say, OK, we clearly do need a new enquiry. Instead, he battened down the hatches for weeks to the point people started to wonder whether Labour were trying to hide something. Why do that? What was the benefit to him of denying an inquiry into a terrible national scandal? By the time he gave in and U-turned, everyone had turned against him anyway.

Is he just bad at politics?

I don't think he's exceptionally talent, just that the rest of them are such an astonishingly low calibre that even farage can look impressive in terms of work ethic, communication, consistency, level of understanding, grasp of reality etc.

Thank God the Senedd elections next year are under PR is all I can say. Reform has no chance of controlling Wales with that vote share.

This is the map showing PR result on current polling. So either way, Labour will lose Wales

SENEDD POLL | Labour plunge to just 14%

🟩 PLAID – 30% (-)
➡️ REF – 29% (+4)
🔴 LAB – 14% (-4)
🔵 CON – 11% (-2)
🟠 LD – 6% (-1)
🟢 GRN – 6% (+1)

Via @YouGov, 4-10 Sep (+/- vs 23-30

How do you think that would translate Pandora? I was hoping you'd pop up on the LIW thread and share your thoughts. Are you thinking that would mean a left wing coalition?

The latest graphic Twisty just posted shows it is the probable outcome -a Plaid/Labour coalition.

The new system means that coalitions will be the future for Wales. As I understand it, around a 45%+ share of the vote is need to win a majority of the 96 seats.

OK. Thank you.

My map doesn't show a Plaid/Labour coalition. It shows a Plaid/Reform one!
The point is, Labour are on track to lose Wales.

You are missing a key fact! Perhaps you don't know much about Welsh politics.

Plaid would never in a million years form a coalition with Reform. Which is why it will be a Plaid/Labour coalition. We have had such a coalition before.

The point for me is that Reform won't run Wales. I am not too bothered that Labour won't be the main party. I'd like to give PC a chance.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79lvdd9z5lo.amp

I also don’t think it’s just down to the talents of Farage as a communicator- he is platformed non stop by the BBC and other media outlets and the vast majority of the press is there to back up his opinions. (Headlines about the ‘evils’ of migration have been in the papers for at least twenty years)

The number of appearances by Farage on question time is exponential given he was not an MP or a party leader when he did most of them.

If Caroline Lucas for example had had such exposure or the climate agenda had been backed by screaming headlines for 25 years then maybe the picture in the UK would look very different.