Keir starmer is dead in the water

[Bertiebiscuit]

The UK cannot have a prime minister who gave a plum job to a man when all the time he knew that Mandelson was still close friends with an ex-con who was convicted for trafficking children for sexual abuse. Starmer is destroying the reputation of the UK, he is an embarrassment and shoukd resign, if not the Labour party should demand his resignation.

Exactly this ! Although, Boris DID have to go. The UK seems to turn on every PM immediately. Starmer deserves to stay.

Mandelson was forwarding on inside information to Epstein, who was paying him. He was corrupt! Never mind the feet massages, underpants pics and swanning around in his bath robe!

I think so, in the next week anyway. He was really struggling during PMQs today - stuttering, falling over his words and lot of hand-wringing and I think actually clasping them to stop them from shaking.

Yes, but we don't yet know if this information was known to Starmer at the time he appointed PM to the Ambassador role.

We will have a much better understanding of what was and wasn't known when the paperwork is published.

He will get rid of McSweeney, and this will all go away.

It was McSweeney who lobbied hard for Mandelson over the objections of career diplomats at the FO.

He told the Commons he knew Mandelson stayed friendly with Epstein when he was in prison for trafficking a minor. That should have been enough.

Honestly, I give up, I've read it all now.

YANBU, OP. I hope he finally goes, he's been shockingly bad.

And why did he lobby so hard, did anyone ask that question/know the answer...?

I understand this sentiment but it's a very practical policy. When they start cutting people out of consideration for positions because of associations things get ugly and toxic quite quickly.

Because Mandelson mentored him for quite some time

I doubt McSweeney had much of a clue about the depth of lying and manipulation Mandelson was running on him, but he is the one who pushed for his appointment.

Now he will pay the price for that mistake.

We need Shabana as PM ASAP ..

What reputation do you think the UK has at this point?

You act as though you are a bastion for the rule of law & human rights when your record, past and present, shows you to be anything but.

You have soft-banned many of your own citizens by making it nigh on impossible for normal Brits to move back to their country with their foreign spouse and children.

A huge swathe of the world detests you for exploiting their country's riches while you could, often repressing the locals brutally and flat out stealing their resources.

When you joined the EU you trade-wise turned your back on former colonies who had fought and died for you, including Australia and NZ.

You have followed America into bullshit wars for decades and now have swathes of new "fans" in the Middle East, Afghanistan, the former Yugoslavia, etc.

WHAT REPUTATION?

Yes, but that isn't new information - we've known for a while that he had been aware of the ongoing relationship. His argument is that he was unaware of the extent and depth of that relationship.

We will find out soon enough whether that's true. Of course, you could argue that the fact of the relationship continuing at all should have been reason enough not to appoint Mandelson, and that would be perfectly valid, but if that alone was enough to put Starmer out of a job, then why didn't they get rid of him last year when it became apparent that Mandelson had admitted it during the vetting process?

The question isn't "is this PM terrible" its "if this PM is terrible, who is the alternative".

I think you would be very hard pushed to find a squeaky clean person in politics at all- especially one who wanted to lead a country.

I really don’t like kier, but do I like any more of the rest of them… no not really either.

Honestly I actually hate this resignation stuff. The result is we just get a government no one voted for. That’s not democratic!

It should go to a general election, which I don’t like either with reform floating about. But we cannot keep changing prime ministers like socks and accept this as reasonable.

And that’s a chip if I have ever seen one.

You seem to know a lot about history but conveniently stop at the point before Britain was invaded and colonised by numerous civilisations.

You know we actually celebrate that. Fancy that.

As a Celt very grateful for to our Roman overlords

No different.
Or not different enough to matter. Maybe a different set of friends would have been able to wet their beaks. Lock downs would have happened, and been criticized for being both too hard and too soft, and the parties would probably still have happened, the lead might change but the cast are broadly the same.

Those with double standards always want double helpings

How about now? How has the UK been making the world a better place in recent years?
Helping Trump to steal Venezuelan oil in the middle of the Atlantic?
Encouraging Zelensky to walk away from peace talks in 2022?
And at home are we a bastion of free speech and fairness, an example to the world? No, jailing a journalist for contempt of court in the Alex Salmond trial, proscribing Palestine action and locking up little old ladies and vicars for holding placards?
And yes as PP said the impact of harsher visa rules on multinational families - punishing the rule followers because it is easy and can be used as headline fodder.

call it a chip if you like, I call it depressing

Not sure you can say the UK made any difference to Trumps foreign policy anywhere. It's clear he only cares about the USA and it's interests so I wouldnt link UK to any of that.

As far as Palestine action goes if you attack an RAF base what do you expect? Yes we need more free speech rather than being banned from speaking truth about Muslim grooming gangs and and being prevented from having the statistics on crimes committed by immigrants.

Though all very off topic following your entry into this rabbit hole!

Yeah we have a lot of shit going on. But we don’t blame it on other people. Ever.

Has it ever, and I mean ever AT ALL crossed your mind that you hate the Greeks? Such awful people they are being descended from the Romans. I can answer that for you - it’s a no because that’s just not in our psyche or zeitgeist or narrative.

Do you even wake at night thinking the Russians are such awful an people? Considering they have bombed and maimed many Ukrainians? No, because that’s Putin not Russians.

Do you detest Jews? (to use PPs highly emotive language) Because of Gaza? Obviously not because that’s Netanyahu and not Isreali peoples fault, it’s not even Israel’s fault. It’s just one psycho man yet again.

"who gave a plum job to a man when all the time he knew that Mandelson was still close friends with an ex-con"

Epstein died in 2019. Starmer appointed Mandelson in 2024/5.

Even the hardcore Stamerites have gone quiet on defending him - preferring to change the subject or to post ‘amusing’ memes.

Seems they are also less keen on Rayner replacing him too.

Funny that.

I don't have a dog in this race and don't care if Starmer stays or goes, but what I know is true is that he's not the only one. If you think you can find someone clean and uncompromised to replace him, you're very naive. They are all as bad as each other. Some of them manage to hide it better.

Nobody cares about extremist misogyny, sadly. Nor about Uyghurs. And the 2022 Russia-Ukraine "peace talks" were always phony; Zelenskyy knew that full well and didn't need the leader of the opposition in the UK to tell him, if indeed Starmer did. Apart from that, though, Starmer looks positively Churchillian on the world stage, compared to the last several numpsies.