AIBU - Keir Starmer's ok - getting rid of him wouldn't help Labour

[Twiglets1]

As a result of the disastrous results for Labour in the recent elections, many people - even within his own party - are now calling for Keir Starmer to stand down.

Would that really help Labour though? It seems to me that a lot of the reasons people are fed up - like the cost of living & housing crisis for example, are not his fault personally but more a result of years of underinvestment, mainly by previous Conservative governments.

Yes he does lack charisma and personally I think the Conservatives have a better leader in Kemi Badenoch. But I wouldn't vote for a political party purely based on how charismatic their leader is.

When you look at the alternatives - I like Wes Streeting but would he be able to turn around the fortunes of the Labour party before the next General Election - I doubt it. And the same goes for Andy Burnham, even if they did find a way to make him eligible for party leadership in time.

The Tories caused turmoil with their constant leadership challenges and it didn't help their brand. Starmer hasn't done anything too awful that I'm aware of - wouldn't it be better just to keep him in post?

You know, this isn't true, Johnson was gifted more than a million pounds. He is a professional grifter. Makes Starmer look positively amateurish.

“Boris Johnson, who left parliament in June 2023, made headlines last year for receiving the biggest donation to an MP on record after a single contribution of £1 million.
Johnson also received a donation worth £23,853 from the JCB boss, Anthony Bamford, and his wife Carole, to pay for elements of his 2021 wedding.
As prime minister, Johnson took an estimated £52,000 worth of donations to renovation his Downing Street flat in a saga that became known as wallpapergate. The ex-PM later said he had repaid all the money back.

https://www.politics.co.uk/news/2024/10/08/boris-johnson-criticises-greedy-keir-starmer-over-freebies/

I’ve been listening to a fair amount of radio (Times in particular) and they’re really close to the elections.

They interview loads of people on why and a fair few Labour MPs and canvassers have talked about the deep dislike for Starmer coming up on the doorstep.

I get they’re sticking for now, AB is probably the only other option and he’s not close to being in place. They also have market watch. But if they want to keep driving voters to Reform, Greens and other Starmer helps with that.

I agree with you. I do also think Andy Burnham might be a better PM, he has more charisma and seems to achieve a lot. Something has to be done so we don't have a reform landslide next election, because as a disabled person that's the end for me.

Is ok what we want in these difficult times?

Have you been listening to the commentary yesterday from Labour MPs and councillors? They admitted the dislike for Starmer comes up on the doorstep more than policies as the reason for not voting Labour.
Once your usual voters refuse to vote for you, you need to do the decent thing and resign.

I am with you on desperately not wanting a leadership change. Stability is needed more than anything else.

I saw a Labour spokesperson yesterday explain they need to create a coalition at the centre to win votes from the left and right but it doesn't feel like that's what they're doing. I imagine I'm the kind of voter they want- my instincts lean left but I generally vote centre-left. I've previously been a Labour party member. However, I see them dismissing appealing to Green voters because that would be too extreme, while chasing hard after reform loudest voters. I'm never going to vote for a party that pretends climate change isn't an issue, sound-bites that SEN is overdiagnosed or talks about stopping the boats and describes asylum seekers as illegal immigrants rather than having a proper grown up conversation about the negative impacts of immigration and how we tackle these.

Reform voters are never going to be won over by attempts to implement Reform policies because the reality of delivering these things is very different to radical soundbites.

They need a rational Labour plan and narrative. I don't want to see election campaigns fought by smear campaigns, I want them to deserve to win.

The centre ground is where I sit and probably no surprise that I liked Tony Blair (certainly a breath of fresh air after Thatcher!) until he became tarnished with bad decisions over foreign wars.

I feel like Starmer is fairly centrist which is probably why many people DON'T like him. But the country is feeling increasingly fragmented in my opinion with extreme Left or extreme Right politics gaining popularity.

Historically, the UK favours more moderate politics. But KS is facing the problem of trying (& failing because it's impossible) of keeping everyone happy. Which you illustrated the challenge of in your post. Because you criticise him for failing to reform the ever increasing welfare bill. Whereas others criticise him severely for attempting to reform it. So in that sense he can't win and that would be the case with whichever other leader he got replaced him with too.

Agreed, and it’s been reported just this week that Farage was gifted £5m, so Starmers gifts seem insignificant compared to that figure.

It’s not this. As @LizzieSiddalpp its worth listening to feedback on Starmer.

I agree with this.

I don't care if he is uncharismatic or boring. Boring is good compared to the freak show of so-called charismatic leaders around.

i agree. I want some stability.

I couldn't watch much TV yesterday but seeing some this morning.

I was surprised that dislike for Starmer would be mentioned more commonly than his policies. Of course that has to be taken seriously.

However, I think if Wes Streeting took over say, people would soon be criticising his personality so Labour wouldn't have gained much. This is what the Tories found - replacing their leaders several times did not help much as the media just moved their attention to criticising the new person, and the public did the same. In the end, surely it's policies that make a party worth voting for or not?

I'm centre right and I want him to stay until the election (which they'll lose) as whoever comes next will undoubtedly be worse.

Labour will be out of power for many years after the next election, deservedly so. They had 14 years in opposition to come up with some decent policies and they've failed. The cabinet is the least impressive in the last 50 years. Look at the talent in Tony Blair's government compared to now.

Starmer lost support when he labelled protesters after Southport "far right" and it's been downhill every since.

Yup they all accept gifts all the time and that has been the case for decades.

I don't think a new leader is the answer at all, but the Labour party need to go back to being the champions of the working class. All Labour are doing to the working class is making their lives harder right now, and giving more and more handouts from a crumbling welfare state.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that before long we won't have enough working people to pay taxes to support those who can't/won't work.

I think he’s ok and I don’t actually think a new PM right now will solve things.

I think he’s been very good on the international stage, especially with Trump - I dread to think what Johnson or Farage’s response to the situation with the US would be, I’d personally rather have someone calm and with the ability to say no in these situations.

I don’t think everything is perfect by any means.

The Mandleson situation is a complete disaster. I don’t think voting to not have an inquiry into how it happened was the right decision.

People want to see a level of transparency and I think had that been allowed to go through I think it would’ve been better for perceptions.

It won’t happen but I think he’d be better trying to find a way to work with Burnham than against him, blocking him standing in Gorton lost them that seat and he should see the bigger picture that Burnham is more popular and overall for Labour it would be good to have him in Westminster.

I think this is a good and fair commentary on what is happening and what went before.

Personally think they’ve always needed someone like Burnham and this is the time for him to move in. He’s done a fantastic job in Manchester and I think he’d replicate that well nationally.

Agreed (with you both) 100x. That's why I voted Labour at the GE

I think it would be even more disastrous for Labour if they formed a coalition with the Green party as they are too associated with antisemitism at the moment in my opinion, and Labour has worked hard to stop that association within their own party.

Maybe a pact between Labour and the Lib Dems - do people think that would be popular?

Both sides criticise him, so he does nothing or u-turns. That's the problem right there. He needs to grow a pair and get on with it. Criticism goes with the territory.

One of the reasons he was voted in as Prime Minister is that he came across as a man of integrity. However the Mandelson scandal has highlighted that his judgement is skewed. How can anyone have thought it was a good idea to bring Mandelson into the role as US Ambassador?!

Starmer's judgement on other matters has been questionable as well.

To those of you saying but Johnson took x amount and Farage took x amount (in response to my post) - absolutely true and I hope you are sharing this data because you too hate lying, deceiving grifters who are on the make from being in public office. The figures I quoted point to the fact that no other Labour MP has taken so much free stuff and left so much of it undeclared.

Starmer is not the respectable quiet man in a suit you think he is. Not only is he a grifter and a liar, he throws people under buses when his personal decisions are challenged (the appointment of his pal Mandelson as an example).

He is cut from the same cloth as Farage and Johnson. Truly appalling to have such people in office.

Let's hope there are some decent public serving MPs waiting to oust him. That definitely excludes Wes 'sell off the NHS to his American lobby friends' Streeting.
I'd back Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, personally. The NHS would be safe in her leadership.

@Twiglets1 couldn’t agree more - all that will happen is it gives the right wing press fresh meat to be out their raking up any dirt on someone and they won’t stop- he is dealing with huge world events and a buffoon on the White House changing rules like the wind and creating world instability . The local issues are issues throughout most of UK and are long standing - and trying to improve on shirt buttons after Tory lack of long term planning isa tough call -Farage isn’t the answer but maybe it has to happen for people to realise that - Labour get tough on people taking the piss and the further left are out there with the all should have cake nonsense and get tough the other way on tax and all those who’ve been avoiding it for years with trusts and passing off assets or overseas money and the express/tekegraph / mail up in arms -whilst still expecting decent services. I have mentioned endlessly German state health insurance is 380 euros a month each and yes pensioners pay in full