Keir, what do you think?

[Lovepeaceunderstanding]

Labour will win this General Election but I don’t think Sir Keir will be party leader a year from now because there are many amongst Labour MP’s who will want to be more radical. Who would you like to see as leader of the Labour Party a year from now and why?

@GasPanic momentum

You're assuming that there will be giant cohorts of people who will vote anti Tory without considering what the alternatives are and what the consequences will be. That's deeply patronising. People have looked at the Tories, looked at the last 14 years and decided they don't want 5 more years of that. Consequences well and truly considered.

There are approximately 1.6 million 16 and 17 year olds in the UK according to the 2021 census. That's more than one million. Not all will vote. Not all will vote Labour either.

In terms of brain development and age - we allow people with learning difficulties to vote. Look it up, I just did. So the argument against allowing 16 and 17 year olds to vote based on brain function falls down right there. If my granny with dementia can vote, why shouldn't a 16 year old?

As for rowing back on promises - I see this more as someone changing his mind in the face of changing circumstances. That's also known as 'common sense'.

The same could be said of the hard right. In fact there’s a number of them in plain sight right now, and in my view they are far more of a worry than the perceived “hard left”.

I think it is less of the issue that he has promised it, and more of an issue that he is expected to deliver it, even if those promises haven't explicitly been made.

Once he gets in everyone is going to be looking for their handout, and is going to be expecting someone else to pay for it.

That pressure will be difficult to resist, especially when people start to realise politics is very much constrained by economics at the current time.

I think it is a really tired Tory trope that a centrist Labour government will be hijacked by the "hard left".

The Tories deployed it in 1997 to no avail. I remember the evil eyes poster. New Labour, New Danger.

He's had to adapt expectations. I don't think any of the previous ideas constituted a land of milk and honey.

. Same old scare tactics.

Agreed, and we've still got 4 more weeks of this to go.

Starmer is a big disappointment - he comes across as bland and indecisive but I expect he'll be around for a good few years.

I'll be voting Labour... with no enthusiasm.

Op, this isn’t a particularly well conceived thread and you haven’t really thought about it very seriously.

Should Labour win, and it’s looking very likely, I expect KS to be the leader and PM for a good number of years.

I don’t think you understand the mechanism behind a party leader being replaced, the last five years should have taught us all a thing or two about that…

My comment was responding to a PP who explicitly stated that he had promised it.

I actually think he has been very restrained and carefully not made undeliverable promises, totally unlike the last few Tory leaders. It makes a refreshing change.

As for people expecting handouts, I’m not sure who you are referring to? I

Once he gets in everyone is going to be looking for their handout

I'd like to know what you mean by this, too @GasPanic

God help us.
He's not very intelligent is he?

He was a human rights barrister qualified law degree and post grad education but I guess any old fool tops that. The smears and insults are coming thick and fast , he must be doing something right!

He's not very intelligent is he?

Kings Counsel and a former director of public prosecutions. Thick as two short planks, obvs.

Agreed, and we've still got 4 more weeks of this to go

😫four more weeks of brain dead dirge to scroll through on here. Can’t wait until it’s over.

Me too - I mean, they aren't even good smears. I mean, how can anyone look at the current Tory front bench and then compain about Keir Starmer's intellect?

I think he's on track for a pretty sizeable majority so it would take a major fuck up to oust him. Not just more left wing people wanting a change.

Agree that he and Rachel Reeves have not promised a land of milk and honey. Far from it. In fact some labour supporters are thoroughly pissed off that he’s not being aspirational enough.
The scaremongering about Rayner and the hard left taking over is pure rubbish. Especially when earlier in the week the same posters were banging on about him being authoritarian. He simply cannot win.
Don't get the hated for Angela Rayner. It’s pure snobbery. Only certain types of wc people seem to be acceptable, mainly the ones that know their place.

I agree. And the potential replacements for Sunak when he resigns on July 5th are far more concerning when it comes to taking a party to the extreme.

Nobody with half a brain is expecting anything of the sort. We know there’s no money. I’m looking forward to a Starmer parliament, I bet all the things people are saying about him are what they were saying about Attlee.

I don't think so.
@pointythings makes some very valid points.

Absolutely this.

That not my definition of nasty.

I want competence. I want things to be done, not soundbites and media releases.

Much more chance with Keir Starmer, even though he might not be sparkling company.

Very odd theory. He's not going to be ousted if they win. I like Keir a lot. He's principled, moral, practical and forward-thinking. Mostly I like him because he's NOT a self-serving, morally repugnant twat which makes him very different from the Tories who have been governing us.