Webchat with Labour leadership contender Sir Keir Starmer MP on Monday February 3 at 1.30pm

[AnnaCMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce a webchat with Labour leadership contender Sir Keir Starmer MP on Monday 3 February at 1.30pm.

Keir Starmer is Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras (and is thus, importantly, the MP for MNHQ) having been first elected in 2015. He served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008-13, focusing on increasing prosecutions for violence against women and girls (see our previous webchat with him for our We Believe You campaign back in 2012), and seeking justice for Stephen Lawrence and his family. He was also involved in controversial cases (including the prosecution of the former LibDem MP Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce over their creative approach to speeding offences). Before that he was a barrister specialising in human rights law, working with the defendants in the ‘McLibel’ case and working on environmental protections, workers’ rights and challenging the death penalty.

Keir is named after the first Labour leader, Keir Hardie, and is regarded as the frontrunner in Labour’s leadership contest. He is currently Shadow Brexit Secretary.

Please do join the chat on Monday at 1.30pm or if you can’t make it, leave a question here in advance.

We've invited and are hoping to have all of the contenders on over the next few weeks.

As always, please remember our guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered, and please keep it civil. Also if one topic is dominating a thread, mods might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. (We may suspend the accounts of anyone who continues after we've posted to ask people to stop, so please take note.) Rest assured we will ALWAYS let the guest know that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

Many thanks,
MNHQ

Hi, I’m a Labour Party member and haven’t made up my mind up who to vote for for leader. TBH I’m concerned that you haven’t been a politician long enough to be prepared for what needs to happen within the party to make it electable. For example, what will you do to ensure there is actually zero tolerance for antisemitism in the party? Are you prepared to review all the cases of people who’ve been warned but allowed to stay in the party after expressing repulsive views (at least two in my CLP)? How are you going to do that with the current make up of the NEC? Are you really prepared to have the fights needed?

I hope you can reassure me (and other members who are wavering)!

Hi Keir, What are your plans to stop Labour losing women members (like me) ?

Hi Keir,
I am what most people call a 'floating voter'.

I spoilt my ballot this time round as none of the parties speak for me.

I am an adult human female with two school age children. I am married, and I work part time, but earn more than my husband who is self employed. My parents are getting older and my mother is in pain and on a NHS waiting list for treatment.

My daughter is coming up to secondary school age and I am worried that she will be exposed to regressive notions about what is is to be a 'woman', and will have to deal with porn soaked boys who, amongst other things may think it's normal to strangle their partner during sex. And then we get onto the sex pay gap when she is older. I fear similarly for my son.

I also fear that I have brought my children into the world when they may not have a future. With ice caps melting, seas rising, almost apocalyptic weather, insects and other important species dying out, it seems unbelievable that politicians are not taking strong steps to address the issues.

Do you want my vote? If so, how are you going to persuade me that I ought to vote for the Labour Party?

I'm massively behind Keir to become leader, he's the only candidate who has a serious chance at becoming PM. And one of few MPs who has shown any knowledge of and concern about the issues facing Northern Ireland in the wake of Brexit. I'd like to ask Keir what his position on a referendum on a united Ireland is?

I can’t be here for that time but will follow this up with interest later. I’ve got loads of questions I’d like to pose but I’ll stick with one I will struggle to articulate. Here’s hoping it will make sense!
We’ve seen a lot of absolute conflicts of interest hitting our sociopolitical scene of late: problems that can’t be easily solved. Trans rights v women’s rights (I’m on the women’s side), anti-semitism claims v concerns about Israel’s policy wrt Palestine, obviously Brexit, ecological change. They’ve all got very toxic with extreme views expressed, a lot of insults, demands that the others shut up, little in the way of deeper explorations of points of view that could then potentially lead to consensus-seeking. Where does this all leave us as a country? It’s a death of debate which is causing us huge problems now and will only get worse. How do you propose as a possible future leader of the country to get us all to calm the heck down and start looking into the underlying issues, while avoiding artificial parity ... and just start being bloody sensible again??

If elected, what would be your biggest weakness as Labour leader and what would you do about it?

Hi Keir, thank you for coming to talk to us.

Finland has introduced disinformation education for its citizens. How important do you consider the fight against disinformation and what measures do you think the UK should take to protect its own citizens?

In the last GE Labours’ defence policies were lacklustre at best, insulting at worst, can you confirm that Labour intends to improve it’s relationship with the Forces and commit to representing those who serve (and their families)

Hi Keir, I followed the McLibel trial avidly in my teenage years. Helen Steel taught me not to give my dinner money to bullies and she has been a continuing inspiration ever since, to all of us who resist the removal of our rights by intimidation, gaslighting or any other means.

My question: What are the best ways for ordinary citizens to stand up to bullying in 2020 and especially if the bullying comes from within the labour party?

Hi Keir, is it right that the leader doesn’t get to choose their deputy?

Hi Keir
Many thanks for being here and, for my part, I hope you win.
I worry about the direction this government will take with regards to trade and standards. I think we will get a very hard brexit in 11 months. If so- and should you win the next general election- could it be reversed then? I'm not talking about rejoining, rather whether it would be realistically possible to get closer to the EU again despite a crash out in December? Or is it a naive hope?

Hi Keir.

The Labour Party is still very divided. There are so many questions I would like to ask about what your actual, concrete plans are for managing that. It's hard to choose just one question about that.

So, I'm going to focus on communication, particularly social media.

I think a lot of people were/are alienated by Corbyn-era communication, particularly the use of 'sources close to Corbyn' and various 'outriders' used to test lines of argument in a non-attributable way, or in a 'plausible deniability' way.

As non-official sources, these outriders were also able to be quite vicious at times, quite ludicrous at others.

They existed in an ambiguous twilight, where it was clear they were connected to LOTO - but also denying that connection.

Ultimately, that ambiguity wore thin - and I would argue that a fairly unpleasant (and occasionally farcical) communication style became (ineradicable) associated with Corbyn - or, more precisely, Corbynism.

Those who objected to this style were often told that the only alternative was Blair-style hyper message management.

To suggest that the Corbyn message-style was actually off-putting to potential voters was often to be dismissed as a Blairite!!!

So - my question - what communication style might we expect from you? Are you going to distance yourself from some of those well-known Labour supporters in social media and in traditional media? Will you be encouraging journalists to quote attributed sources? Will you be managing the social media of MPs more closely?

I know it's an odd question and I suppose I wonder if you think this is a significant issue or not.

Many thanks.

(And good luck. I'm a Labour Party member who will - finally - throw in the towel if Rebecca Long-Bailey wins.)

By the way, just as a bit of feedback: my lowest moment canvassing in the GE was not the abuse but when I was met with ridicule combined with genuine pity by former voters. I knew then we were going to get hammered and that our Party had been brought to a bad place.

It was grim.

I hope you win. But we have (& you will, I hope lead on this,) a mountain to climb- inside and outside the Party - to regain respect and trust.

Thanks for coming, Keir.

If you become Labour leader, how will you tackle sexism within the party?

As a female, I am on the verge of leaving Labour over sexism I’m experiencing, both online and locally.

True or false:

You need to say one thing to garner the vote of the progressives and Momentum to be Labour leader but it’s possible/likely you’ll need to say the opposite if you want to garner the vote of the electorate to be Prime Minister.

Hi Keir

Given that freedom of movement and the problems it brought was a significant factor in Brexit, why do you now want to reintroduce it (accepting it hasn't yet been stopped).

Isn't this another example of the establishment ignoring the 2016 Brexit vote and the will of the people?

Hi Keir,
Why would you be a better Labour Leader thank Lisa or Rebecca?

Some good questions here.

Hello Keir, I'll ask you the same question I asked Jess...

How would you manage the need for rapid reduction in carbon emissions with opposition from the trade unions?

Hello Keir

Thanks for coming

I'd really like to know how serious you think the climate emergency is and in opposition what will you and the Labour Party will do to ensure the government actually starts taking it seriously.
Do you agree that it should be seen as the number 1 issue of our time?

Hi Keir I am a EU citizen and former Labour Party member. We have worked together in 'that' compositing meeting in 2018 and I have witnessed directly the formation of the party's policy on Brexit and seen how divided our members and our electorate is on that issue. I have left the party because of these divisions but your leadership may make me rejoin. As a fellow internationalist how are you going to tackle this split and find a narrative, to unite these two factions?

On the day that Jeremy Corbett was elected as labour leader I placed a bet on you being the next leader. You were an outsider and the odds were very good.

What charity shall I donate by £200 winnings to and why?

I have been a Labour voter all my life and a member at times
I have spent the last few years furious at how the party has turned its back on the working classes and lost us a voice
The abuse from party members and momentum towards anyone who expresses an a opinion they don't agree with is horrendous and has turned many ordinary people away from Labour
Clearly the identity politics vote hasn't been enough to make up for the lost votes
Is there any recognition in the party that's its behaviour towards women and working classes is not acceptable and has cost votes and are you prepared to stand for traditional Labour voters

Like TresDesolee above, I hold Labour partly to blame for Brexit and the fact that your leader failed to adequately oppose the government. Your party's stance has left many of us politically homeless, particularly previously labour-voting remain voters.

Labour's present focus seems to be entirely on the 'red wall', ignoring the fact that deprivation exists throughout the UK and that the party lost votes in many other places. Labour seems very good at alienating its core voters and they're doing it again, with people like Long-Bailey and Jess Phillips trying to 'out-Northern' each other, leaving voters in other regions feel disregarded. How will Labour persuade voters it's the party for everyone - not just key voters in one particular region? How will it broaden its appeal?

Hello Keir,

In the last election, when I looked at Labour, I couldn’t pin down what they actually stood for anymore. I knew what the Tories were doing (more of the same but worse) and the LibDems were all about Remain. In order to be an effective Opposition and somewhere floating voters can consider coming over to, what do you see as the overriding ethos of the party going forward? I guess I am looking for the core message, so I can see if I agree with it or am still lost...