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Original poster

Has Keir Starmer joined the Tory party? R4 interview

30 replies

Blip · 02/05/2023 08:24

Keir interview this morning on radio 4
No denationalisation
Student tuition fees to stay
Tax rises on the rich are not the answer

Do we have a two party system now where both parties are firmly on the Right?

OP posts:
mach2 · 03/05/2023 05:58

I have the terrible feeling that it's not a clear choice between two well differentiated parties but a dishonest tag team.

TeenagersAngst · 03/05/2023 05:59

We certainly don't have a right wing Conservative party.

PortiasBiscuit · 03/05/2023 06:04

You have to start being realistic when you realise that there is a chance that you might actually have to do the job.
.. and this country is broke!

Another76543 · 03/05/2023 06:05

I suspect he’s now backtracking on a lot of things in the hope of attracting Tory voters. Whether or not he will actually stick to these promises if he gets elected is another question. A lot of what he is saying is totally at odds with a lot of Labour MPs’ views.

Doingmybest12 · 03/05/2023 06:07

They want/need to appeal to middle England. They had Corbyn and look what happened.

ExhaustedPigwidgeon · 03/05/2023 06:09

Labour went too far left and are trying to claw their way back to the centre. I also don’t think Starmer is a man of his convictions and will say whatever he thinks will work

Another76543 · 03/05/2023 06:18

The cynic in me questions his motives for his change in stance. The timing of these new statements happens to be a day or two after a survey (admittedly only a Sun survey) shows that he’s not all that popular with the voting public.

Is he now just saying what he thinks people want to hear? Does he actually believe what he’s saying? He was definitely going to scrap tuition fees. Now he’s not (although I suspect some means testing will be proposed). He was very pro nationalisation - nationalising energy companies was definitely the right thing to do according to him. Now it’s not. He said we should tax higher earners more. Now he’s changed his mind.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/22217770/rishi-sunak-makes-best-leader-sir-keir-starmer-poll/amp/

Huge blow to Starmer as Brits say Sunak is the best leader & reject woke Labour

BRITS are opposed to explicit sex education in class, have strong views on what a woman is and are proud of our nation’s past. An exclusive mega-poll for The Sun reveals that Rishi Sunak is more po…

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/22217770/rishi-sunak-makes-best-leader-sir-keir-starmer-poll/amp/

Srin · 03/05/2023 06:21

I don’t think ending tuition fees would be popular right now. It might be seen by many as a waste of tax payers money in the current climate. Especially as better off middle classes will benefit from from it.

MissyB1 · 03/05/2023 06:22

This is going to do Labour no favours at all. He’s trying to be “centrist” but falling too far right. Labour need to go back to their roots and remember who they are supposed to represent. I had no problem with Corbyn personally.

longwayoff · 03/05/2023 06:24

He needs to be a lot more careful or hell find out the electorate really do think they're all the same and just keep what we've got already. Singularly unimpressive. I'm a Labour voter.

Srin · 03/05/2023 06:29

MissyB1 · 03/05/2023 06:22

This is going to do Labour no favours at all. He’s trying to be “centrist” but falling too far right. Labour need to go back to their roots and remember who they are supposed to represent. I had no problem with Corbyn personally.

@MissyB1 Tories also had no problem with Corbyn as Labour leader.

ZenNudist · 03/05/2023 06:29

I always suspect threads like this of being started by tory HQ. Still a lot of what you cite above is part of Corbyns manifesto. I'd expect Starmer to be centrist.

The Tories have ruined the country. Brexit was an act of economic self harm. I seriously doubt there is anything labour can do to fix it. Short of a Norway style deal which Statmer seems set against.

There's going to be no money to fix the hideous broken state of the UK. We have been completely screwed by the Tories.

Cellotapedispenser · 03/05/2023 06:31

He isn't tory because he still thinks 1% of women have a male appendage.

niandraladesand · 03/05/2023 06:35

Both labour and tories are very right wing

DifficultBloodyWoman · 03/05/2023 06:35

Srin · 03/05/2023 06:29

@MissyB1 Tories also had no problem with Corbyn as Labour leader.

Show quote history

😂

Hollyhead · 03/05/2023 06:35

I want a centrist party, he sounds sensible to me, we need someone pragmatic and flexible who just focuses on fixing problems by whatever way possible rather than tied down with ideological dogma like the current shitshow of a government.

DifficultBloodyWoman · 03/05/2023 06:38

niandraladesand · 03/05/2023 06:35

Both labour and tories are very right wing

I disagree. I think they are both very centrist parties. One used to be slightly to the left and one is currently slightly to the right.

It is ironic that, as they get closer together, the party activists hate the other side even more.

FourTeaFallOut · 03/05/2023 06:38

Perhaps he's under the impression that he can hide the deeply unpopular radical social progressivism in the party from voters by striding his fiscal policies a greater step to the right?

ArcticSkewer · 03/05/2023 06:41

He will be in power soon.

He needs to tidy up the promises made so they are realistic.

I agree as well though, there isn't much 'real' choice. Democracy is mostly a sham. Look at Ed Balls and George Osborne - big pals now.

Original poster
Blip · 03/05/2023 07:12

For the first time in my life I feel like voting is a waste of time. It's a very uncomfortable feeling.

OP posts:
SunnyEgg · 03/05/2023 07:28

Another76543 · 03/05/2023 06:18

The cynic in me questions his motives for his change in stance. The timing of these new statements happens to be a day or two after a survey (admittedly only a Sun survey) shows that he’s not all that popular with the voting public.

Is he now just saying what he thinks people want to hear? Does he actually believe what he’s saying? He was definitely going to scrap tuition fees. Now he’s not (although I suspect some means testing will be proposed). He was very pro nationalisation - nationalising energy companies was definitely the right thing to do according to him. Now it’s not. He said we should tax higher earners more. Now he’s changed his mind.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/22217770/rishi-sunak-makes-best-leader-sir-keir-starmer-poll/amp/

As polls lead on Sunak and pick up on the party he’ll probably keep switching. He’s more attuned to getting votes by shifting on what people say than others

If it keeps trending in same way he’ll probably be pretty close to Tories in policy except for gender ideology.

It’ll be the one thing they keep but not much else in it

MissyB1 · 03/05/2023 08:13

I’ve said it on other threads and I will say it again, I dream of a Labour/Lib Dem/Green coalition.

FourTeaFallOut · 03/05/2023 08:15

MissyB1 · 03/05/2023 08:13

I’ve said it on other threads and I will say it again, I dream of a Labour/Lib Dem/Green coalition.

Oh Jesus, really? I can't think of anything worse.

MissyB1 · 03/05/2023 08:23

FourTeaFallOut · 03/05/2023 08:15

Oh Jesus, really? I can't think of anything worse.

Show quote history

Come on that’s not difficult - how about what we have now! Personally for me nothing is worse than this shower of shit.

Pussycatbeen · 03/05/2023 08:26

Labour has been pretty close to right wing for decades, surely? Certainly too far right for me ever to have voted for them. My parents and grandparents stopped voting for them when Kinnock went pro-nuclear and when Blair became leader, respectively.

Things Corbyn campaigned for were the norm for most political parties when I was growing up. We've moved so far to the Right that what used to shock us is now considered normal.