I am a Labour voter, a Labour supporter and I do not regret my vote.

[CurlewKate]

However, I think that Starmer has been incredibly stupid and/or very badly advised over this expenses issue. He has done nothing wrong, but his behaviour is not what he led us to believe he would do, and I am incredibly exasperated and disappointed.

In my opinion, he should admit that he made a massive misjudgement, and agree to take no more freebies from now on.

Apart from anything else anything which allows people to say "They are all as bad as each other" (they aren't) is a distraction from the real issues the country faces. He should be laser focussed on repairing the damage caused by 14 years of Tory misrule. Not scrambling around dealing with peripheral stuff.
Starmer-say sorry. Don't do it again. And get back to work.

I can’t see you saying it’s all fine if Starmer repaid the money donated to him.

Actually I did suggest it on another thread.

Well you did say everything comes back to school fees! I suggest the only mean-spiritedness on display is Bridgette Philipson towards a particular cohort of children in this country particularly those with SEN and from military families. Keir Jr (apologies I don't know his name) as the child of a millionaire PM will do fine and have every advantage his parents or his parents donors will give him.

Why are you so adamantly defending Keir Starmer? Do you think what he has taken is fine?

Ah so now the real agenda comes out! Sorry I am bored to death of the debate on school fees and I don't see its relevance to this. Go find a VAT thread - there are plenty of them.

The Guardian reported that Keir Starmer has accepted 40 sets of free tickets during his time as Labour leader - Badenoch appears to have registered 4 sets of tickets during that time.

😂😂😂

I have been regularly posting on this thread for a few days now about the hypocrisy of politicians which I feel is a very interesting although depressing subject. I am sorry if you are bored but there's no need to be so peevish or dismissive. We can all contribute even if we disagree.

No, I think it was a naive and foolish own goal and I’m not defending him at all. But it’s a bit rich for Tory posters to be so sanctimonious about it when their last but two PM was the biggest freeloader parliament has ever seen.

Yes, but the Tory leaders were held to count at the time and presumably very much so by the opposition! Yet here we are, same old same old.

The whole point of the donor row and why people find it so depressing/hilarious/ ironic is the hypocrisy. If Keir hadn't set himself up as a moral arbiter and the virtuous "adult in the room" lecturing everyone when the Tories were getting free stuff, the fact that he'd been doing exactly the sme as them wouldn't be so outrageous. He's been hoist by his own petard and has been found out. Depressingly as we all hope for better.

Your drawing of parallels between VAT policy and Starmer's son come over as spurious and contrived to fit your own narrative. Yes, I am totally bored of VAT on school fees as there are much more important policies. There are enough VAT threads without turning this thread into one.

Oh, here we go, anyone criticising Keir / Labour is Tory. It's DULL to wheel that out again. Change the sodding tune.

They weren’t held to account at all. There was a whole lot of shrugging and “Well that’s classic Boris”.

I didn’t say that. And to be honest that response is exactly what I meant. Thank you for proving my point.

Ok. I think you are rather missing the overarching point regarding hypocrisy and different rules for different people, (perhaps deliberately and I can see why if you are a Labour supporter) but we will leave it there.

True. Hoisted by his own petard indeed

But he paid it back or partly, therefore he WAS held to account over it.

That's simply not true. It's one of the (many) reasons that he ended up on the back benches. Not everyone is tribal on this thread or a Tory supporter. There aren't many of those at the moment anyway.

I don't think she was trying to make it about VAT. It was more to point out the hypocrisy of his actions of buying privilege for his children, which apparently is ok to do when it suits KS. But it's frowned upon if parents chose to buy privilege by paying for education. Don't see why one is ok and not the other. Many children live in circumstances that are not suited for exam revision but have to deal with it. Again, on his income he could easily rent somewhere for a few weeks as well as buy his own clothes and glasses. He's accepting all these freebies where ordinary people would have to pay for out of their taxed income. Yes - he hasn't oficially broken any rules but doesn't mean it was the right thing to do.

I'm not defending anyone. And you called people 'Tory posters'. I have proven nothing, other than your bias.

I didn’t call anyone anything. It was a general remark about Tory posters. I didn’t imply that anyone in particular was one. You proved my point excellently.

No I won't leave it there. The overarching point is that your parallels re Starmer's son are ridiculous and mean. Why should he suffer because his father is in a political circus? Any outrage you have against your VAT on school fees is tarnished by the fact that because SAID child is the offspring of a father with different coloured politics, their future matters less. It is just unpleasant.

Why should anyone's child do so for a ridiculous VAT policy. That will cause extra stress to many families and children doing GSCEs

Well this is exactly the point - because private school kids are offspring of parents with different situations/needs/bank balances, their future matters less!

It is just unpleasant indeed.

Ffs where will it end.

20k free accommodation for his son to study in peace.

There is more to this. I just don't believe the family needed to move for that reason.

No I'm not a Tory. But I am sure as hell not Labour.