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 was referring to the reference to a “bar”. Please try and keep up.

Ok.

I will try.

Anyone still keen on Free Gear Kier must have a brain like a cauliflower

I expect that despite their brassical brains they can still manage to spell his name correctly.

Why on earth does it matter if the Prime Minister’s name is spelt wrong? You know who the poster meant.

It's some kind of point-scoring gotcha (but only if you're questioning the PM; the mistake is allowed if you're on the right side)!

Sue Gray has quit as chief of staff. Too many didn’t like her. She’s going to be his envoy for nations and regions! What on earth is that? Chasing up ministers who aren’t doing enough? Another unpopular role?

Unless you think all WC kids are too pigshit to pass the 11 plus, and too uncultured to appreciate music, neither of those things are un-working class.

@Saschka They are not working class parents. Owning a factory? He employed the working class!

That’s why I said “neither of those two things” not “all of those things”.

Gray was in a very senior role as Starmer’s Chief of Staff. McSweeney, the man she was battling with, has taken over the job. So it was the product of infighting, not some natural development. That is a very significant change in personnel and favoured party clique, forced by fracture.

And all the denials of friction and discontent?

Thank god the chaos is over. 🙄

It's pure and simply the irony of someone stating that Starmer supporters must have brains like cauliflowers and they themselves can't even spell his name. It's funny. Also you leap to the defence of a poster because someone points out that they can't spell Starmer's name but the fact that they are saying other posters must have brains like cauliflowers is absolutely fine? Right.

He didn’t. He had a one man business. The factory was a shed. I’m so glad @Clavinova recommended Starmer’s biography, so many myths dispelled.

Whatever. Not working class though.

He literally made tools. With his hands. It doesn’t get more working class than that.

Well, MPs don't spend 8 months of the year in Parliament.

Parliament is in recess for over 4 months of the year and MPs spend by far the majority of their time in their locality, no records are kept of MPs attendance and i think just 30 MPs are required to making a sitting valid.

I just don't see why the tax payer should fund 5 years of rented accomodation.

@iwishihadknownmore Parliament is sitting for nearly 8 months, and I want it to be possible for MPs to attend whenever the house is sitting. We have a representative democracy, and MPs can't represent us if they aren't sitting. Are you suggesting that they should pay for two homes?

MPs spend by far the majority of their time in their locality

They don’t. They spend Monday to Thursday in parliament except when in recess. Here are the recess dates, they don’t amount to four months.

https://www.parliament.uk/about/faqs/house-of-commons-faqs/business-faq-page/recess-dates/

A mechanic, a tool maker, technician is the very definition of working class.

Anyway, i don't regret my vote, at least they acknowledge the issues, the Tories, sugar coated their fuck ups, hence they never ever put anything right.

Nothing works in this country anymore, after 14 years of that shower, thats undeniable.

Too many bad tory losers, typically the same people who banged on about Remainers not accepting the result.

@TizerorFizz "Whatever. Not working class though"

It doesn't really matter whether he is/was or isn't/wasn't. But he is/was. It's both bonkers and bizarre to pretend that's not the case.

Nonsense, 4 days a week in the commons??? where are they all? its televised you know.

I used the same data, made it more than 4 months, but rounded it down, as there is no fixed timetable.

Just because the commons sits 4 days a week, doesn't mean the MP has to be there, many pursue outside interests and work as business consultants, go abroad on "fact finding" trips and a few even carrying on working in the NHS.

Many are reading what they need to read to make a contribution to debates and committed. Informed people are more use than puppets sitting in the house. Our democracy needs people taking part in debates that actually know something. It’s fair enough that time in London is spent doing a number of things.

Keir Starmer told Chris Evans on Virgin Radio that his dad was a toolmaker in a factory. No idea where the shed has come from. My fil was a toolmaker in a factory too. They made the machines work. Made the parts if needed. In the heirarchy of a factory, they were not considered working class. That’s why he says his dad didn’t fit in. Neither did my Fil. It was getting above yourself to be a toolmaker. Fil had a lot of grief when DH went to uni. Yes, fil had a shed. Made things - repaired lawnmowers. That did not make his outlook working class. He bought a house and DH went to grammar school like KS. The working class parents often didn’t send dc to the grammars.Having a dc at a grammar definitely marked you out as middle class and uppity. If you lived at this time you would understand.

This is very silly and seems to be more about your denial of your husband's working class roots. Of course, he was working class if he worked on the shop floor. Furthermore grammar school was a typical route for working class DC to achieve social mobility back then. It sounds like there is a bit of rewriting your own family history here!

I lived at that time, I’m a decade older than Starmer. There was a milkman’s child in my grammar school class, several whose dads were farm labourers and mechanics. All unashamedly working class.

Starmer’s dad worked for himself after the factory in a shed. Maybe you should read his biography, that’s where it came from.