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.

So you say

@5byfive his dad worked as a toolmaker in a factory u til his wife became so ill he needed to go home at lunch and other times to help her. As a result he hired some sort of lock up to do bit part tool work in, I think from the factory he had worked in. He didn't own a factory but he was self employed at that point being paid by the work he did rather than on a salary. Descriptions of their home from friends of Starmer's from school described it as being awful. Plaster coming off walls and really run down as his parents didn't have the money to repair anything.

The great beauty of a democracy is that it's one person one vote.

Kemi will be sad not to get your vote, @CanterburyWhales

@Nordione1 I heard Polly McKenzie who worked for Nick Clegg in 2010 say both Clegg and Cameron had suits bought for them. The only difference was the money went through their party funds and then bought for them, rather than direct.

Starmer plays a role. If people really loathe him then it gets easier

Apologies. Again, I'm afraid I'm not sure what post of mine is being replied to. Maybe one posted some time ago?

@Nordione1 That you would not know what appeals to a Labour voter! It was a tongue in cheek response!

However I do feel that I’m disenfranchised. I’m slightly left leaning on some policy areas and slightly right leaning on others. I could vote for a party with suitable policies either way. What I cannot do is vote for low quality people with no ideas and lurch one way or another to suit themselves.

I read the Institute of Government report and analysis on the Con party conference. It singles out my MP for articulating what he sees as wrong but absolutely no ideas about what to do about it. That’s the problem. Too few who are bright and they really aren’t good enough.

It was one further up about Thatcher not having clothes bought for her.

Times have moved on since Thatcher. Mp expenses scandal for a start and a much more alert public.

Ah I see! Sorry...was being dense. Long day!

I think we are stuffed really. And as you say, there's no one at the moment that has any solutions or has real leadership qualities. And Labour will undoubtedly make things considerably worse for us all. Very depressing time.

What a ridiculous stereotype. I voted Labour, DH and I both earn very high salaries, pay very high taxes and have no need to be jealous of anyone. Contribute shed loads more than we take. How would you categorise me?

I voted Labour. I think Starmer has some promise but I am incensed that he has started off with such poor optics. After all the sleaze of Johnson etc they should have ensured there was nothing they could be picked up on. I know it is all allowed and he broke no rules but he and his team should have been aware that this is how it would go with the press scrutinising everything.
On his home life, Baldwin's biography paints a picture of a pretty awful home life in a miserable home, he used football and music as an escape. He developed a talent and pursued it because it gave him time away from home. I don't think being a talented musician makes him middle class. He seems to have had a pretty normal time at Leeds university but was incredibly ambitious. I don't imagine he's got a wonderful personality, he doesn't seem very personable. PMQs irritates me when he says he or she when referring to the questioner rather than either using their name or 'my honourable friend' etc. It strikes me as rude.
I am hopeful that they can put this useless start behind them as I think they do have some good policies and I feel they will be better for the country than another 5 years of the Tories.

I didn’t suggest you said she was “far right”. I quoted your phrase “too far right”, which I understood to mean “too far to the right”.

So how is Badenoch too far to the right for the average voter?

No need to categorise anyone. Everyone walks in their own shoes and must make their own decisions as to how they vote.

It is interesting though how far Labour have shifted from their traditional working class base. And the Conservative base has certainly changed too (we will see at the next election whether people who didn't vote for anyone this time go back to the Conservatives). I suppose the electorate can't really be categorised at all these days.

Sadly, Rodney's shed (not the 'tool factory') could have been the real-life story behind an Alan Bennett drama - and I am not joking:

When Rodney's wife became more disabled, Rodney installed a large viewing window in a shed/outhouse so that his wife could look out at the donkeys in the field beyond their garden. Then when Rodney's wife died he was so bereft and lost that he moved into the shed and lived there for several years until his own health failed. While Rodney was in hospital (the sequence was a bit unclear), Rodney's shed was engulfed by fire, destroying photographs of his wife and killing the family dog who had been inside. Rodney's relatives kept the tragedy from him and assured Rodney that the family dog was fine - Rodney died in hospital shortly thereafter.

Where is from? Who wrote it?

Rummly
Where is from? Who wrote it?

Starmer's biography - although I think it had been reported before.

Who wrote it?

I've summarised - I hope correctly.

Thanks. Who wrote the biography?

On a positive note - I've just read that Robert Jenrick's father was a gas fitter - marvellous!

Tom Baldwin - a former Labour Party adviser.

Ah, that old hack.

I remember reading that a while ago. Such a sad thing to have happened.

I honestly couldn't give a crap if he gets free clothes.

Since he only worked in the right wing media (The Times and The Telegraph) I’m surprised you’re so dismissive of him.