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.

RobinStrike
On his home life, Baldwin's biography paints a picture of a pretty awful home life in a miserable home

I'm not sure that's entirely true - Starmer's mother was portrayed as a warm and loving person despite her illness although his father was complicated and distant.

What? Why would I only appreciate or deprecate someone because they worked for one newspaper or another?

Anyway, being a hack isn’t a very bad thing. There are, sadly, fewer of them about since the demise of Fleet Street and the newspaper industry, particularly the regionals. Now we have to put up with the likes of Novara Media.

@Clavinova his mother is portrayed as a happy and loving person, it his relationship with his father was difficult, and from a young age he had a lot of responsibility for assisting his mother. The also couldn't do anything or go anywhere that wasn't accessible for her. They went to the same cottage in the Lake District every year, and they pushed her up and down the hills. To my mind it wasn't exactly a happy household. His father was utterly dedicated to his mother to the exclusion of the children. He also had to look after his younger brother who had learning difficulties.

Some people never had holidays at all.

There are more accessible places than the Lake District which is 300 miles from Starmer's childhood home - Eastbourne and Worthing are less than 50 miles away if they wanted easy holidays. Rather it was his mother's determination to enjoy life as best she could, despite her illness, that shone through. I don't know what age his mother started using a wheelchair but she is standing for a photograph after Starmer's graduation ceremony. His parents holidayed in the Lake District over 50 times during their marriage - likewise they supported the local theatre for more than 50 years, sometimes going to see productions twice.

It must have been very difficult for the children at times, but Starmer has a sister a year older than him and another sister 18 months younger, so I think he must have shared any responsibility he had for assisting his mother. Starmer said he felt protective of his brother but I'm not sure what his brother's learning difficulties were - a childhood neighbour interviewed on TV said he used to hang out with Starmer's younger brother quite a lot but that Starmer was often studying in his bedroom.

His father was utterly dedicated to his mother to the exclusion of the children.

Yes - I agree with this statement.

Does anyone know what exactly was Mrs.Starmer's disability?

Is Google broken? About the 4th result down when I Googled.

"Does anyone know what exactly was Mrs.Starmer's disability"

I am so cynical that I assume the only reason anyone would ask this is because they were hoping they could classify her as a "benefit scrounger. Because why else is it relevant?

Jenrik's own web page says "Born in 1980s Wolverhampton, his father, Bill, was a small businessman from Manchester and his mother, Jenny, was a secretary from Liverpool. They set up their own business fitting fireplaces around their kitchen table"

Must have had a very big kitchen table.

My source was the Telegraph;

His Mancunian father, Bill, a gas fitter, and his Liverpudlian mother, Jenny, a secretary, were solidly working class, moving to Wolverhampton in the 1970s, where Bill started up his own business fitting fireplaces, with Jenny doing the accounts at the kitchen table.

My source was the Telegraph

Otherwise known as “the comic”. 😂

Telepraph probably borrowed it from wiki.

But where did the Jenrick familly go on holiday and did they have a shed?

DP, the owner of P&O Ferries, has reportedly halted a £1bn port expansion after the Transport Secretary branded it a “rogue operator”.

What’s all this about?

Do you remember the fire and rehire scandal from a few years ago?

Yes, but the timing prior Labour’s investment conference is appalling.

They are already struggling to get support.

I'll tell you why it is relevant to me and it's got nothing to do with people who claim benefits. My mother had rheumatoid arthritis so she wasn't able to do what most Mums can, for all the time I knew her. Looking back I had a responsibility which most children don't have. I know that I would be called a 'child carer' nowadays. I was interested to know if the Starmer children were in the same boat.
Pardon me for asking.

I guess they didn't lke being called out being a bad employer, apparently discussions are ongoing.

Jenrick has shared the Telegraph article on his website as well. There's a nice photograph of a caravan.

No, I don't suppose Google is broken.

Ange has scared them off. More workers rights but no jobs to exercise those rights now thanks to Angela. That's one skilled operator.

Starmer's mother had Still's Disease.

A self-confessed gob on legs…

Well done Ange.

If a party’s reflexive answer to everything for the last decade and a half has been to preach the gospel of Labour goodness and piety and to condemn everyone else - especially employers, CO2 emitters and the better-off - as wicked, it becomes difficult in government when you have to operate in the real world.

Labour’s already branded itself as the home of rank hypocrisy. That’s repulsive to voters. It’ll now be interesting to see how long they can go before the economy’s growth creators give up on them.

Voters don’t appear to be as repulsed as they were by the Tories.

https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/homepage.html

Thats the issue with click bait headlines believed by the gullible, DP World have pulled out of the Investment summit, the investment will still go ahead, after all, its money and comments about P&O and a dispute 2 years ago, doesn't change the numbers, its either viable or its not.

Are you in favour of Fire and Rehire? straight answer and no diversion please.