Starmer getting tearful in his speech. Very touching

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I liked him.

Of course. He didn’t blink at sacking various people to save his own skin.

Agreed and I didn’t even vote labour

I am actually very nervous that AB will surf the popular wave of being contemptuous/ dismissive toward reform voters and actually encourage those on the fence to veer toward Farage. If he goes further into sympathising with immigrants and hushing up the social problems that they cause, I fear we will have no NHS at all, in my old age, with Farage in charge.
is AB intelligent enough to take seriously the concerns of those he doesn’t really care about? Starmer couldn’t manage it.

I completely agree.
The only reason Starmer is being removed and replaced with Burnham is that the Labour MPs are scared of losing their seats in 2029 and think that Burnham as PM gives them a better chance of that happening. It's got absolutely nothing to do with the best interests of the country or trying to help ordinary voters, it's all about trying to cling on to their seats.

He’s been asked to step down from the pinnacle of his career, denigrated and criticised. He probably feels deeply ashamed and like he’s let himself down despite working incredibly hard.

Have some humanity.

Blimey. Let’s treat him better than he treated us? Why?

I am sorry anyone is sad and he is of course a clever man, but he had to go. Policies were poor and there were too many major things attempted which were not in the manifesto, so there was no democratic mandate for them. Fundamentally, he failed to convince the electorate that he was fit for the job.

When did he treat you badly?

I feel very sorry for him.

He’s not a big character and that’s the issue. Politics is not what it used to be and people want a character leading. KS wasn’t delivering on that.

Yes he made some mistakes, and a lot of u turns but to me that showed that he could take criticism and really think about it and had the ability to hold his hands up and say he was wrong.

He lifted the 2 child UC cap that is huge. Plus he genuinely cares about children and young people the ban on social media came across very powerfully you can tell he genuinely wants to improve outcomes.

Important to remember Keir withdrew the whip from MPs raising very valid concerns on the nature legislation and the PIP plans. He had no concerns about their feelings it would seem.

I'm not wanting anything. Just saying the facts. Unless Labour can start to show they're listening to the people regarding some major problems in the country, many people will vote for Reform instead. It's not always left versus right. Run down regions isn't left or right. General elections are won and lost in the middle. The extreme left and extreme right won't ever change their stance, but the centrists sway. That's exactly why Blair was so popular - he understood that elections are won in the middle, hence his "Mondeo Man"!

@UnflatteringComment

Yes he made some mistakes, and a lot of u turns but to me that showed that he could take criticism and really think about it and had the ability to hold his hands up and say he was wrong.

Trouble was that he wasn't wrong! He was right but too weak to stand up to his back benchers with things like the 2 child benefit cap. Also the woeful implementation of the means testing of winter fuel allowance again changed after a threatened back bench revolt. A prime minister needs to be strong and have control of his back benchers.

He is a decent and good man. I think this is a mistake we will live to regret.

He had no issue with doing this to others.

If you knowingly step into the nest of vipers that is Westminster then don't be surprised there may be some poison.

No need for him to feel 'deeply ashamed' why would you even think that (?) and he's hardly 'let himself down' as he managed to bag 'the most important job in the country' and secured his place in history.

💯

I feel for him, not the PM for these very difficult times but I think he could have made a better stab of it in calmer times (not that we’ve seen those for a while)

he’s a decent man and tried his best. Sadly that wasn’t good enough.
I hope in time he will be far more highly regarded than Liz Truss and others

The revolving door of prime ministers helps no one. As my senior civil service friend admits, it’s very difficult to get any real progress in anything when priorities change so often

Thank you, Keir Starmer.
He leaves the country with nhs waiting lists falling, lower interest rates, relationship with EU strengthened, trains coming back under public control,…
We are throwing away the stability of the country because he lacked ‘charisma’. We’ve just become too shallow to recognise actual hard work.

I'm furious. Why do the parties insist on having stupid, backstabbing in-fights when they should be focusing on running the country?! You don't like your boss? Off you fuck then.

I think he’s been a terrible prime minister but I think he’s a good man. If slightly out of touch with reality.

Exactly. Being PM isn't about winning X-Factor. At this rate we're going to end up with Ant & Dec doing a live show.

The response from some people is just deeply immature.

“I don’t like his face, it’s too cold”
”I think he’s boring”
”I prefer my politicians with jazz hands”
”I think he’s stern and I didn’t like teachers at school”

Grow. Up.

Statistics can be made to "prove" anything, but some will always believe what they want to

You'd have though folk would have woken up to this kind of manipulation during covid, but apparently not

Why do the parties insist on having stupid, backstabbing in-fights when they should be focusing on running the country?!

Edited to add that one's easy, @NotDarkGothicMama ... the infighting centres their own interests whereas running the country involves everyone else's, so naturally it'll come a poor second

It's not just about charisma though, he really didn't connect with people on a human level at all....speak from the heart with meaning he never did that.

Completely agree. I work in LA and the amount of housing benefit fraud alone is unbelievable. There used to be serious consequences of fraud, one being that you wouldn’t be able to claim it again. Nowadays, you get caught, owe the LA tens of thousands and can still claim it!