Keir Starmer Sky News

[AppleJane]

Keir Starmer refused to confirm Lloyd Russell-Moyle will be sacked.

He said it wasn’t about votes. Well that was a little insight into the truth (not).

if he's smart he'll try and shift the discussion to it being about women's rights, safe spaces and fairness around sports rather than about the GRA. IF he's smart that is

Yes, if he's smart. Because if he was, he'd realise that is the issue.

That, and of course, gender ideology in schools, and the transitioning of a generation of gender-non conforming children.......which there is absolutely no public support for at all.

It's very clear that he's desperate to dodge talking about it because he can see how viscous the TRA are and doesn't want to be dragged into accusations of bigotry do early on in his leadership by daring to show support for women.

I think he understands there is conflict, but he's still a politician so he's been captured like all the others, and ffs this is the Labour Party after all. I am hopeful because he is not as bad as Corbyn or others in Labour with the blind mantras, and he signed the more balanced pledge that didn't call for expulsions.

I'm still not voting Labour but am looking on with interest.

Yeah that. I can't vote labour at the mo, but I'm not totally without hope I'll be able to soon

I really do think you'll be disappointed. I reckon we've got many years more for the whole identity politics culture that informs young Momentum people to complete its cycle.

LRM would have been much easier to sack than RLB because he has form and the public view him as a crack. But Starmer appears to be backing him, which says a lot.

Mmm, but the LRM furore happened after RLB: I know the Tribune article was published first, but it's the Tribune so nobody actually noticed. He wasn't choosing which one he could more easily get rid of if, as is likely, he didn't want to boot two out in a few days. He's choosing whether to sack LRM after RLB having already gone.

For those who have never heard of LRM here's a thread outlining some of his previous

mobile.twitter.com/mattforde/status/1277176813836554240

He should never have been promoted to the shadow front bench in the first place

Labour don't give a damn about women. They have abandoned them as they abandoned the working class and the consequences will be similar. Starmer is a fool.

Unless they face down the trans lobby, they will be decimated at the next local/general elections. There are 30 million women in the UK, not 30 million Owen Joneses.

@jackdawdawn

Labour don't give a damn about women. They have abandoned them as they abandoned the working class and the consequences will be similar. Starmer is a fool.

Unless they face down the trans lobby, they will be decimated at the next local/general elections. There are 30 million women in the UK, not 30 million Owen Joneses.

Well said.

Kier thinks trans rights don’t go far enough

that is what Lisa Nandy said too......It is a rehearsed mantra, a slogan....because that is all they've got to offer on this issue. With TRA ideology if you are in for a penny, you are in for a pound....because once you start to critique any of it at all, it all starts to unravel.

Tony Blair warned them not to get bogged down on this issue.......but they are going to, anyway. It is a kind of destiny.

Could I just gently point out the the person Stanmer sacked was a woman, while the person he has not sacked is a man?

Or am I seeing something they is not there?

Wasn’t RLB sacked because she refused to apologise/take down the tweet? Whereas LRM has apologised (though not to JKR directly.) those poor women in the LP having to work with such a douche bag

Wrong question my arse.

Unless they face down the trans lobby, they will be decimated at the next local/general elections. There are 30 million women in the UK, not 30 million Owen Joneses

They will still get votes in Labour constituencies like mine ( big city with a university and a young & diverse population), where most people will still vote Labour, whatever.

Most people are still a bit bemused by all of this trans talk...they are still not really aware of what it means, what it implies, or anything.
Political debate needs to get off twitter and into the public realm.

@Packingsoapandwater yet RLB can’t make that distinction to defend herself because she signed up to the ride or die TRA bus.

Amazing how serendipity works sometimes, I almost feel sorry for her, almost.

There are a number of differences between the two. LRM is a junior shadow minister rather than shadow cabinet. LRM apologised, while RLB didn't. Then again, I can see why people might see LRM's offence as greater - he actually wrote that sentence himself, whereas RLB retweeted a link to someone else's article (of which the offensive sentence was a minor part). But I think the main reason RLB was sacked, and LRM not, is that accusations of anti-semitism have constantly dogged the Labour Party for a couple of years and KS felt it vital to take decisive action on that. I don't think it can be said that in the public mind the spectre of misogyny has dogged the Labour Party in the same way, even though most people here will say that it ought to have.
On the trans issue KS didn't say anything substantive but to look on the bright side I really doubt the TRA lobby will be happy with what he had to say either. He was rather noncommittal.

Rebecca long bailey refused to apologise for her tweet and that's why KS had to get rid of her.

I paraphrased Nick Robinson's question, although the substance is correct, but Starmer's response of "It's the wrong question" is verbatim.

When you hear a politician say wrong question you have to think

What is he hiding

Could I just gently point out the the person Stanmer sacked was a woman, while the person he has not sacked is a man

I don't think that is the issue. It is about the prominence in the public eye of the anti-semitism issue. the trans issue is still a confusing non -issue for most people. Also, it is about the timing of the two incidents. He can't start sacking people every week.

If he doesn’t stomp this out then it’s open season on women. He isn’t stupid.

Slippery Starmer has been taking advice from Tony BIair.

Unless they face down the trans lobby, they will be decimated at the next local/general elections

Well, they might lose a few votes but actually Starmer's popularity rating has already passed Boris. He could do well.

Well he sacked a woman but not a man think that speak volumes.
All you hear is fault picking and critisium out of him very little constructive input

@Justhadathought

Kier thinks trans rights don’t go far enough

that is what Lisa Nandy said too......It is a rehearsed mantra, a slogan....because that is all they've got to offer on this issue. With TRA ideology if you are in for a penny, you are in for a pound....because once you start to critique any of it at all, it all starts to unravel.

Tony Blair warned them not to get bogged down on this issue.......but they are going to, anyway. It is a kind of destiny.

I think that's precisely what KS would like to avoid. I think obviously, if Nandy or RLB had become leader, we'd have heard a very different, strongly pro-TRA tone on the radio this morning. When Nick Robinson asked KS if he could reconcile trans people's demands for self-id with women's rights, KS replied (roughly) he was confident of reconciling trans people's needs with women's rights. In other words, he didn't echo/confirm "self-id" in his response.
I think this may have been significant, as a laywer like KS picks his words carefully.

@BovaryX

you single-issue feminists are tedious

I tell you what's tedious. Craven politicos who don't have the cojones to answer simple questions about external reality because they are pandering to zealots.

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