Keir Starmer Labour Leader

DOTA

wants Amber Rudd to call him a naughty boy
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TwoSheds said:
I think Nandy is rank as well but at least she has a personality. Thornberry was the only good choice on offer for me. Competent, likeable, forthright, left enough to be worthwhile, right enough to not upset the liberal capitalist types when coming up against rancid opponents like Boris and Sunak. Great shame nobody wanted her.
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I honestly think that one van tweet that one time was so bafflingly out of touch that it is correctly seen as disqualifying.
 

TwoSheds

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DOTA said:
I honestly think that one van tweet that one time was so bafflingly out of touch that it is correctly seen as disqualifying.
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A tweet, honestly. What a bubble.
 

DanH

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Fluctuation0161 said:
Fair enough. I didn't mean you voted for him in the leadership contest but meant do you like those traits in a political you could vote for in a GE.

I'm not a Labour member so didn't vote in the leadership election. But I gave Starmer a clean slate when he started as leader, I hoped he would stick to the majority of his pledges. I now see him as unelectable, for my vote.
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Luckily your vote doesn't seem to mean that much in terms of electability.
 

stw2022

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Fluctuation0161 said:
Fair enough. I didn't mean you voted for him in the leadership contest but meant do you like those traits in a political you could vote for in a GE.

I'm not a Labour member so didn't vote in the leadership election. But I gave Starmer a clean slate when he started as leader, I hoped he would stick to the majority of his pledges. I now see him as unelectable, for my vote.
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The electoral coin only has two possible outcomes. If you can't endorse heads then it's going to be tails. And that's fine but it goes back to my point that for many on the left given the option of a Tory government or a Labour one not led by someone from the same faction as them, a Tory government will always be the lesser of the two evils every single time.

And that's fine but own what it is. You aren't going to go to bed on election night thinking the People’s Socialst Republic of Jeremy is going to win 390 seats and get swept to power. You're going to hope you don't wake up with a Labour government and then pretend that doesn't mean you'd prefer a Tory one.

I don't get why so many on the left are in denial about this. Or they pretend they don't know elections are essentially a binary choice. They oppose the only realistic chance to oust the Tories whilst pretending ousting the Tories is their ambition. It's an impressive con.

Even among parties broadly of the left in the mainstream there's a consensus that anyone but the Tories would be preferable. Whether they call it the 'rainbow coalition' or organised campaigns on tactical voting. But not for the hard left. They would rather the Tories won because outrage and opposition to a Tory government is their political home.
 
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Raven

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stw2022 said:
The electoral coin only has two possible outcomes. If you can't endorse heads then it's going to be tails. And that's fine but it goes back to my point that for many on the left given the option of a Tory government or a Labour one not led by someone from the same faction as them, a Tory government will always be the lesser of the two evils every single time.

And that's fine but own what it is. You aren't going to go to bed on election night thinking the People’s Socialst Republic of Jeremy is going to win 390 seats and get swept to power. You're going to hope you don't wake up with a Labour government and then pretend that doesn't mean you'd prefer a Tory one.

I don't get why so many on the left are in denial about this. Or they pretend they don't know elections are essentially a binary choice. They oppose the only realistic chance to oust the Tories whilst pretending ousting the Tories is their ambition. It's an impressive con.

Even among parties broadly of the left in the mainstream there's a consensus that anyone but the Tories would be preferable. Whether they call it the 'rainbow coalition' or organised campaigns on tactical voting. But not for the hard left. They would rather the Tories won because outrage and opposition to a Tory government is their political home.
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You're embarrassing yourself, have a lie down.
 

Bert_

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stw2022 said:
The electoral coin only has two possible outcomes. If you can't endorse heads then it's going to be tails. And that's fine but it goes back to my point that for many on the left given the option of a Tory government or a Labour one not led by someone from the same faction as them, a Tory government will always be the lesser of the two evils every single time.

And that's fine but own what it is. You aren't going to go to bed on election night thinking the People’s Socialst Republic of Jeremy is going to win 390 seats and get swept to power. You're going to hope you don't wake up with a Labour government and then pretend that doesn't mean you'd prefer a Tory one.

I don't get why so many on the left are in denial about this. Or they pretend they don't know elections are essentially a binary choice. They oppose the only realistic chance to oust the Tories whilst pretending ousting the Tories is their ambition. It's an impressive con.

Even among parties broadly of the left in the mainstream there's a consensus that anyone but the Tories would be preferable. Whether they call it the 'rainbow coalition' or organised campaigns on tactical voting. But not for the hard left. They would rather the Tories won because outrage and opposition to a Tory government is their political home.
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You seem to have created some beret wearing spectre in your head that's haunting the electorate and stopping Starmer from being popular with voters.

Has anyone said they would prefer the Tories over Labour?

Or does critising Labour = endorsing the Tories now?

Also, elections may well be effectively a binary choice in a lot of constituencies but it's not a universal one. If some lives in a Lib Dem/Tory swing seat then would you hope they vote Labour?

If someone lives in a safe Labour seat and doesn't want to vote for Starmer's Labour. Can they vote for someone else or would that make them a heretic as well?
 

Fluctuation0161

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stw2022 said:
The electoral coin only has two possible outcomes. If you can't endorse heads then it's going to be tails. And that's fine but it goes back to my point that for many on the left given the option of a Tory government or a Labour one not led by someone from the same faction as them, a Tory government will always be the lesser of the two evils every single time.

And that's fine but own what it is. You aren't going to go to bed on election night thinking the People’s Socialst Republic of Jeremy is going to win 390 seats and get swept to power. You're going to hope you don't wake up with a Labour government and then pretend that doesn't mean you'd prefer a Tory one.

I don't get why so many on the left are in denial about this. Or they pretend they don't know elections are essentially a binary choice. They oppose the only realistic chance to oust the Tories whilst pretending ousting the Tories is their ambition. It's an impressive con.

Even among parties broadly of the left in the mainstream there's a consensus that anyone but the Tories would be preferable. Whether they call it the 'rainbow coalition' or organised campaigns on tactical voting. But not for the hard left. They would rather the Tories won because outrage and opposition to a Tory government is their political home.
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Pretty broad, inaccurate generalisations and assumptions there. Well done for cramming so many nonsensical points in.
 

DanH

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I'm not sure what she would have been thinking when writing that letter. The swift apology does mean something.
 

Drifter

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She is not wrong. Trust someone to twist it to make it look like she is being Antisemitic
 

nickm

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Drifter said:
She is not wrong. Trust someone to twist it to make it look like she is being Antisemitic
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Don’t think she is being antisemitic, but she is displaying titanic levels of ignorance and stupidity, even for an MP.
 

Mockney

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It might not be deliberately antisemitic, but it’s monumentally dumb when members of the left are under heightened scrutiny around that kind of thing. Not to mention completely ahistorical to be bringing up mid-20th century history as some kind of gotcha
 

Maticmaker

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stw2022 said:
I don't get why so many on the left are in denial about this. Or they pretend they don't know elections are essentially a binary choice. They oppose the only realistic chance to oust the Tories whilst pretending ousting the Tories is their ambition. It's an impressive con.
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Pretty much why I left the Labour Party years ago. Its the biggest and longest running con in British Parliamentary history and its set to run for ever.
 

MikeUpNorth

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The sooner Labour manages to get all these lunatics out of the party, the better.
 

Mr Pigeon

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It seems that Labour's worst enemy this election will be themselves. Well, that and the press splashing a picture of Starmer eating an egg and cress sandwich wrong.
 

V.O.

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Incredibly stupid thing to say, and Starmer must have been rubbing his hands at the open goal he was given to continue the purge of the left of the party.

Total shitshow all round.
 

dumbo

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That is crap. I'm pretty sure that the the establishment of the term "racism" is directly linked to European antisemitism, even though the definition has expanded and been retrofitted to earlier historical violence and discrimination.

Instead of focusing on the actual racism within the Labour party including the continued targeting of Jewish members by those controlling the party, she comes out with this bullshit.
 

Mr Pigeon

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711 said:
It's excellent news for Labour, kicking Abbott out will win votes not lose them. You're not wrong about the sandwich though.
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I'm worried it can go either way though, because "Labour are a party of antisemites" is still an easy vote winner for the Tories, regardless of its accuracy. It's good that she's done it now rather than a month before an election, though.

Sorry but the sandwich thing made me hungry...
 

TwoSheds

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It's a pretty ignorant comment in the sense that she should know better as a politician than to try to rank racism.

There is nonetheless some truth to white supremacy being a slightly separate problem - you can see it amongst Jews in Israel for example. The Ethiopian Jews have not generally been treated as equal to the Ashkenazi Jews for example. There is definitely some kind of hierarchy of colour thing going on. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32813056

Either way, her letter was very daft.
 

hobbers

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Hardly surprising that someone as unintelligent as Abbott believes in a hierarchy of prejudice. But imagine unironically comparing experiencing antisemitism to having red hair. Unfathomable levels of idiocy.

Her comments also exclude almost all ethnicities from being true victims of racism, as well as all the white ones.
 

GuybrushThreepwood

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I thought during 2015-2019, someone like John McDonnell, while I didn't agree with everything he said or did, really matured and grew into his shadow chancellor role and in front line politics (Corbyn and him while not feuding drifted apart from 2018 as he was clearly much more focused on actually trying to win power), while Abbott on the otherhand actually regressed and was completely out of her depth.

Of course this letter is inexcusable and goes way beyond her various blunders at shadow home secretary, and she deserved the swift sanctions that she received.
 

nickm

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GuybrushThreepwood said:
I thought during 2015-2019, someone like John McDonnell, while I didn't agree with everything he said or did, really matured and grew into his shadow chancellor role and in front line politics (Corbyn and him while not feuding drifted apart from 2018 as he was clearly much more focused on actually trying to win power), while Abbott on the otherhand actually regressed and was completely out of her depth.
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I don't have any time for McDonnell's ideology but I thought he was a pretty competent politician, surprisingly pragmatic given his background.
 

Mart1974

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Can't believe Starmer suspended her so quickly. Surely the right way to do this is a 5 to 10 weeks internal inquiry that upholds what is obvious and then Starmer dithers on the findings allowing Abbott to resign.
 
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