Starmer VIII: Labour will set you free

[Old Nehamkin]

We were always at war with EUrasia.

[suelgi]

Pearl clutching over the Greens' pro-EU position is laughably hypocritical but also profoundly grim. Vote Sideshow Bob.

Labours loving the Brexit now, Keirs girl says it's "gonna be good"

[olliebean]

It will be very funny if by pushing #beergate the right-wing press and the likes of Nadine Dorries accidentally speed up the departure of their man.

Apparently Jacob Rees-Mogg was asked in an interview if Starmer should resign if he gets a fine. Of course he couldn't say yes without being immediately tackled over why that shouldn't also apply to Johnson, so he ended up dodging the question by arguing that there are more important things to be talking about.

They really seem to have painted themselves into a corner with this one.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Yeah I did have a sense of foreboding Cooper might be in there somewhere.

I've not heard a shit take from Nandy in a while, have they rotated her out of the soundbite crew?

Right on cue lol

Lisa Nandy either ignorantly or stupidly abandoning both the historic position of
@UKLabour
 and the legal position of the UK government enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement that Britain has 'no selfish strategic or economic interest' in Northern Ireland.

https://twitter.com/joecguinan/status/1523440522139897856

[olliebean]

Another funny Labour attack ad on a party they will need in the future.

In what way exactly is "putting their policies in their manifesto and on their website" equivalent to "not telling you about them"?

[shoulders]

Horrid New Labour vibes off that, bad buried memories flooding back of when they were an arm of the Daily Mail.

[Psybro]

Starmer definitely needs to throw his leadership on the mercy of the police.  We know that he absolutely trusts the Great British police forces implicitly.

[Quote]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61383091

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his team have discussed whether he will promise to resign in the event of being fined by Durham Police for breaking Covid rules.

The opposition leader is expected to make a statement at 16:00 BST.

lol

[Dr Rock]

The Greens want to increase corporation tax? The bastards!

[idunnosomename]

We now go live to Sir Keir shrinking and transforming into a corn cob

[shoulders]

Another Angry Voice:

For two years capitalist media have treated Keir Starmer with kid gloves, giving him by far the easiest ride of any Labour leader since the early days of Tony Blair.

But they've recently gone after him over the so-called "beergate" scandal, which has clearly got the man absolutely reeling.

His allies have briefed the press that Starmer has been blindsided by the intensity of the criticism, and that the hostility has been "almost beyond his imagination"!

It's utterly absurd to see Sir Keir crying victimhood over a little bit of media hostility, when he knows perfectly well what they did to his predecessor, and how much of an easy ride he's had in comparison for the last two years.

Other Starmer allies have been briefing the press that he's considering a pledge to resign if he ends up getting fined over "beergate".

This proposed resignation pledge would clash horribly with his rhetoric about letting Durham police "get on with their jobs", because it loads a huge amount of pressure onto a small local police force if they know their decision ultimately decides whether the leader of the opposition resigns.

And what happens if Durham Police take the same position that they did on Dominic Cummings' lockdown-busting drive to his (unlawfully constructed) County Durham bolthole, and his absurd driving-eyetest to Barnard Castle?

If they say offenses were committed, but they're not issuing fines because they're don't issue retrospective punishments, what does Starmer do?

Does he resign on principle? Or does he make himself look even more pathetic by clinging onto his position on a ludicrous technicality?

It's absolutely absurd that Starmer witnessed the relentless smears, lies, hostility, and character assassinations aimed at Jeremy Corbyn (Czech spy, Russian stooge, didn't bow deeply enough, Broadband Communist, the "stupid woman" lipreaders, the Anyone But Corbyn coup, plotting a second Holocaust, liked camping and baked beans too much, dancing at the Cenotaph, garden not tidy enough, went to the wrong kind of Seder, unprecedented Stalinist danger and simultaneously totally inept and incompetent ...), assumed that he'd never receive any such hostility himself, and is now having a total meltdown over a bit of predictably hyperbolic tabloid scrutiny over something that he actually did.

Whatever your position on Starmer, on "beergate", or on Britain's rabidly right-wing tabloid press, the fact that Starmer's having such a meltdown over a fraction of the hostility his predecessor endured, for years on end, surely suggests that the guy doesn't have the temperament or durability for the white heat of a general election campaign, doesn't it?

[Paul Calf]

Oh, christ.

Streeting and Rees-Mogg?

Nisa Landy and Gottle of Gove?

[shoulders]

There's genuine tension palpable in centrist quarters over this news story. They know how compromised Starmer is and how compromised they are for the shrillness and high handedness everyone can remember when shrieking their insistence that Johnson should resign in the most blaring cacophonic volume.

Put the kettle on, for a change this is just going to be pure entertainment.

[Dr Trouser]

I'd wager he's been given a hint by Durham rozzers that he'll  be fine. Announces he will resign if found guilty at 4pm. DUrham rozzers then announce that investigation concludes he is sweetly innocent.

[Quote]

Oh, yeah. He definitely thinks he'll be fine. Funny if it turns out he isn't though and he's the one who has to resign over the rule breaking he's been hammering away at the government over for months.

Imagine going through all this pointless drama when you could just cobble together some policies to help people and attempt to sell them to electorate.

[Sebastian Cobb]

We now go live to Sir Keir shrinking and transforming into a corn cob

lol

[Quote]

"A matter of principle and honour for me"

He's using all this as a little PR stunt to boost his phony image as a man of integrity.

[EOLAN]

Is Keith suggesting that allegations are being weaponised by certain circles for political gain? Didn't think that was a legitimate thing.

[EOLAN]

Sky News seem more interested in showing a helicopter view of London with Keith squeezed into a tiny part of the screen.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Moya Lothian-McLean's analysis is pretty good.
https://novaramedia.com/2022/05/09/keir-starmer-is-getting-a-taste-of-his-own-cop-medicine/

[Fambo Number Mive]

Moya Lothian-McLean's analysis is pretty good.
https://novaramedia.com/2022/05/09/keir-starmer-is-getting-a-taste-of-his-own-cop-medicine/

I wonder what Moya would suggest as the alternative though. Whilst some fines were based on outdated understanding of covid, such as fining people for eating outside, I think a lot of the covid fines were given out for good reasons such as businesses opening in defiance of the lockdowns. The worst responses to the coronavirus thread gives a good indication of this.

As for the "no one likes a snitch" subheading, does she think that covid rule breaking should just have been ignored? That there should have been no consequences for people like Johnson who broke the rules? I would imagine we would have an even higher body count if the rules had not been enforced. Telling people not to "snitch" - who does that benefit apart from the people who are putting others at risk?

I think it's one thing to say the covid rules were flawed and should have been changed, but I think her take is just nonsense and comes across as the sort of take you would find in the Spectator or another journal that sort to minimise covid. Would it have been worth thousands of more deaths a day for the cause of not "snitching" which seems to be mainly about letting people get away with being shitty to other people.

I would have liked to see the fines related to income though. And proper financial support for businesses and the general public. Maybe the article should have called for that instead.

[greencalx]

Here's a Guardian hot take

Keir Starmer is often portrayed as a dull politician. But as Labour leader he has produced at least two moments of supreme political drama: first, suspending Jeremy Corbyn (when did a major party leader last boot out a predecessor?), and today promising to resign if fined over beergate.

No one makes a commitment of this kind from a position of strength, and the merits of Starmer's move are being fiercely debated. But the manner in which he announced it was polished, and for three reasons many people are likely to be impressed.

First, it was in stark contrast to anything Boris Johnson would, or could, do. Starmer was able to say he stood for "honour and integrity" and it sounded credible. From Johnson, the same sentence would sound more like the punchline for a gag.

Second, Starmer sounded prime ministerial. Voters may elect celebrity/entertainment politicians, but some at least may hark back to the notion of having a leader with a bit more old-fashioned rectitude.

Third, and above all, it was ballsy. At one point during Watergate Ben Bradlee, the Washington Post editor, reputedly told his team "our cocks are on the chopping block". Well, Starmer's put his on the chopping block too. It may not be wise, but it certainly is brave.

[TrenterPercenter]

Sorry but it is a ballsy move and principled.

That doesn't detract from anything else he might have done but it is an impressive thing to have done Rayner as well.

Fwiw I think it is a stupid thing to do if they have to resign no-one else will and they will spin it for all it's worth.  LBC already moaning about him pledging to resign, after previously calling for him to resign, some tory-journo lickspittle was literally just saying that Starmer had "frustrated" journalists by not sorting this out earlier and dragging them along to then pledge to resign now - very weird but very telling of how it all works clear that the Tories and their minions have realised they've fucked this up either way.

Your enemies enemy is not your friend.

[shoulders]

If we are just talking about strategies and put aside the awfulness of Starmer, it will pay off if he's cleared and push Johnson closer to the door. It's the best thing he could do.

Not least because now there's a more than zero percent chance he'll resign.

Come on Durham, you have a Miners Gala for a reason.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'm assuming he's appraised the situation and is confident that he won't get done, which makes this an empty threat.

[EOLAN]

I was hoping that the Guardian would highlight that Starmer effectively used the same reason as Corbyn did that got him kicked out. Accusing others of exaggerating and weaponising issues for political gain.

[shoulders]

I was hoping that the Guardian would highlight that Starmer effectively used the same reason as Corbyn did that got him kicked out. Accusing others of exaggerating and weaponising issues for political gain.

But if the thing you're claiming is being weaponised is antisemitism, then that is unacceptable, for reasons still unknown to the Earth and all Jews.

[dissolute ocelot]

Here's a Guardian hot take

Keir Starmer is often portrayed as a dull politician. But as Labour leader he has produced at least two moments of supreme political drama: first, suspending Jeremy Corbyn (when did a major party leader last boot out a predecessor?), and today promising to resign if fined over beergate.

You have to wonder if Guardian journalists can remember anything that happened more than a few weeks ago, since one of the first things Boris Johnson did as PM was to kick out Ken Clarke and a bunch of other senior Tories. Not his predecessor as PM, but he expelled his predecessor's Chancellor Philip Hammond, without all the equivocation that Starmer brought to it. Boris Johnson is better at EVERYTHING than Starmer.

[shoulders]

Also he is suspended so not booted out, but fine.

[pigamus]

That doesn't detract from anything else he might have done but it is an impressive thing to have done Rayner as well.

Well I can only agree. Did she get to finish the curry first or...?