• Welcome, guest!

    This is a forum devoted to discussion of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
    Why not sign up and contribute? Registered members get a fully ad-free experience!

Keir Starmer at it again..

Funnily (or depressingly) enough this is exactly what happened with the infamous welfare bill that kickstarted Corbyn's original leadership campaign in 2015. Harman as caretaker leader whipped Labour to abstain with the same logic - amend if possible, then vote against at the third reading if not possible. The problem being that the proceduralism of politics clashes up against fundamental moral principle. Where's the compromise with this? "Good news, we've managed to negotiate so torture is only legal sometimes!"

For a former human rights lawyer, this is one area where I am genuinely shocked at Starmer (well, not when it comes to finding any excuse to relegate left MPs to the backbenches). There's no fucking halfway house here, it's straight-up legalising war crimes, don't even humour it through the House. It's done a great job of boosting Nadia Whittome's profile and rep, though, I must say.
 
Gogglebox didn't do him any favours tonight.
 
Gogglebox didn't do him any favours tonight.

Part of the strategy is to appear 'credible' by going along with much of what the govt does. I hope it works but it didn't for Miliband and Brown. Not sure where it comes from as Blair was incredibly critical of Majors govt.
 
Part of the strategy is to appear 'credible' by going along with much of what the govt does. I hope it works but it didn't for Miliband and Brown. Not sure where it comes from as Blair was incredibly critical of Majors govt.

It’s a pretty tough tightrope to walk. If he is ultra critical of the government during this crisis he will be portrayed as working against the good of the nation and trying to undermine any good work* the gov does.



*I know, what good work but you get it...
 
Part of the strategy is to appear 'credible' by going along with much of what the govt does. I hope it works but it didn't for Miliband and Brown. Not sure where it comes from as Blair was incredibly critical of Majors govt.

As much as it pains me, I think it made a lot of sense for the last few months - there's definitely a widespread feeling out among voters who moved Labour > Tory in recent elections that "any government would have struggled" (as well as "can you imagine how much worse it would've been with Corbyn in charge?"). Doesn't reflect reality, of course, in that the problems stem from a number of policy failures over the last decade coming home to roost, but that's what he's clearly been banking on. That, and keeping things as uncontroversial as possible and purging the left.

Problem is that, by now, people are going to really start asking "OK, so what would you do differently?" So far Starmer's track record on that has been pretty appalling - I think his biggest criticism of the government has been to push harder for pupils to go back to school.
 
As much as it pains me, I think it made a lot of sense for the last few months - there's definitely a widespread feeling out among voters who moved Labour > Tory in recent elections that "any government would have struggled" (as well as "can you imagine how much worse it would've been with Corbyn in charge?"). Doesn't reflect reality, of course, in that the problems stem from a number of policy failures over the last decade coming home to roost, but that's what he's clearly been banking on. That, and keeping things as uncontroversial as possible and purging the left.

Problem is that, by now, people are going to really start asking "OK, so what would you do differently?" So far Starmer's track record on that has been pretty appalling - I think his biggest criticism of the government has been to push harder for pupils to go back to school.

Yep. The 'schools must open no ifs or buts' was a ridiculous thing to say and a low point. Beaten now by the overseas operations bill.
 
Had Labour voted against the bill at the first reading the entirety of its passage through parliament would have been dogged by a narrative that 'Labour is happy for Our Brave Boys to be targeted by unelected foreign judges'.

It was a massive trap - and you can tell it was a massive trap because that is exactly how the Tories tried to spin the vote.

You seem to want Starmer to do exactly what the Tories want him to do.
 
Had Labour voted against the bill at the first reading the entirety of its passage through parliament would have been dogged by a narrative that 'Labour is happy for Our Brave Boys to be targeted by unelected foreign judges'.

It was a massive trap - and you can tell it was a massive trap because that is exactly how the Tories tried to spin the vote.

You seem to want Starmer to do exactly what the Tories want him to do.

Instead he did nothing. And unsurprisingly nothing happened except the Bill passed its three readings in the HoC.
 
Whipped to abstain on another bill they should be opposing.
 
It's another trap though so it's actually really clever. Do try to keep up.
 
Carden, Mishra, Greenwood have resigned from the front bench to oppose the "spycops" bill.
 
If forensic is the worst insult able to hurled at Starmer that’s surely a good thing? Bit of a step up from anti-Semite.
 
I do enjoy the property developer is Elliot 'Lawless'

Turns out its only Desmond and Jenrick who can be that blatantly bent when it comes to property deals.
 
Back
Top