“I take my responsibilities seriously. I did not lie” - UK politics June 23 on

god knows i nod off every time she opens her mouth

I can barely hear her over my screaming.

So much for the most popular minister in the cabinet.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/15/ben-wallace-says-he-will-step-down-as-defence-secretary-and-quit-as-mp

Frankly, the left has to start caring a lot more about growth, about creating wealth, attracting inward investment and kickstarting a spirit of enterprise,” he says.

“It is the only show in town for those who dream of a brighter future.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/15/keir-starmer-we-cant-spend-our-way-back-to-power

LOL TIL he entered politics via the scottish parliament

xpost

is the RIP act of 2000 still in force? because that had a prison sentence for failing to disclose passwords and 'I've forgotten it' wasn't a valid response. People were prosecuted under it.

Senior Labour insiders said they agreed that the policy was “horrible” and would not exist “in a perfect world” but said the party was not making any spending commitments it was unable to deliver on. “I can see why colleagues might feel uncomfortable with this but we’ve got to be realistic about the state of the economy,” they said.

One shadow cabinet minister said Starmer had to be able to “slay shibboleths” over public spending but admitted it was a tough position for MPs with constituents in poverty to defend.

“These things are not easy for the MPs because they do genuinely hurt families in their constituencies,” they said. “But we can’t end child poverty unless we have more money to do it – and that’s not going to happen, frankly, in the first term of a Labour government.”

https://i.imgur.com/XjBzkbW.png

this insistence on refusing to commit to actually improving anything in any way reminds me of this joke Jeremy Hardy made in the late 90s about New Labour coming to power and the public feeling like someone who had waited 18 years for an organ transplant only to find out that the donor had the same condition

Can't remember the last time I've had a thought reading this thread that wasn't "these fucking cunts" (nb not the thread contributors).

The funniest thing about lack of commitment is how quickly old that will get when we have droughts/flood/fires and the like.

Sleepwalkers, the lot of them.

enlightening article (for some Americans) about the NHS in the NYT today

A good person.

I’ve decided to resign from @UKLabour and serve as an Independent Mayor.

People are tired of being controlled by Westminster and Party HQs. They want someone to stand up for them. Let the people decide. £25k by end of Aug & I’ll stand as North East Mayor👉https://t.co/WuDEGd3xxJ pic.twitter.com/kscPeMmlX5

— Mayor Jamie Driscoll (@MayorJD) July 17, 2023

All power to Jamie.

Those quotes from the "Senior Labour insiders" (Mandeldroids like Akehurst and McSweeney) won't convince anyone. We've all learnt by now that these people take active pleasure in the suffering of natural Labour voters. It's punishment for the enthusiasm for Corbyn, for wanting fairer policies, for being impudent and not accepting what they're told. The level of hatred these people are going to start to see directed towards them in a Labour gov may well surprise even them.

Jamie has raised 20k in barely 24 hrs.

How many of those are giving bits of spare cash they shouldn't but are doing so anyway just bcz they want someone who cares?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F1PkNG3XsAA9uhb?format=jpg&name=medium

the replies to Kim McGuiness announcing her candidacy is mostly ppl saying fk off they are voting for Driscoll, what a charming Labour person she is.

This has every chance of being this decade's Thatcher Milk Snatcher pic.twitter.com/GIuMf1umLW

— Samplo Corvodina QC (@TreborRhurbarb) July 17, 2023

I can't imagine seeing a classic like that on bluesky!

But one shadow cabinet member said: “It’s possible to both be critical of the two-child policy but also say we can’t make spending commitments. We have to be fiscally disciplined.”

make no mistakes, Labour's "fiscal discipline" is going to make them more dangerous than a Tory party that is on the ropes. Despicable people.

Driscoll now on 53k in half a day. Astonishing

Good for him. He was pretty impressive on C4 news tonight.

Unhinged to keep going on about that note after all the covid support people and businesses got.

Lucy Powell holds the line on the two-child limit on Times Radio: "There's no money left, to coin a phrase." Liam Byrne's note not so much a millstone for this Labour leadership as a philosophy for government.

— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) July 18, 2023

The Labour Party using a stick the Tories have gleefully used over the years to beat the Labour Party, to beat... the Labour Party? Self-clowning or what?

Have they used the Winter of Discontent and the Enemy Within yet?

Give's department literally* 'gave back' £2Bn last week.

Gove lol. First he Goveth.

not seen any signs of this imminent "Shadow Cabinet revolt" against Kieth that was reported yesterday, if any of them had a shred of integrity they'd have already been booted out.

‘I don’t think the idea of keeping people in poverty is fiscally responsible'

North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll says Labour is ‘storing up problems for the long term’ with its new policy to keep the two-child cap on benefits if it gets into government
https://t.co/P0zxS1DNGF pic.twitter.com/Zj5EfMhT9e

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) July 17, 2023

The Westminster Think Tank scene

This is both dumb and disgraceful - Policy Exchange is an important part of the Westminster think tank scene and shouldn’t be intimidated in this way https://t.co/cBABHJ5ECa

— Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) July 20, 2023

bloody Camden scenesters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4uivPpzCGo

JSO protesters getting assaulted in the street meanwhile.

https://t.co/DvPMVDLefs pic.twitter.com/BOfFqTVWP8

— Samplo Corvodina (@TreborRhurbarb) July 20, 2023

lmao

The scene that celebrates its health (fiscal only)

Nice

Tories HOLD Uxbridge & South Ruislip!
No idea whether this is good or bad, probably bad because everything is bad. Bad in that they are already pinning it on ULEZ I suppose.
Bad that I'm still awake at this time.

Gonna need to offer to starve more kids

LET’S GOOOOOOO https://t.co/C562GtQOHJ pic.twitter.com/NyRHbJSwXs

— El Borto 🔥🔥🔥 (@leo_hutz) July 21, 2023

Sadiq Khan will be shitting himself.

Spot the unconvincing puppet with Keir Starmer's hand up his arse.

https://e3.365dm.com/23/07/768x432/skynews-keir-mather-labour_6225140.jpg

Lol @ this nerd

Starmer Boy

My God, he's even called Keir!

Some of this shit will be swept away so fast. A decrease in inflation and interest rates should do it

fucking Rovers fans

can he make up his mind whether being murdered by a 19 year old is embarrassing or a clear act of self defence https://t.co/ykySp50nrV

— tyron (@thetyronwilson) July 21, 2023

I know it’ll have been a fair amount of tactical voting there but Labour losing their deposit whilst the greens double their vote share isn’t a great look for the impending Labour landslide https://t.co/UDaJAf3NSy

— Chris Duffy (@OtherChrises) July 21, 2023

Current headline on the guardian...

Starmer urges Khan to ‘reflect’ on Ulez rules after Uxbridge defeat

Labour leader hails Selby byelection victory but says London mayor must consider expansion of ultra-low emission zone

God I hate this prick. Yeah tory voters don't want environmentally progressive policies, big fucking surprise. How to address that? Be more tory! Fuckhead.

I tend to think this is right. There is no going back now and the ratchet effect will be applied until the the handle snaps off. Everyone talking about "wasted opportunities" to propose left policy with a relatively high poll lead simply does not understand the goals of the labour right. To them this is a golden chance to cement Blairism in even harsher, hegemonically dominant terms so there will be no backsliding into socialism for the British state. Blair's own recent comments are the clue to what they want to do.

The one thing you can say for certain about Starmer’s Labour is however right wing you think it is now, it’s going to become a lot more right wing in the months ahead https://t.co/wo9xfT7jPB

— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) July 21, 2023