Thatcher's Labour

[Paigntonian]

Extraordinary to see Kier (I used to be DPP) Starmer fire one of his shadow front bench team for briefly attending a picket line. How times have changed. The Blessed Margaret is alive and well within the soul of the Labour leadership.

[Paigntonian]

Apologies. Didn't spot the earlier thread.

[jno]

you're not wrong.

[JimF]

It is totally unbelievable.

TTT bangs on ad nauseum how Blair wasn't real Labour, but this is off the scucking fale!

[Gromit]

Is this about Sam Tarry?

Is he really ‘front bench’?

I have genuinely never heard of him until today?

[JimF]

It doesn't matter whether you've heard of him or not. He's a Labour MP and has been fired by the leader of the Labour Party for standing on a picket line. If anything has ushered in the death of the party in England (it's been dead in Scotland for years) it's this.

[THECORBYLOON]

He promoted himself to the position of Shadow Transport Secretary of State so he cannot even mind on what his job is.

[Gromit]

// A Labour party spokesperson said: “The Labour party will always stand up for working people fighting for better pay, terms and conditions at work. //

But if an MP does, they will be sacked.

[naomi24]

//Extraordinary to see Kier (I used to be DPP) Starmer fire one of his shadow front bench team for briefly attending a picket line. //

Not really. Starmer is not a man of principle. Starmer is for Starmer. He knows these strikes aren't supported by the majority of the country so in an effort to portray himself as a robust and determined leader, he's making what he thinks are the right noises for the public ear. With the mess the Conservatives have made in stupidly ousting Boris and presenting the membership with a choice between two self-serving wet weeks in his stead, Labour should have an open goal but Starmer is unpopular and ineffectual and if he's booted out we may rest assured that his replacement will be just as impotent as he is. Like the Conservatives, there is not a leader among them, but whether that saves Starmer's bacon remains to be seen. I have heard murmurings for the return of Corbyn. Well, 'they' do say that desperate times call for desperate measures and nothing would be more desperate than that!

[Gromit]

// Well, 'they' do say that desperate times call for desperate measures and nothing would be more desperate than that! //

Liz Truss.

[naomi24]

She's one of the two self-serving wet weeks I mentioned - but even she doesn't match Corbyn.

[Gromit]

Johnson was a divisive Conservative leader.
Brexit and Europe have been divisive for the Conservatives for 50 years.
The leadership contest is magnifying those divisions.

Starmer should be presenting Labour as a united party with a clear direction. Instead he has created an unnecessary row, and a clear split. Labour need to get rid of Starmer, he is useless and a liability.

[naomi24]

//Labour need to get rid of Starmer, he is useless and a liability. //

Indeed ... but who have they got to replace him?

[bhg481]

I think it's very generous of the Labour Party to get themselves into a knot in order to minimise the effect that Johnson's departure has had on Tory unity.

[Gromit]

A lot of members would prefer Andy Burnham, but he isn’t an MP.
Labour should fast track him back into Government like the Conservatives did with Johnson when he was mayor and in the wilderness.

[naomi24]

But there isn't an election looming, Gromit, so they can hardly find him a safe seat and fast-track him back. For the time being, at least, they're stuck with what they've got - which isn't much at all.

[New Judge]

Members of Parliament should not serve on picket lines.

The purpose of picket lines is to intimidate those who might decide to go to work and they should have been outlawed long ago. They may have served a different purpose when there was no other method of communicating with union members. Though even then I doubt there were many workers unaware of the issues involved. They serve no legitimate purpose now.

[Gromit]

They found Boris a safe seat, while he still had a year to serve as mayor.
72 year old Graham Stringer would probably like it in the Lords, give a peerage and get Burnham re-elected.

[Kardashev]

Clearly Mr Starmer is keen that the public do not think his party is the hard left Labour party of the 60s and 70s. Sadly there does seem still to be a lot of "reds under the bed".

[naomi24]

Gromit, //They found Boris a safe seat, while he still had a year to serve as mayor.//

How did they manage that? Is a seat was vacant a year before Boris stood down as Mayor there must have been a by-election to fill that seat. It couldn't have remained empty.

NJ, //Members of Parliament should not serve on picket lines.//

It's what the Labour faithful expect.

[ToraToraTora]

jimf: "If anything has ushered in the death of the party in England (it's been dead in Scotland for years) it's this. " - well another nail in the coffin is always helpful but real Labour have been dead for half a century. St Tony and co demonstrated what they have to do to win an election, become Tory. Sir Beer is, albeit very half arised, attempting that.