Forum Topic

Keir Starmer elected!

Looks like common sense has prevailed - thank Heaven!

Vanessa Smith ● 2406d46 Comments

Who is in and who's out on the front bench will be interesting

Julian Pavey ● 2406d

That's a relief.

Janice Evans ● 2406d

One could say that even more boredom will be setting into our daily lives when he gets talking.😮

Julian Pavey ● 2406d

Agreed, Julian. Photos of him remind me of a rabbit caught in a car's headlights.

Brian Coyle ● 2406d

Who would either of you choose then ?

Janice Evans ● 2406d

That is just a tad more polite than any description that could be said of of the pillock known as Johnson - unmade bed springs to mind! Bundle of sh*t tied up ugly - is far better though!

Vanessa Smith ● 2406d

I feel for the man.  The Labour party's one of our great political movements.  Trouble is it's (once again) been heavily infiltrated by extremists and idealists.  Unless he can fix that it's unlikely he'll get anywhere at a general election..... except one never knows...  I wish him luck!!!#

Stuart Kerr ● 2406d

So they've gone for the boring middle-aged white male. What a surprise ! There were at least two female candidates (Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy) who would have brought something fresh and different to the table, but the antediluvian Labour Party was still unable to follow the lead of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SNP, DUP and Sinn Fein in choosing a female to lead them. They have lost Scotland, are on the run in Wales and Northern England, and under Herr Starmer they will only appeal to their Islington heartlands. "Just over 490,000 people voted in the contest, out of the 784,151 eligible to take part"Seems like even the Labour members weren't enthused by the contest, with a 62% turnout. At a time when our democracy needs a viable alternative government, it seems improbable that Labour will be able to provide one.

Richard Greenhough ● 2406d

Surprise, surprise - Tory boy rides again!

Vanessa Smith ● 2406d

MMMMMMmmmm..... because that worked so well, didn't it, under Theresa May. And it was 'the will of the people' to go for a 'boring middle-aged white male' in Johnson.By the way, whatever happened to that phrase 'the will of the people' - to vote to privatise the NHS, strip us of our rights, increase poverty and generally give power to another boring middle-aged white male - Jacob Rees-Mogg?

Martin Weaver ● 2406d

Whatever you may think of BoJo, he's not boring. ;-)

Richard Greenhough ● 2406d

Vanessa, I thought you were a fan of Jess Phillips - and indeed of Caroline Flint, another talented female discarded by the Labour Party for standing up for what she believed in.

Richard Greenhough ● 2406d

The Tory Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks.Now with a sensible leader the Labour party will present  much greater electoral threat than in recent years.

Will Watson ● 2405d

Do you really think Herr Starmer is going to appeal to the lost Labour voters in Scotland, Northern England and Wales?

Richard Greenhough ● 2405d

Yes, if they can vote for Boris they will vote for anyone who rhymes bath with hearth particularly one with a knighthood.

Will Watson ● 2405d

"to vote to privatise the NHS, strip us of our rights, increase poverty"Gosh I bet this looks good on a demo placard! Just a shame that none of it is actually true. The British electorate saw through this nonsense in December 2019. Time for the political left to move on.

Cllr Sam Hearn ● 2405d

I particularly liked Jess Phillips and it was a shame she dropped out.  I loved the fact that she was sure and willing to disclose how many children she had had.

Philippa Bond ● 2405d

In those parts of the country they are more likely to rhyme bath with lath and turn their noses up at someone with a knighthood.

Richard Greenhough ● 2405d

You once again, using "Herr Starmer" demonstrate what on absolute dick you are. You are probably only sorry that you can't pile in with your anti semitism.

Carl Wynne ● 2405d

Funny how you don't criticise Vanessa's description of the Prime Minister in this thread. And I have never made an anti-semitic post, unlike some members of this forum.

Richard Greenhough ● 2405d

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/paul-gambaccini-threatens-to-run-against-keir-starmer-over-sex-abuse-witch-hunt-1369338

Richard Greenhough ● 2405d

Careful Vanessa your political allegiance is showing 😉

Loraine Pemberton ● 2405d

'I thought you were a fan of Jess Phillips - and indeed of Caroline Flint, another talented female discarded by the Labour Party for standing up for what she believed in.'I would have liked Jess Phillips to have had more of a chance and Caroline has been a friend of ours for years since she was Chair of the Brentford & Isleworth CLP. However, the membership and the electorate thought differently, and of the candidates who made it through I think Keir Starmer is the pick of the bunch.

Vanessa Smith ● 2405d

Sorry Sam, but that's wrong. Only 43% of the British Electorate voted for a game show host as Prime Minister in December 2019.

Ken Munn ● 2405d

David, don't forget they were previously Labour voters.

Janice Evans ● 2405d

As a long-standing conservative voter I would like to congratulate Keir Starmer on being elected leader of the Labour Party.  For too long the parliamentary party has been weak, divided and ineffective in its role as Opposition and this has been bad for democracy.  I am particularly pleased that he has convincingly won over the extreme-left Corbyn ‘continuity’ candidate.  I thought his acceptance speech was admirable in reaching out to our government and promising to work constructively to help us in these difficult times.  Naturally I disagree with most of his policies but I hope fellow-conservatives will recognise that he is a huge improvement on his predecessor and represents an opportunity for better cross-party co-operation in our efforts to solve the pandemic crisis.  He has landed an exceptionally difficult job and I wish him well.

Alastair Banton ● 2405d

"I hope fellow-conservatives will recognise that he is a huge improvement on his predecessor and represents an opportunity for better cross-party co-operation in our efforts to solve the pandemic crisis"We can agree on that, but IMHO there were better candidates standing.

Richard Greenhough ● 2405d

Jesse Phillips is a big mouthed opportunistic windbag. I'm so glad she didn't get in. Rotten creature. she was one of the first LFI to jump onto the antisemitism bandwagon harming her own party.

Basil Finnis ● 2405d

Funny, I thought it was the anti-semites in the Labour Party doing the harm, not those denouncing them. Let us hope Starmer roots them out at the earliest opportunity.

Richard Greenhough ● 2405d

"You once again, using "Herr Starmer" demonstrate what on absolute dick you are. You are probably only sorry that you can't pile in with your anti Semitism". Carl, point me in the direction of some of these anti Semitic remarks. I can't find any.

Brian Coyle ● 2405d

Jess might have done better to run for deputy. With no experience on the shadow front bench, she probably seemed too much of a risk.

Susan Kelly ● 2405d

In the shadow cabinet?

Susan Kelly ● 2405d

Some might say his judgement during the Carl Beech affair left a lot to be desired.

Keith Iddon ● 2405d

Ruth Cadbury had a job in the shadow cabinet before but she didn't want it.

Peter Evans ● 2405d

"With no experience on the shadow front bench, she probably seemed too much of a risk."Rather like the outgoing leader, you mean ?

Richard Greenhough ● 2405d

Nothing wrong with her judgement.

Keith Iddon ● 2405d

Sam,Don't rest on your laurels too much,  Boris won against Corbyn,  I think we can all agree that wasn't exactly a feat.I listened to Starmers speech,  unconvinced, I think Lisa Nandy is smarter, more aggressive and would have been a better choice especially when weighing up the Andrew Neil interviews.With all this said there has been no opposition from across the benches for ages so this will be a welcome move for democracy.

Matthew Swain ● 2405d

Just hope Keir won't be the type to keep blaming others for everything and will be seen to take part, rather than a party that just moans for the sake of it and actually contributes nothing.  Fingers crossed he is suitable, I do hope so.

Janice Evans ● 2405d

I thought it was the case that Ruth Cadbury was obliged to leave the shadow cabinet because of her support of a second referendum at a time when that wasn't the leader's view?

Francis Rowe ● 2405d

Correct,one of three with a host of others behind

Julian Pavey ● 2405d

The level of vitriol still coming from those who just a few months ago really did believe they would have their puppet in No10 is rather sad. Thankfully, many more years to come!

Lou Valdini ● 2403d

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it Keir Starmer as then Head of the CPS, who decided not to prosecute the paedophile, Jimmy Savile because, he claimed, there was a lack of evidence ?Hmmmm...

Loraine Pemberton ● 2402d

No room for Jess Phillips, Yvette Cooper or Hilary Benn in his shadow cabinet, it appears. That suggests he is not drawing on some of the better talents available to him as regards both ability and communication skills.

Richard Greenhough ● 2402d

Hilary Benn being omitted is a mistake. An experienced Parliamentarian with a balanced view and not afraid to have an opinion. I do hope that this is not going to be an "I want no dissent in the ranks" Shadow Cabinet.

N V Brooks ● 2402d

I agree with Richard and NV.  We’ve got an ‘I want no dissent in the ranks’ Cabinet.  I certainly wouldn’t want the Shadow Cabinet to follow the same route.

Alastair Banton ● 2402d

I doubt if the three people mentioned would be able to sign up to the pledges that Starmer stood for to get elected and which the party will expect him and his shadow cabinet to stick to.  We'll see. https://keirstarmer.com/plans/10-pledges/

Peter Evans ● 2402d