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Keir Starmer appears to think this is a get out of jail free card, on accusations of backtracking on previous promises:

'with the damage that’s been done to the economy, particularly by Liz Truss, it is not possible to do that'!

While he may well be right that things have been made so much worse in the last three years that earlier promises have been undermined.... for many, its a series of shifts that have suggested he wasn't serious in the first place.

pragmatic or hypocritical?

@ChrisMayLA6

I'd be more worried about #Starmer if he dogmatically stuck to a pledge, even though the original situation had completely changed.

It's called being street smart & politically savvy. Power First, then start repairing what the #Tories took 14 years to break.

🌹 🇪🇺 ❎🗳

@AnthonyFStevens

Well, that's one way of looking at it & I certainly would be very glad if you were right.... as you'll be aware not everyone would take that position on Starmer, but as for me I feel we're in a waiting game - once he's in No.10 he may (or may not) break cover to reveal a different(?) Starmer, or perhaps merely confirm what those who see him as red-Tory believe.

But at least at present his actions can be interpreted in almost diametrically opposite ways, so we'll need to wait!

@ChrisMayLA6

Agreed to a degree. This is politics, & #Starmer the leader had a difficult birth.

1. Become Leader after #Corbyn
2. #Brexit
3. #Antisemitism
4. Rebuild #Labour
5. The Left calling him a #Tory
6. Not scare Centre Right voters
7. Not scare business

Starmer can spew all the ideological waffle he's got, but without power, it means nothing.

This is why I don't understand the reticence toward him. We had Doris the clown & Truss the living stiff. We now need serious grown ups

@AnthonyFStevens @ChrisMayLA6 problem is that the instincts that trains tend to stay in place. If you’ve learned not to rock the boat to get power you tend to be over cautious once you get power.

If he panics every time the Daily Mail or Telegraph pop up with some bullshit, what’s the point?

@Colman @ChrisMayLA6

1. #Starmer knows the publications you spoke of have the knives out for him & #Labour. In this respect you have to skillfully negotiate your way through the #Tories client media minefield. Once in power, different rules apply!

However, as seen in the Fail 2 days ago, they gave Reeves the front page, because even they want to be seen on the side of the winner. Labour have decided not to interrupt their enemy, whilst they're busy making mistakes, & it's working.

@Colman @ChrisMayLA6

2. As for Diane Abbott & #Corbyn, both are in ther 70s & in #Labour's past. The country gave their verdict on them in 2019, which led to the biggest election dry bumming in political history.

The world has moved on, & so has Labour. If Corbyn & Abbott so wish, they can join forces with Derek Hatton, Momentum, NIP & the #Socialist Workers Party & put their case to the #UK electorate.

They haven't, so the question remains, if the have all the answers, why haven't they? 🤔

@AnthonyFStevens @Colman

I think you're definitely right on not interrupting your enemy when they're making a mistake.... as for the rest; well we'll have a better (real) idea in seven weeks time!

@ChrisMayLA6 @Colman

#Starmer & #Labour deserve their opportunity to succeed or fail. Rebuilding the party from the rubble #Corbyn left behind wasn't an easy task, ESPECIALLY as his most vehement opponents have come from the Far Left.

Many of them are sworn enemies of Starmer, & would rather another 5 years of #Sunak, than see Sir Keir in No 10. When politics gets this bitter & self destructive, you know those who're willing to bite their noses off to spite their faces have lost the plot

@AnthonyFStevens @Colman

Yes, I'd agree with you sentiment(s) - Starmer should be given a chance, but equally its easy to see why even away from the 'hard left' there are some concerns - but, I agree, the 'deserve the opportunity to succeed or fail'...

@ChrisMayLA6 @Colman

I honestly don't see where the concerns over #Starmer lie?

Cutting to the chase & being brutally honest, we all know the anti-Starmer sentiments derive from Labour's Left & the hard-core #Corbyn support.

They blame Starmer & the centrist #Labour MPs for Corbyn's derisory General Election performance, & have never forgiven them.

The cold hard fact is, it was the #UK electorate who sealed Corbyn's fate. It wasn't so much the message they didn't like, it was the messenger

@AnthonyFStevens @Colman

From my point of view, my concern is Starmer (and Reeves) have moved slowly but surely towards a model of the economy that locally extends into a continuation of Tory economic management, which for me is entirely the problem I want Labour to solve not continue with.... On workers rights, fiscal policy & other aspects of economic management, commitments made during both the leadership campaign & afterwards have been progressively watered down.

@ChrisMayLA6 @AnthonyFStevens he seems entirely happy with the right wing conventional wisdom. Centre-centre-left at best, Democrat at worst, and unwilling to stand up for any principles.

@Colman @ChrisMayLA6

The #UK has changed, & if #Labour doesn't change & evolve with it, it will die. The #UK is a Social Democratic country, which lurched to the extremes with disastrous consequences.

We had the ERG/Tories on the far right, & the #Corbynista/Momentum caucus on the far left. #Starmer has steered Labour back to the centre, & I suspect that the one nation Tories will inherit the #CONservatives after #GE2024 & steer them back to the centre too.

Thankfully Starmer got there 1st

Police State UK

@AnthonyFStevens @Colman @ChrisMayLA6 Not much "centre" about Labour lately... it only looks that way by comparison with the rabid nonsense from the Tories lately.

Starmer is about level with Thatcher in most respects.

See politicalcompass.org/uk2024

And then this chart from the bottom of politicalcompass.org/ukparties - allthough I dread to think what an updated version would look like - Labour in particular is proudly and self-declaredly more Thatcherite now.

@PoliceStateUK @Colman @ChrisMayLA6

What you've not factored in is #Labour's evident tactic of giving the desperate #Tories the smallest possible target to aim at, by aligning themselves where possible.

It's allowed Labour the opportunity to sit back whilst the Tories eat themselves & implode.

Unless there's a crystal ball in use, Labour deserve their chance to succeed or fail in power. Only then can we remove the guessing & speculation & see who the real Starmer & his Labour party are.

@AnthonyFStevens I really, really hope that's how it goes. 🤞🏻

@AnthonyFStevens @PoliceStateUK @Colman

Yup, right now its little more than a guessing game, as to what Labour will *actually* do....