For all those inclined to calibrate their psychological assessments of Starmer, the recent (very sympathetic) Observer interview offers quite a lot of input. Inter alia, we learn he "deeply regrets" his "island of strangers" speech, thusly:
Starmer insists ... the speech was simply a mistake. “I wouldn’t have used those words if I had known they were, or even would be interpreted as an echo of Powell,” he says. “I had no idea – and my speechwriters didn’t know either,” he says. “But that particular phrase – no – it wasn’t right. I’ll give you the honest truth: I deeply regret using it” ... he doesn’t blame his advisers or anyone else except himself for these mistakes ... Starmer says he should have read through the speech properly and “held it up to the light a bit more”. The prime minister also accepts there were “problems with the language” in his foreword to the policy document that said the record high numbers of immigrants entering the UK under the last government had done “incalculable damage” to the country.
Sorry, matey, that won't wash. For starters, in that speech he also said his immigration policy statement was promoted on the back of it being "right - because it is fair, and because it is what I believe in", Boris Johnson's opening of the immigration floodgates being a "squalid chapter". Secondly, over the following few days he did the classic Starmer thing of initially doubling down on the first utterence: when quickly challenged on the "island of strangers" language, he emphasised that "well, it is a danger".
Does anyone, let alone a lawyer-PM, outsource the articulation of "what I believe in, what I think is right" to Spads? Or, to put the question another way: what sort of lawyer-PM does this?
ND
15 comments:
I don't quite understand.
While a chant of "death to the IDF" is apparently beyond the pale, a UK state-backed policy of "death to the Russian Armed Forces" is apparently completely fine.
After all, one is some powerless people shouting a slogan, the other is billions of pounds worth of lethal weaponry, military training, aerial and satellite surveillance, signals intelligence, and a lot of clever young men thinking of effective new ways to kill Russians.
2Tier, Never Here, Possibly Quare,Granny & Farmer Harmer Starmer is the epitome of Davos Man. DM believes (truly believes) what ever is put in front of him to read out. Until he has to retract, obfuscate & re-evaluate.......& then lessons have been learned.
Oh, I think we all know what sort of lawyer-PM Sir Tiers Stasi is, don't we?
The Israel lobby is confident that the government (they did install Starmer after all), the mainstream media and police will do its bidding. Gary Lineker's defenestration was a timely reminder to the media class of the fatal conequences of straying from the approved narrative and the need for constant self-censorship. The test will be when the Israel lobby demands the use of force to suppress protests in Britain's ethnic areas.
Mr U: Wes Streeting has already indicated an earlier test - did you see him on the box at the weekend ? - it's when a Labour pol with a wafer-thin majority seriously wants to get reelected to Parl and/or elected to a post where Labour members have a say. Right now, that's him, hoping to be next PM before long & not wishing to be forced to do a chicken-run. Jess Phillips another.
Starmer is a rather more beige, awkward, version of Boris Johnson - became leader and the Labour Party and PM, not out of any particular mission, but because he wanted to.
Much like Boris, his beliefs are fluid, and will change according to what he thinks the audience wants.
Unlike Boris, he's not got the genial persona to get away with it, nor has he any kind of stout determination To Get Stuff Done, which are the two personality types who can get away with flip-flopping midway through a u-turn, whilst on their way to a reverse ferret.
Even as an empty vessel, he manages to be muted. As a survival mechanism, the ability to fade in the background doesn't always work in politics.
I suspect the only thing keeping him in the job is no one wants the vicious factional infighting that would occur when fighting for who gets to drive the UK onto the rocks, and that they start looking like the Tories and the revolving leadership door.
The size of the rebellion later should give an indication if his card is marked, or he's on his final written warning.
I doubt the government will be defeated, but, if they are, be interesting to see how many get flung under buses in an attempt to maintain leadership despite it being obvious to all his number is up.
But I don't see any replacement that won't be just as crap. Labour only got in because the Tories betrayed their supporters. Now Labour are betraying theirs.
Mind, if they restore benefits for 2+n children, the only sensible thing CamOsborne ever did, doom comes that much closer. We'll see more Mick Philpotts, not to mention more madrassas, as the tax-funded childbearers return.
@ Unknown
Ask your doctor to review the dose of antipsychotics you're on.
Only honest speech he's made. Ever. Slip for a sociopath. No wonder he regrets it.
Israel lobby.
Being?????????
Reminder.
https://themedialine.org/top-stories/poll-reveals-persistent-palestinian-support-for-hamas-attacks-on-israel/
Not to mention Western support as well, it is now clear.
Israel lobby.
Dear me.
Labour is betraying everyone. What state will the UK be when he's done with us? Again - he is personality disordered.
No empathy
No sense of humour.
No inner life (doesn't read, do art/music)
Bristles when challenged
Hates being laughed at (viz. TV audience at his “Son of a toolmaker” spiel) – which he has not repeated since
Pathological liar - as a former SPAD to him noted
Takes no responsibility for shambles under his command.... "didn't cross my desk". Yeah, sure.
No soul. Look into his eyes. Nothing there. The eyes are where we see another.
Be fair, Elby. If an adviser to a senior MP of the governing party met with an FSB agent in London to discuss "taking down" a government minister who disagreed with Russian policies, you would never, never hear the last of it.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4098082/Astonishing-undercover-video-captures-diplomat-conspiring-rival-MP-s-aide-smear-Deputy-Foreign-Secretary.html
My opinion of almost all MPs us unprintable. Politics, politicians and the whole political class, which now includes the media, has failed us on an epic scale.
Here's a German industrialist pointing out the truth of what faces the UK, US and EU:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/02/eu-may-as-well-be-province-of-china-due-to-reliance-on-imports-says-industrialist
" the reality on the ground, Scherer said, is that many component manufacturers, known as other equipment manufacturers (OEMs), are faced with daily cheaper Chinese alternatives ranging from steel to whole batteries. Unless the EU addresses this in a meaningful way, this will not change and will imperil the bloc’s climate goals, he said, adding: “It might be better to apply to be a province of China. It’s an interesting thought if you think it through. We are really at a tipping point and it has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine, it’s a complete change of global relationships.” Scherer said the world economy had been “lifted on the backs of people working hard for Europe in China, in India” and the new balance in the global supply chain was the western leaders’ own creation."
The relatively low inflation of the decades from at least Thatcher to today is on the things we don't make any more.
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