Off Topic Starmer/ Reeves: last man standing

If this country descends into a Farage lead chaos, those who keep upping the ante will be the first to complain.

 

There are a few saying a lot about a genuine error but little about Farage’s tax and housing manoeuvres. It’s worse than Reeves. Says he’s patriotic and uses clever accountancy to deprive our public services in favour of himself.

 

You reap what you sow. Labour took the highest of high moral ground when in oppo. They literally set angelic standards of behaviour as the minimum standards. They are falling badly short of their own stated standards. It would be laughable if they were allowed to just get away with being what they claimed to oppose so vehemently.

 

The difference being that they did not pretend to be holier than thou.

No politician had ever really done so before Starmer decided to announce himself as some latter day Saint of Standards. They know they will be judged by standards they cannot keep, so avoided playing Mr Perfect

It was hubris in the extreme from Starmer, another example of his astonishing lack of political nous.

 

Of course he is. But he wasnt part of the Labour oppo who went on attack after attack over ministerial standards. It appears the old adage of those in glass houses...

Dare I say, the problem we face in our country right now is not how to stop Farage. But it is how to demand better from Labour. They are our elected govt. Have a huge majority and 4 years to make good on what might yet be traditional labour values. Do that and Farage does not win, Labour win. They, and dare I say some on our daft little forum, are too focussed on Farage, when we should be demanding more from Starmer. He is in the driving seat, he needs to start driving a better path and that should be our expectation.

 

Labour long ago drifted away from being a "working class" party I'm afraid, other than in their public rhetoric.

Starmer is a metropolitan liberal who has always looked extraordinarily uncomfortable among normal people. He has never been among such people really, which isn't his fault, but in him this has produced a complete inability to connect.

He won't be there at the next GE, and most likely will be gone far sooner. He is completely unsuited to the job.

 

Agree mate. Not really sure when the drift occurred, but I felt so completely let down by Blair whom I voted for with enthusiasm.

 

I am apolitical, in the sense that I would never ( again!) be a party member. Or vote blindly for any coloured rosette , as if it were a football team.

Labour started to drift around the turn of the century, becoming obsessed with identity politics and many changing causes , most of which do not resonate with most people.

Don't be looking for a "nice guy". They don't exist in that world. Many of the most celebrated politicians of the past were not particularly nice people, some being outright horrible t***s.

 

Did Farage not call a press conference when Raynor went? I think he did

 

Apparently not.

Letting agent apologises for 'oversight' on Reeves rental licence
Sir Keir Starmer says Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces no further action for renting out her London home without the required licence. Yesterday evening, the letting agency she had used apologised for an "oversight" that meant it did not obtain the licence for her. The PM's ethics adviser says he found "no evidence of bad faith" on Reeves's part.

 

I was replying to the comment the tories had a nerve to criticise Labour sleeze. Labours problem is they were so strong on tory sleeze they now have to live to the standard they set. I think they have created a rod for their own back.

In the case of Reeves I am pleased it is a non-story personally. I said earlier it felt minor and hardly worth losing your job over. But the problem remains for Labour that every little sniff of sleeze will be whipped up. Brought that on themselves sadly. I would sooner they all spent more time leading our country than answering conduct questions.

 

Argh, I missed the nuance. Regarding the rod, Starmer bats with a straight bat. As I've said, maybe on another thread, politics has become poorer, it's now just a case of mud slinging. Waiting for something to stick, or get a bite, then just drip feed further revelations. As someone else, maybe you, said, there are no more statesmen in politics. I believe Starmer will prove a few wrong.

 

I really hope you are right mate. I really do. We need him and his team to have a stellar next few years for all of our wellbeing and most importantly to me our kids futures. The alternatives right now to Labour are awful, Lib Dems possibly excepted. I hope he battons down the hatches, puts his team on high alert and goes for the big political policies that will make the difference for the next 30 or 40 years.

 

That should simply be the end of it, obviously it won't as the the Tories and Reform will grab onto anything in an attempt to stay in the news no matter the factuality of the subject. People will say she should have checked that the letting agent was doing everything by the book but seriously doubt anyone has ever done that.

It was a mistake by the agent, which has embarrassed the Chancellor. The agent has apologized, time to move onto actual real issues that need addressing in the country instead of wasting time on something like this.

In cases like this Labour need to just no longer comment on the matter as they have a tendency to make things worse when they do.

 

Why, you would wonder, did Reeves not say this in the first place? Why wait until the heat is on? It would have been clearer to explain the agent's role as soon as the matter was brought up.

Not that it matters at all. Ignorance of the law is not, and never was an excuse for breaking it. It is her direct responsibility to comply with it.

And especially in this case, as Reeves had previously campaigned for these licences to be introduced in Leeds, so she can hardly plead ignorance.

Again though, to me this a small matter, and in another time would have merited little attention. But Starmer and his colleagues, including Reeves, put themselves on a high pedestal for years, enjoying public, moral grandstanding whenever there was the slightest chance.

They have created the circumstances of which they are falling foul, and are finding the real world very uncomfortable.

 

You say "small matter" but start with "Why did Reeves not" as if this is something she should have done - check the agent did as they say they would.

 

Yes. It is a poor error, and not long ago would have been seen as such, and little more.

But the point I was making was that when you have spent years criticising others for the slightest thing then you will be judged by those standards, and you will most likely be found wanting, as is the case here.

And yes, she SHOULD, have checked. It is her responsibility, even if she delegated it to someone elsewhere. If I give someone the money to pay my parking fine and they don't pay it, it's still my fault. I'll still catch trouble.

I'm afraid she has form. She blamed "her team" for the instances of plagiarism in her book. She blamed an assistant for some of the lies on her C.V. Now it's the agent's turn.

You can see why people aren't buying it.

 

Yeah I agree, but some people never will... I'm afraid politics has gone downhill and society needs a reset. Stop slinging mud and be a statesman. Own it and deal with it transparently. Stop being lazy and relying on others/handouts. We need our politicians to set examples. I still have faith in straight bat Starmer to come through and deliver a brighter future.

 

Starmer will probably be gone this time next year. I wouldn't know where to look for the odds, but I'd expect they'd be short on that .

He is clearly not up to the job, clearly miserable trying to do it, has no founding beliefs to sustain him, ( or he wouldn't change his mind all the time) and is probably keen to get back raking in money from the very lucrative Human Rights circuit.

Mind you, he always has that special pension to keep him happy! He has pension tax arrangements unique to him, and which required an Act of Parliament.

He was asked about this before July 2024, and he said that it was an anomaly - which it is - and that he would repeal that act immediately on entering No.10. It would take no time or effort to do this. Maybe he forgot

What a guy!