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Re: John Healey aims a missile at Starmer & Reeves whilst Badenoch aims one at herself
Yes. Yes I would. And then I would advocate for it.If you were Labour leader and looking a year or two away from a GE in which the worst combination of Liz Truss shite/Johnson open borders/Sunak mud sludge do nothing policy other than AI was the opposition --- would you not sit down with the great and the good in policy world and actually construction a manifesto and political economy policy that mattered??How. How is it possible that only two years after a landslide win this Labour government is collapsing in chaos?Starmer is a very poor leader. Like, really poor. (I'm sure a better writer than me could come up with a Hitchhiker's style soliloquy about how mind-bendingly poor Starmer has been.)
He only won a landslide because he was up against the weakest performance by the Tory party in its history, after that party foisted a Prime Minister onto the country so inept they had to replace her in less than 50 days.
In those circumstances any averagely competent leader would have won a landslide of Baldwin (1931) proportions.
The landslide that Starmer did win probably bought him an extra year as PM. That and the split and weak nature of the opposition.
I have my doubts about Burnham. And I think Labour should be working out what to do different rather than concentrate on who to do it differently with. But Starmer is actively making the situation worse and has to go.
I think the public are a bit easier to win over then people imagine, given a leader with a sense of purpose, some self-confidence and a way with words.
Re: John Healey aims a missile at Starmer & Reeves whilst Badenoch aims one at herself
Is this effectively an attempted military coup? Starmer needs to reassert civilian control and sack anyone involved in plotting against him.No
rcs1000
1
Re: John Healey aims a missile at Starmer & Reeves whilst Badenoch aims one at herself
I don't get the strategy/tactics of all these resignations just 7 days before a crucial by-election.You are told by your boss to make a speech that will permanently destroy your career.
Do you make that speech or resign to avoid doing so knowing that if you resign chances are new management will welcome you back in a few weeks time
eek
2
Re: John Healey aims a missile at Starmer & Reeves whilst Badenoch aims one at herself
Perhaps Big Al is going to torpedo B.U.R.N.H.A.M. 
GIN1138
1
Re: John Healey aims a missile at Starmer & Reeves whilst Badenoch aims one at herself
Also the economy was basically ok, so the spending taps could be turned on. Not so much this time.Indeed. The Ming Vase Strategy has destroyed Starmer.But that would involve making a decision or two and sticking to them.If you were Labour leader and looking a year or two away from a GE in which the worst combination of Liz Truss shite/Johnson open borders/Sunak mud sludge do nothing policy other than AI was the opposition --- would you not sit down with the great and the good in policy world and actually construction a manifesto and political economy policy that mattered??How. How is it possible that only two years after a landslide win this Labour government is collapsing in chaos?Starmer is a very poor leader. Like, really poor. (I'm sure a better writer than me could come up with a Hitchhiker's style soliloquy about how mind-bendingly poor Starmer has been.)
He only won a landslide because he was up against the weakest performance by the Tory party in its history, after that party foisted a Prime Minister onto the country so inept they had to replace her in less than 50 days.
In those circumstances any averagely competent leader would have won a landslide of Baldwin (1931) proportions.
The landslide that Starmer did win probably bought him an extra year as PM. That and the split and weak nature of the opposition.
I have my doubts about Burnham. And I think Labour should be working out what to do different rather than concentrate on who to do it differently with. But Starmer is actively making the situation worse and has to go.
Worked for Blair because he actually had a shed load of ideas/policy/minsters and, most of all, Gordon Brown, with ideas behind the softly softly.
This time...
Re: John Healey aims a missile at Starmer & Reeves whilst Badenoch aims one at herself
Reminds me to finish watching A Very British Coup on YouTubeIs this effectively an attempted military coup? Starmer needs to reassert civilian control and sack anyone involved in plotting against him.No
Re: John Healey aims a missile at Starmer & Reeves whilst Badenoch aims one at herself
A lot of people find the idea of preparing for 3 grams of tritium getting funky, say 10,000 feet above Manchester, too horrible to contemplate.You can't prep for something that's impossible to imagine.
Paul Mason
@paulmasonnews
I want to explain why the Defence world is devastated at John Healey's resignation. In every other Dept of State, the worst thing imaginable is manageable - pandemic, flood, riot, even a bond market selloff. Defence people prep, 24/7 for the unimaginable. Today someone stood up for Defence - not "against" HMG but against the public complacency that's limiting HMG's options. No other SecDef has done this... so let's hope this turns the tide.
https://x.com/paulmasonnews/status/2065187692921373071
Try again Paul.
Which is why Herman Kahn called it Thinking About The Unthinkable.
And decades after his death, morons are still mixing up thinking and planning for something with wanting it to happen.
Re: John Healey aims a missile at Starmer & Reeves whilst Badenoch aims one at herself
He's weak because the party have decided to ditch him. They've decided to ditch him because he's hugely unpopular. He's hugely unpopular because (opinions vary but mine is) he cannot connect with the public.I had a gut feeling that Al Carns especially being ex military would follow John Healey out the door of the Ministry of Defence tonight. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have now got to seriously be the worst and definitely the weakest PM and Chancellor we have had in my adult living memory and I say that following on from the disaster that was Liz Truss's premiership!Who on earth would want that poisoned chalice right now, and especially if they wanted the confidence of the Military brass? Right now I would also have Al Carns on resignation watch if like Healey he really cares about the need for enough Defence funding to keep our armed forces safe and as a viable functioning military force.https://x.com/GuidoFawkes/status/2065091533842350517Al Carns is reluctant apparently. I am of the opinion that Dazza should hold off until at least next Friday.
Government sources say Darren Jones is going around telling people how confident he is that he will score the Defence Sec job.
Good luck to Dan Jarvis taking on the poisoned chalice of Defence Secretary, and I bloody well hope he got some decent concessions on Defence spending as a condition of taking on what might well be a very brief tenure in the job or I will think a hell of a lot less of him. It really does feel like they are rearranging the deckchairs on this sinking Labour Government in No10 and No11 tonight.
kinabalu
1
Re: John Healey aims a missile at Starmer & Reeves whilst Badenoch aims one at herself
So if Stokes is out, who is in? And do we think they can end up not out?Rob Key really has hung Ben Stokes out to dry and absolute screwed Harry Brook here.Don't you mean to dry out ?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2026/06/11/rob-key-refuses-back-ben-stokes-captain-considers-booze-ban/
Re: John Healey aims a missile at Starmer & Reeves whilst Badenoch aims one at herself
As I posted earlier.
Benefits not bombs.
Sam Coates Sky
@SamCoatesSky
The bottom line tonight is that the military establishment didn’t win the argument with Labour cabinet and MPs that they needed to cut spending, raise borrowing, raise taxes or cut welfare to fund higher defence spending.
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves do not agree with John Healey even now, and while I’m sure mast Labour MPs would like to raise defence spending more, there’s no consensus what gives to achieve this.
Benefits not bombs.
Sam Coates Sky
@SamCoatesSky
The bottom line tonight is that the military establishment didn’t win the argument with Labour cabinet and MPs that they needed to cut spending, raise borrowing, raise taxes or cut welfare to fund higher defence spending.
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves do not agree with John Healey even now, and while I’m sure mast Labour MPs would like to raise defence spending more, there’s no consensus what gives to achieve this.
