There's a good centre left grouping coming together. Now that Starmer is following his MPs and not slavishly following Trump a 'NEW LABOUR' could be at its centre. If he can't resist the pull towards Farage he can and will be replaced. He's got roughly 10 weeks to show he's the person to lead this grouping otherwise he'll be out. This I believe to be a fact.
I think that ship has sailed sadly. Starmer has lost the left permanently.
He has tewn weeks to get them back. Yesterday was a very good start. Everyone likes a repentant sinner and failing that Burnham is waiting in the wings. Burnham should get on well with Zack. Two Mancunions
The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there.
We’re continuing our defensive operations and I've just spoken with the President of Cyprus to let him know that we are sending helicopters with counter drone capabilities and HMS Dragon is to be deployed to the region.
We will always act in the interest of the UK and our allies.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is giving up the lease on another Crown Estate property, the BBC understands.
Mountbatten-Windsor has asked to end his lease on East Lodge, near his former home at Sunninghill Park in Berkshire, with documents seen by the BBC showing he has been paying an annual rent of almost £13,000.
The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there.
We’re continuing our defensive operations and I've just spoken with the President of Cyprus to let him know that we are sending helicopters with counter drone capabilities and HMS Dragon is to be deployed to the region.
We will always act in the interest of the UK and our allies.
It will be on station approx 10 days after Greece and France
There's a good centre left grouping coming together. Now that Starmer is following his MPs and not slavishly following Trump a 'NEW LABOUR' could be at its centre. If he can't resist the pull towards Farage he can and will be replaced. He's got roughly 10 weeks to show he's the person to lead this grouping otherwise he'll be out. This I believe to be a fact.
I think that ship has sailed sadly. Starmer has lost the left permanently.
He has tewn weeks to get them back. Yesterday was a very good start. Everyone likes a repentant sinner and failing that Burnham is waiting in the wings. Burnham should get on well with Zack. Two Mancunions
I dont think his stance on Gaza is going to be forgotten or forgiven.
The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there.
We’re continuing our defensive operations and I've just spoken with the President of Cyprus to let him know that we are sending helicopters with counter drone capabilities and HMS Dragon is to be deployed to the region.
We will always act in the interest of the UK and our allies.
There's a good centre left grouping coming together. Now that Starmer is following his MPs and not slavishly following Trump a 'NEW LABOUR' could be at its centre. If he can't resist the pull towards Farage he can and will be replaced. He's got roughly 10 weeks to show he's the person to lead this grouping otherwise he'll be out. This I believe to be a fact.
I think that ship has sailed sadly. Starmer has lost the left permanently.
I have have it on unimpeachable authority that Burnham is going for a seat again in May
The way Labour are polling, he'd lose a by-election.
The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there.
We’re continuing our defensive operations and I've just spoken with the President of Cyprus to let him know that we are sending helicopters with counter drone capabilities and HMS Dragon is to be deployed to the region.
We will always act in the interest of the UK and our allies.
Is this in response to the current Iran crisis or something that happened in 2024?
There's a good centre left grouping coming together. Now that Starmer is following his MPs and not slavishly following Trump a 'NEW LABOUR' could be at its centre. If he can't resist the pull towards Farage he can and will be replaced. He's got roughly 10 weeks to show he's the person to lead this grouping otherwise he'll be out. This I believe to be a fact.
I think that ship has sailed sadly. Starmer has lost the left permanently.
He has tewn weeks to get them back. Yesterday was a very good start. Everyone likes a repentant sinner and failing that Burnham is waiting in the wings. Burnham should get on well with Zack. Two Mancunions
Starmer will not get the left back and replacing him may not be the cure you think it is
Labour are in an existential crisis being attacked from right and left
Trump: "Spain has been terrible. I told Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain. They said we can't use their bases. We could use their bases if we want. We could just fly in and use it. Nobody is gonna tell us not to use it."
There's a good centre left grouping coming together. Now that Starmer is following his MPs and not slavishly following Trump a 'NEW LABOUR' could be at its centre. If he can't resist the pull towards Farage he can and will be replaced. He's got roughly 10 weeks to show he's the person to lead this grouping otherwise he'll be out. This I believe to be a fact.
I think that ship has sailed sadly. Starmer has lost the left permanently.
He has tewn weeks to get them back. Yesterday was a very good start. Everyone likes a repentant sinner and failing that Burnham is waiting in the wings. Burnham should get on well with Zack. Two Mancunions
Starmer will not get the left back and replacing him may not be the cure you think it is
Labour are in an existential crisis being attacked from right and left
There's no existential crisis, there's just been a very stupid strategy of trying to get Reform votes and losing Labour voters.
President Trump has said his most barbed thing yet about Sir Keir Starmer.
“This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with” the president said, in a news conference alongside the chancellor of Germany.
Sounds like Keir is off the Christmas card list. Might give him a bump in the polls though.
No easier way to improve his polling than pick a fight with Trump.
The biggest strategic error of his premiership has been trying to moderate Trump. Led to Mandelson, big reason why he lost his core vote, makes him look indecisive/weak.
The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there.
We’re continuing our defensive operations and I've just spoken with the President of Cyprus to let him know that we are sending helicopters with counter drone capabilities and HMS Dragon is to be deployed to the region.
We will always act in the interest of the UK and our allies.
Another projection site for the locals. Tories hold Bexley is bold (as is only 3 wards between Norfolk and Suffolk)
Unremittingly hopeless.
I don't know why we give these so-called "projections" any publicity at all. They completely ignore or cannot deal with the presence of local Independents - Newham apparently will be 54 Labour and 12 Greens. The idea the Newham Independents will win nothing is absurd. If all these so-called projections are extrapolations of opinion polls and local by-elections, they should pack up and go home and we shouldn't indulge them or give them any credence.
Another projection site for the locals. Tories hold Bexley is bold (as is only 3 wards between Norfolk and Suffolk)
Unremittingly hopeless.
I don't know why we give these so-called "projections" any publicity at all. They completely ignore or cannot deal with the presence of local Independents - Newham apparently will be 54 Labour and 12 Greens. The idea the Newham Independents will win nothing is absurd. If all these so-called projections are extrapolations of opinion polls and local by-elections, they should pack up and go home and we shouldn't indulge them or give them any credence.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is giving up the lease on another Crown Estate property, the BBC understands.
Mountbatten-Windsor has asked to end his lease on East Lodge, near his former home at Sunninghill Park in Berkshire, with documents seen by the BBC showing he has been paying an annual rent of almost £13,000.
Macron addressing les frogs at 8pm. If he announces France supports the effort to be rid of Irans regime then Starmer will look ridiculous. Even more ridiculous than he does at RAF Akrotiri doing a Gordon
President Trump has said his most barbed thing yet about Sir Keir Starmer.
“This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with” the president said, in a news conference alongside the chancellor of Germany.
Sounds like Keir is off the Christmas card list. Might give him a bump in the polls though.
Trump treats other countries' leaders including Starmer like he does the Governor of Minnesota. They have a role in keeping the natives quiet but are essentially there to do what they're told
President Trump has said his most barbed thing yet about Sir Keir Starmer.
“This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with” the president said, in a news conference alongside the chancellor of Germany.
Sounds like Keir is off the Christmas card list. Might give him a bump in the polls though.
No easier way to improve his polling than pick a fight with Trump.
The biggest strategic error of his premiership has been trying to moderate Trump. Led to Mandelson, big reason why he lost his core vote, makes him look indecisive/weak.
It might’ve been a political error, but maybe it was better for the country?
.@POTUS: "Some of the European nations have been helpful, and some haven't—and I'm very surprised. Germany's been great... Spain has been terrible. In fact, I told Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain."
There's a good centre left grouping coming together. Now that Starmer is following his MPs and not slavishly following Trump a 'NEW LABOUR' could be at its centre. If he can't resist the pull towards Farage he can and will be replaced. He's got roughly 10 weeks to show he's the person to lead this grouping otherwise he'll be out. This I believe to be a fact.
I think that ship has sailed sadly. Starmer has lost the left permanently.
He has tewn weeks to get them back. Yesterday was a very good start. Everyone likes a repentant sinner and failing that Burnham is waiting in the wings. Burnham should get on well with Zack. Two Mancunions
I dont think his stance on Gaza is going to be forgotten or forgiven.
You never can tell. If he brings his human rights lawyer persona to the fore and leads the demand for Netanyahu's arrest people will forget quickly and he could become a hero.
.@POTUS: "Some of the European nations have been helpful, and some haven't—and I'm very surprised. Germany's been great... Spain has been terrible. In fact, I told Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain."
"By the way, I'm not happy with the U.K. either."
He sounds like a parent explaining why some of the kids are getting ice cream and the other are going straight to their room.....
Another projection site for the locals. Tories hold Bexley is bold (as is only 3 wards between Norfolk and Suffolk)
Unremittingly hopeless.
I don't know why we give these so-called "projections" any publicity at all. They completely ignore or cannot deal with the presence of local Independents - Newham apparently will be 54 Labour and 12 Greens. The idea the Newham Independents will win nothing is absurd. If all these so-called projections are extrapolations of opinion polls and local by-elections, they should pack up and go home and we shouldn't indulge them or give them any credence.
Excellent news for Starmer. He couldn't have hoped. for more. Even the US are 4;1 against the invasion. In the UK it's probably more.
Yes and the ass kicking nauseous show boating of Badenoch and Farage will be looked back in in 12 months time as being the bubble burst for Farage and extinction for the Tories.
It'll take time to filter through but it will be the end of the year
As for the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, we now see how a few limited missile strikes by Tehran are having an impact completely out of proportion to any military consequence.
Cruise ships stuck, people apparently desperate to leave (no, I don't believe it either) and western economies, as they have been for decades, hyper sensitive to any interruption of energy supply whether it be oil through Hormuz or LNG via Qatar. Forcing weak economies into recession or worse and the political impacts of said may be the best card Tehran has to play.
Clearly, we have to hope any disruption to energy supplies is short lived but if not the economic impacts of a sharp rise in gas and petrol prices will be significant even as we move into summer.
As I asked this morning, where does this end, what does the end look like?
There's a good centre left grouping coming together. Now that Starmer is following his MPs and not slavishly following Trump a 'NEW LABOUR' could be at its centre. If he can't resist the pull towards Farage he can and will be replaced. He's got roughly 10 weeks to show he's the person to lead this grouping otherwise he'll be out. This I believe to be a fact.
I think that ship has sailed sadly. Starmer has lost the left permanently.
He has tewn weeks to get them back. Yesterday was a very good start. Everyone likes a repentant sinner and failing that Burnham is waiting in the wings. Burnham should get on well with Zack. Two Mancunions
Starmer will not get the left back and replacing him may not be the cure you think it is
Labour are in an existential crisis being attacked from right and left
There's no existential crisis, there's just been a very stupid strategy of trying to get Reform votes and losing Labour voters.
Another projection site for the locals. Tories hold Bexley is bold (as is only 3 wards between Norfolk and Suffolk)
Unremittingly hopeless.
I don't know why we give these so-called "projections" any publicity at all. They completely ignore or cannot deal with the presence of local Independents - Newham apparently will be 54 Labour and 12 Greens. The idea the Newham Independents will win nothing is absurd. If all these so-called projections are extrapolations of opinion polls and local by-elections, they should pack up and go home and we shouldn't indulge them or give them any credence.
Its not great. Its not at all great
What was the other one on this morning? 700 Labour losses and 300 Conservative losses? I'll have some of what they are smoking - with the polls showing Conservative support back in the high teens, how is it going to be anything other than a painful night for the party (and Labour) in both London and elsewhere?
Macron addressing les frogs at 8pm. If he announces France supports the effort to be rid of Irans regime then Starmer will look ridiculous. Even more ridiculous than he does at RAF Akrotiri doing a Gordon
Almost as ridiculous as imagining the French will get involved in an American war.
The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there.
We’re continuing our defensive operations and I've just spoken with the President of Cyprus to let him know that we are sending helicopters with counter drone capabilities and HMS Dragon is to be deployed to the region.
We will always act in the interest of the UK and our allies.
Good to see the decision finally made, but dare I say slightly short-sighted to have not made the call weeks ago when it was clearly about to kick off in the region.
John Bolton @AmbJohnBolton · 2h Trump has made it clear. This is a regime change mission. But you don't achieve regime change by replacing Khamenei with another ayatollah. In order for regime change to happen, the entire structure of the ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guard must be swept away.
Macron addressing les frogs at 8pm. If he announces France supports the effort to be rid of Irans regime then Starmer will look ridiculous. Even more ridiculous than he does at RAF Akrotiri doing a Gordon
Almost as ridiculous as imagining the French will get involved in an American war.
Oh they won't. I mean support as in Merz's statement earlier.
President Trump has said his most barbed thing yet about Sir Keir Starmer.
“This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with” the president said, in a news conference alongside the chancellor of Germany.
Sounds like Keir is off the Christmas card list. Might give him a bump in the polls though.
No easier way to improve his polling than pick a fight with Trump.
The biggest strategic error of his premiership has been trying to moderate Trump. Led to Mandelson, big reason why he lost his core vote, makes him look indecisive/weak.
It might’ve been a political error, but maybe it was better for the country?
The supposed benefit of lower tariffs seem to have evaporated. The military aid to ukraine is gone.
Fundamentally as someone else might have said... Trump is not a man we can do business with.
Another projection site for the locals. Tories hold Bexley is bold (as is only 3 wards between Norfolk and Suffolk)
Unremittingly hopeless.
I don't know why we give these so-called "projections" any publicity at all. They completely ignore or cannot deal with the presence of local Independents - Newham apparently will be 54 Labour and 12 Greens. The idea the Newham Independents will win nothing is absurd. If all these so-called projections are extrapolations of opinion polls and local by-elections, they should pack up and go home and we shouldn't indulge them or give them any credence.
Its not great. Its not at all great
What was the other one on this morning? 700 Labour losses and 300 Conservative losses? I'll have some of what they are smoking - with the polls showing Conservative support back in the high teens, how is it going to be anything other than a painful night for the party (and Labour) in both London and elsewhere?
Quite. Theyll be spinning individual councils where they can, the overall picture willbe of heavy losses in numbers That said i don't see it being as bad as May 2025, Reform are on the way down, not the way up
.@POTUS: "Some of the European nations have been helpful, and some haven't—and I'm very surprised. Germany's been great... Spain has been terrible. In fact, I told Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain."
"By the way, I'm not happy with the U.K. either."
He sounds like a parent explaining why some of the kids are getting ice cream and the other are going straight to their room.....
President Trump has said his most barbed thing yet about Sir Keir Starmer.
“This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with” the president said, in a news conference alongside the chancellor of Germany.
Sounds like Keir is off the Christmas card list. Might give him a bump in the polls though.
No easier way to improve his polling than pick a fight with Trump.
The biggest strategic error of his premiership has been trying to moderate Trump. Led to Mandelson, big reason why he lost his core vote, makes him look indecisive/weak.
I agree. In a sense his attempts to 'manage' Trump show him in a good light because it would have been personally unpleasant to have his tongue up there and it was putting (in his genuine perception) the national interest over domestic popularity and party, but it was a mistake. It misread Trump as 'transactional'. He isn't. He's wild and nasty. So it's led to the worst of all worlds. Looks weak for the obfuscation and punch pulling, gets the negative reward of being insulted.
President Trump has said his most barbed thing yet about Sir Keir Starmer.
“This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with” the president said, in a news conference alongside the chancellor of Germany.
Sounds like Keir is off the Christmas card list. Might give him a bump in the polls though.
No easier way to improve his polling than pick a fight with Trump.
The biggest strategic error of his premiership has been trying to moderate Trump. Led to Mandelson, big reason why he lost his core vote, makes him look indecisive/weak.
I agree. In a sense his attempts to 'manage' Trump show him in a good light because it would have been personally unpleasant to have his tongue up there and it was putting (in his genuine perception) the national interest over domestic popularity and party, but it was a mistake. It misread Trump as 'transactional'. He isn't. He's wild and nasty. So it's lead to the worst of all worlds. Looks weak for the obfuscation and punch pulling, gets the negative reward of being insulted.
That's a framing I hadn't considered - good point.
John Bolton @AmbJohnBolton · 2h Trump has made it clear. This is a regime change mission. But you don't achieve regime change by replacing Khamenei with another ayatollah. In order for regime change to happen, the entire structure of the ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guard must be swept away.
As for the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, we now see how a few limited missile strikes by Tehran are having an impact completely out of proportion to any military consequence.
Cruise ships stuck, people apparently desperate to leave (no, I don't believe it either) and western economies, as they have been for decades, hyper sensitive to any interruption of energy supply whether it be oil through Hormuz or LNG via Qatar. Forcing weak economies into recession or worse and the political impacts of said may be the best card Tehran has to play.
Clearly, we have to hope any disruption to energy supplies is short lived but if not the economic impacts of a sharp rise in gas and petrol prices will be significant even as we move into summer.
As I asked this morning, where does this end, what does the end look like?
You could make a fortune if you knew that
I expect the gulf states to join the US and Iran friendless
The Westminster commentariat is more perturbed about Britain being unable to join a US-Israeli offensive war of choice in the Middle East than it ever has been about Britain being unable to fight a defensive one of necessity in Europe https://x.com/arisroussinos/status/2028785984599453748
President Trump has said his most barbed thing yet about Sir Keir Starmer.
“This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with” the president said, in a news conference alongside the chancellor of Germany.
Sounds like Keir is off the Christmas card list. Might give him a bump in the polls though.
No easier way to improve his polling than pick a fight with Trump.
The biggest strategic error of his premiership has been trying to moderate Trump. Led to Mandelson, big reason why he lost his core vote, makes him look indecisive/weak.
I agree. In a sense his attempts to 'manage' Trump show him in a good light because it would have been personally unpleasant to have his tongue up there and it was putting (in his genuine perception) the national interest over domestic popularity and party, but it was a mistake. It misread Trump as 'transactional'. He isn't. He's wild and nasty. So it's led to the worst of all worlds. Looks weak for the obfuscation and punch pulling, gets the negative reward of being insulted.
Does being insulted by Trump bring negative rewards?
Another projection site for the locals. Tories hold Bexley is bold (as is only 3 wards between Norfolk and Suffolk)
Unremittingly hopeless.
I don't know why we give these so-called "projections" any publicity at all. They completely ignore or cannot deal with the presence of local Independents - Newham apparently will be 54 Labour and 12 Greens. The idea the Newham Independents will win nothing is absurd. If all these so-called projections are extrapolations of opinion polls and local by-elections, they should pack up and go home and we shouldn't indulge them or give them any credence.
Its not great. Its not at all great
“3.6 Roentgen, Not Great, Not Terrible”
Not so good when shutting down somebody saying "But that's as high as the meter..."
The Westminster commentariat is more perturbed about Britain being unable to join a US-Israeli offensive war of choice in the Middle East than it ever has been about Britain being unable to fight a defensive one of necessity in Europe https://x.com/arisroussinos/status/2028785984599453748
Spot on
The little Tory and Reform Englanders are bleeting
Another projection site for the locals. Tories hold Bexley is bold (as is only 3 wards between Norfolk and Suffolk)
Unremittingly hopeless.
I don't know why we give these so-called "projections" any publicity at all. They completely ignore or cannot deal with the presence of local Independents - Newham apparently will be 54 Labour and 12 Greens. The idea the Newham Independents will win nothing is absurd. If all these so-called projections are extrapolations of opinion polls and local by-elections, they should pack up and go home and we shouldn't indulge them or give them any credence.
Its not great. Its not at all great
What was the other one on this morning? 700 Labour losses and 300 Conservative losses? I'll have some of what they are smoking - with the polls showing Conservative support back in the high teens, how is it going to be anything other than a painful night for the party (and Labour) in both London and elsewhere?
Quite. Theyll be spinning individual councils where they can, the overall picture willbe of heavy losses in numbers That said i don't see it being as bad as May 2025, Reform are on the way down, not the way up
If Kemi had 1 councillors they would claim she had one foot on the ramp.
John Bolton @AmbJohnBolton · 2h Trump has made it clear. This is a regime change mission. But you don't achieve regime change by replacing Khamenei with another ayatollah. In order for regime change to happen, the entire structure of the ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guard must be swept away.
Has any PM ever been as consistently buffeted by events as Keir Starmer? Everything takes him by surprise, including the content of his own speeches.
No PM has had to deal with Trump 2
In general especially initial tariffs he played Trump perfectly
Now he's showing a different side and it's Badenoch and Farage totally out of touch.
You certainly seem to be striving to get your Starmtrooper stripes
Starmer will be seen in time as a hero
Country before Party Country before personal ego.
Like Kinnock and Smith when Labour win the next election the work he did inheriting devastated and destroyed Tory Britain and then dealing with Trump 2 will be seen in a far different light.
Has any PM ever been as consistently buffeted by events as Keir Starmer? Everything takes him by surprise, including the content of his own speeches.
No PM has had to deal with Trump 2
In general especially initial tariffs he played Trump perfectly
Now he's showing a different side and it's Badenoch and Farage totally out of touch.
You certainly seem to be striving to get your Starmtrooper stripes
Starmer will be seen in time as a hero
Country before Party Country before personal ego.
Like Kinnock and Smith when Labour win the next election the work he did inheriting devastated and destroyed Tory Britain and then dealing with Trump 2 will be seen in a far different light.
President Trump has said his most barbed thing yet about Sir Keir Starmer.
“This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with” the president said, in a news conference alongside the chancellor of Germany.
Sounds like Keir is off the Christmas card list. Might give him a bump in the polls though.
No easier way to improve his polling than pick a fight with Trump.
The biggest strategic error of his premiership has been trying to moderate Trump. Led to Mandelson, big reason why he lost his core vote, makes him look indecisive/weak.
I agree. In a sense his attempts to 'manage' Trump show him in a good light because it would have been personally unpleasant to have his tongue up there and it was putting (in his genuine perception) the national interest over domestic popularity and party, but it was a mistake. It misread Trump as 'transactional'. He isn't. He's wild and nasty. So it's led to the worst of all worlds. Looks weak for the obfuscation and punch pulling, gets the negative reward of being insulted.
Does being insulted by Trump bring negative rewards?
If Trump seeks to humiliate SKS by doing things that hurt the UK I'd hope the public would rally to our PM over a hostile foreign leader - but based on some of the shit getting thrown around I'm not 100% confident of that.
President Trump has said his most barbed thing yet about Sir Keir Starmer.
“This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with” the president said, in a news conference alongside the chancellor of Germany.
Sounds like Keir is off the Christmas card list. Might give him a bump in the polls though.
No easier way to improve his polling than pick a fight with Trump.
The biggest strategic error of his premiership has been trying to moderate Trump. Led to Mandelson, big reason why he lost his core vote, makes him look indecisive/weak.
I agree. In a sense his attempts to 'manage' Trump show him in a good light because it would have been personally unpleasant to have his tongue up there and it was putting (in his genuine perception) the national interest over domestic popularity and party, but it was a mistake. It misread Trump as 'transactional'. He isn't. He's wild and nasty. So it's led to the worst of all worlds. Looks weak for the obfuscation and punch pulling, gets the negative reward of being insulted.
Does being insulted by Trump bring negative rewards?
If Trump seeks to humiliate SKS by doing things that hurt the UK I'd hope the public would rally to our PM over a hostile foreign leader - but based on some of the shit getting thrown around I'm not 100% confident of that.
Id rally to the best person imo to lead the UK. Starmer doesnt stop being a useless, inept fool just because Trump is having a go at him.
There's a good centre left grouping coming together. Now that Starmer is following his MPs and not slavishly following Trump a 'NEW LABOUR' could be at its centre. If he can't resist the pull towards Farage he can and will be replaced. He's got roughly 10 weeks to show he's the person to lead this grouping otherwise he'll be out. This I believe to be a fact.
I think that ship has sailed sadly. Starmer has lost the left permanently.
He has tewn weeks to get them back. Yesterday was a very good start. Everyone likes a repentant sinner and failing that Burnham is waiting in the wings. Burnham should get on well with Zack. Two Mancunions
Starmer will not get the left back and replacing him may not be the cure you think it is
Labour are in an existential crisis being attacked from right and left
A Labour government has to deal with geopolitical reality, rather than just deliver what its left wing wants.
John Bolton @AmbJohnBolton · 2h Trump has made it clear. This is a regime change mission. But you don't achieve regime change by replacing Khamenei with another ayatollah. In order for regime change to happen, the entire structure of the ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guard must be swept away.
I'm looking forward to Bolton getting in uniform and leading the US assault on Tehran himself, if he's that set on it.
From wiki: "Bolton was a supporter of the Vietnam War,[36] but avoided combat through a student deferment followed by enlistment in the Maryland National Guard."
John Bolton @AmbJohnBolton · 2h Trump has made it clear. This is a regime change mission. But you don't achieve regime change by replacing Khamenei with another ayatollah. In order for regime change to happen, the entire structure of the ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guard must be swept away.
Bolton's misunderstanding is that his idea of regime change is finding a new regime amenable to Western interests. Trump's idea of regime change is to find any new leader willing to say Trump is the greatest President ever and to pay him and his friends a few tens of oil billions - in exchange they can do what they like at home. That is easier to find.
Comments
https://x.com/keir_starmer/status/2028865450445074502
The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there.
We’re continuing our defensive operations and I've just spoken with the President of Cyprus to let him know that we are sending helicopters with counter drone capabilities and HMS Dragon is to be deployed to the region.
We will always act in the interest of the UK and our allies.
Mountbatten-Windsor has asked to end his lease on East Lodge, near his former home at Sunninghill Park in Berkshire, with documents seen by the BBC showing he has been paying an annual rent of almost £13,000.
I have pronounced.
All now be silent
Labour are in an existential crisis being attacked from right and left
Trump: "Spain has been terrible. I told Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain. They said we can't use their bases. We could use their bases if we want. We could just fly in and use it. Nobody is gonna tell us not to use it."
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mg6atwqrgu22
“This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with” the president said, in a news conference alongside the chancellor of Germany.
Sounds like Keir is off the Christmas card list. Might give him a bump in the polls though.
The biggest strategic error of his premiership has been trying to moderate Trump. Led to Mandelson, big reason why he lost his core vote, makes him look indecisive/weak.
Important speech, unless I've missed their level of co-operation, so far. It's certainly not the line from France and the U.K.
I don't know why we give these so-called "projections" any publicity at all. They completely ignore or cannot deal with the presence of local Independents - Newham apparently will be 54 Labour and 12 Greens. The idea the Newham Independents will win nothing is absurd. If all these so-called projections are extrapolations of opinion polls and local by-elections, they should pack up and go home and we shouldn't indulge them or give them any credence.
.@POTUS: "Some of the European nations have been helpful, and some haven't—and I'm very surprised. Germany's been great... Spain has been terrible. In fact, I told Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain."
"By the way, I'm not happy with the U.K. either."
In general especially initial tariffs he played Trump perfectly
Now he's showing a different side and it's Badenoch and Farage totally out of touch.
It'll take time to filter through but it will be the end of the year
Get the codes off him now.
Cruise ships stuck, people apparently desperate to leave (no, I don't believe it either) and western economies, as they have been for decades, hyper sensitive to any interruption of energy supply whether it be oil through Hormuz or LNG via Qatar. Forcing weak economies into recession or worse and the political impacts of said may be the best card Tehran has to play.
Clearly, we have to hope any disruption to energy supplies is short lived but if not the economic impacts of a sharp rise in gas and petrol prices will be significant even as we move into summer.
As I asked this morning, where does this end, what does the end look like?
The presser I've just watched would have seen a Peter sellers sketch with sellers as Trump kicked out for being utterly implausible.
.
Watching a US president who is beyond deranged.
Now officially up Trumps ass.
@AmbJohnBolton
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2h
Trump has made it clear. This is a regime change mission. But you don't achieve regime change by replacing Khamenei with another ayatollah. In order for regime change to happen, the entire structure of the ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guard must be swept away.
https://x.com/AmbJohnBolton/status/2028846608704475397
1) it wouldn’t have ordered illegal tariffs
2) it wouldn’t have hacked off every ally of the US
3) it wouldn’t have been invited to Epstein Island
I could go on for several hundred lines.
#VegatablesForASanePresidency
Fundamentally as someone else might have said... Trump is not a man we can do business with.
That said i don't see it being as bad as May 2025, Reform are on the way down, not the way up
I expect the gulf states to join the US and Iran friendless
The Westminster commentariat is more perturbed about Britain being unable to join a US-Israeli offensive war of choice in the Middle East than it ever has been about Britain being unable to fight a defensive one of necessity in Europe
https://x.com/arisroussinos/status/2028785984599453748
The little Tory and Reform Englanders are bleeting
And in Starmer....
Anyone who supports Trump .....
Pretty clear that Reform in power will end up with the UK being a vassal state of the US .
Press conference post meeting with Merz.
Country before Party Country before personal ego.
Like Kinnock and Smith when Labour win the next election the work he did inheriting devastated and destroyed Tory Britain and then dealing with Trump 2 will be seen in a far different light.
Country before Party Country before personal ego.
Like Kinnock and Smith when Labour win the next election the work he did inheriting devastated and destroyed Tory Britain and then dealing with Trump 2 will be seen in a far different light.
Germany's Merz supports U.S. embargoing Spain, claims it's to "convince" them to increase NATO spending.
https://x.com/sajwani/status/2028880316321153415
4 deaths and 50 injuries so far, mostly from falling debris rather than direct strikes.