I sort of wonder has Starmer ever been up nurrrth?
Prime Minister all those Northerners are very pissed at us, they are complaining about cost of living, housing, crime, job opportuntiies, how are we going to respond. I know, we shall promise more women in the civil service.
In the last few minutes the former minister Catherine West added her voice.
"The Labour Party need the chance to have an honest conversation about how we deliver the change we promised in 2024, and that requires new leadership which understands the urgent and real concerns of people across the UK," she said.
I am not sure it requires new leadership as much as £100-200bn a year that we don't have and can't sensibly raise.
Here's the thing, though.
£100bn a year is about £30 per person per week. Whether that's tax rises or paying for things directly instead of via the state doesn't change the number. If we're honest, for some of us (a lot of us here) that would barely be noticed. For a lot of us, it would be unpleasant. For some, it would be painful, which is why it would be mad to do it as a flat rate thing. But if it really were life or death, freedom or slavery, we'd find it. You know, like the WW2 generation we eulogise did. The money is there.
But the threat is too distant and intangible. So we would all rather quibble and haggle about how someone else should pay more and we should pay less. See the mewling over winter fuel payments from a generation who didn't fund that boon for their parents.
Starmer isn't up to winning that argument with the public, but who is?
Politicians have to win arguments with the public.
The financial markets can impose instead.
Those people thinking they have nothing to lose by voting Reform or Green might discover they do if the welfare they receive or public services they use are cut.
Haven't Reform said recently that they want to cut £15 billion off welfare to pay for the triple lock and move to an insurance style model for the NHS?
Reform change their policies every few months and every few miles.
So anything they say now is effectively meaningless gibber.
But by a general election they will need to be proposing consistent, cohesive, properly funded policies.
Not least because the media isn't going to treat Farage as easily as they did Starmer in an election campaign.
If Reform do win the next GE handsomely on 2X% vote-share they will face similar problems to Labour. A majority built on sand, if you will.
This isn’t cope but the problem with FPTP
It will be worse because they don't agree at all on much beyond immigration, and their cabinet will be a mix of the most backstabbing failed Tory ministers and people without any political experience at all.
If this is Keith listening to the voters yesterday, I assume that he has been watching a rerun of the 1997 General Election broadcast.
What has happened in this election? Labour humiliated in Scotland. Eviscerated in Wales, with no members elected at all in their former heartlands represented by giants like Nye Bevan. Labour literally removed from existence in swathes of England, with people voting for the Green Reform horseshoe party to punish beat the in office since the Danelaw lot.
They are electing literal wife beaters in some cases. More DEI is not what is being asked for by these voters.
Doing PR or Rejoin without a clear manifesto commitment or a referendum mandate is a recipe for disaster
Doing nothing is even worse. Labour are on 17%-ish. SKS is already aligning closer to the EU, all he has to say is “I have done as much as I can - it’s now over to you. At the next general election, the Labour Party will put in its manifesto a referendum to rejoin the EU”. Some people will hate it - a lot. But it will mean 17% becomes 28% or so. Leon is right. It’s the smart move but is SKS smart enough to enact it?
Doing PR or Rejoin without a clear manifesto commitment or a referendum mandate is a recipe for disaster
Those that advocate either without a referendum are not thinking about the precedent they’d be setting. And in the case of the EU, are forgetting that the EU gets a vote and can read our polls too.
I’ve just realised that if Reform do win the next GE, at least one of Labour or the Tories won’t be the leader of the opposition with no official shadow cabinet. That’ll be new
Aide: “Prime Minister, we have just been destroyed across the country by two insurgent parties, who say we are out of touch, elitist, foolish, and London centric. And voters personally think you are weird and creepy. What can we do? We must do something?”
Pause
PM: “How about we get a 154 year old Baroness and appoint her my special advisor for ‘women and girls’?”
Aide: “You mean Baroness Harman? Cousin of Lady Antonia Fraser, Lady Rachel Billington and Thomas Pakenham, Earl of Longford?”
PM: “Yes exactly. That should win back Wigan. Even better, she worked for the NCCL in the 1970s when they had links with the pro pedophile PIE group, which will destroy the Tory and Reform vote on Tyneside”
Andrew Marr should know better than to predict the GE result three years out .
Reform aren’t 20 points ahead and a GE campaign is quite different from local elections .
Thursday was a free hit for voters in England . Some of the Reform policy positions might excite their base but the UK isn’t the USA and their core vote isn’t enough to get elected .
One of my takeaways from yesterday was how much of an opportunity the Tories still have if they switched to a good leader and got ruthless about winning power from the centre. Incredible really, after their recent period in office.
Aide: “Prime Minister, we have just been destroyed across the country by two insurgent parties, who say we are out of touch, elitist, foolish, and London centric. And they are personally think you are weird and creepy. What can we do? We must do something?”
Pause
PM: “How about we get a 154 year old Baroness and appoint her my special advisor for ‘women and girls’?”
Aide: “You mean Baroness Harman? Cousin of Lady Antonia Fraser, Lady Rachel Billington and Thomas Pakenham, Earl of Longford?”
PM: “Yes exactly. That should win back Wigan. Even better, she worked for the NCCL in the 1970s when they had links with the pro pedophile PIE group, which will destroy the Tory and Reform vote on Tyneside”
Aide says nothing. Blinks
Have you thought about a career in comedy fiction writing?
Doing PR or Rejoin without a clear manifesto commitment or a referendum mandate is a recipe for disaster
Those that advocate either without a referendum are not thinking about the precedent they’d be setting. And in the case of the EU, are forgetting that the EU gets a vote and can read our polls too.
Yes very true. However I expect a Reform government to take the Trump approach and rip up all precedents anyway.
I am starting to think Starmer has actually lost his marbles or his advisors are shielding the real world from him.
Joe Biden/ Donald Trump are waving.
I am starting to wonder if they are mocking up copies of the Guardian and FT for him. And then no wonder he is furious when he eventually finds out that Peter Mandleson is big mates with a paedo and that he failed security vetting over links to China.
Aide: “Prime Minister, we have just been destroyed across the country by two insurgent parties, who say we are out of touch, elitist, foolish, and London centric. And voters personally think you are weird and creepy. What can we do? We must do something?”
Pause
PM: “How about we get a 154 year old Baroness and appoint her my special advisor for ‘women and girls’?”
Aide: “You mean Baroness Harman? Cousin of Lady Antonia Fraser, Lady Rachel Billington and Thomas Pakenham, Earl of Longford?”
PM: “Yes exactly. That should win back Wigan. Even better, she worked for the NCCL in the 1970s when they had links with the pro pedophile PIE group, which will destroy the Tory and Reform vote on Tyneside”
It is honestly staggering that this feels like the actions of Labour in 2009 after being in office since 1997, not the actions of a government elected TWO YEARS AGO.
Everyone can see this is over. But apparently not Keir Starmer. I conclude he’s thick as pig shit.
He isn't thick.
But he is a classic example of an intelligent academic type with zero common sense, self awareness or street sense.
You meet them over and over when you live in Oxford.
Combine this with Starmer's arrogance and misplaced belief in his intellectual superiority, and you get a man who can't actually see the writing on the wall.
It would at least make some sense if he was talking to Blair, you know the bloke who won a load of elections and even today does seem to have some idea that the world has changed and policy needs to change with it.
Aide: “Prime Minister, we have just been destroyed across the country by two insurgent parties, who say we are out of touch, elitist, foolish, and London centric. And they are personally think you are weird and creepy. What can we do? We must do something?”
Pause
PM: “How about we get a 154 year old Baroness and appoint her my special advisor for ‘women and girls’?”
Aide: “You mean Baroness Harman? Cousin of Lady Antonia Fraser, Lady Rachel Billington and Thomas Pakenham, Earl of Longford?”
PM: “Yes exactly. That should win back Wigan. Even better, she worked for the NCCL in the 1970s when they had links with the pro pedophile PIE group, which will destroy the Tory and Reform vote on Tyneside”
Aide says nothing. Blinks
Have you thought about a career in comedy fiction writing?
Doing PR or Rejoin without a clear manifesto commitment or a referendum mandate is a recipe for disaster
Those that advocate either without a referendum are not thinking about the precedent they’d be setting. And in the case of the EU, are forgetting that the EU gets a vote and can read our polls too.
Yes very true. However I expect a Reform government to take the Trump approach and rip up all precedents anyway.
Oh I agree. Thats the most worrying thing. They will be implode before they can much damage, but the damage they do manage will include that sort of thing, thereby unleashing all the nutters in all the other parties. It’s the shortcut to becoming America.
It would at least make some sense if he was talking to Blair, you know the bloke who won a load of elections and even today does seem to have some idea that the world has changed and policy needs to change with it.
Gordon Brown is to become the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Global Finance
"The PM has committed to boosting the country’s security and resilience. In this role, Gordon Brown will advise on how global finance cooperation can help to achieve this."
Gordon Brown is to become the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Global Finance
"The PM has committed to boosting the country’s security and resilience. In this role, Gordon Brown will advise on how global finance cooperation can help to achieve this."
There has to be somebody in his team in #10 who is actively working for Burnham or Streeting to make Starmer look like such an out of touch tone deaf wally even the Labour party have to move against him.
Gordon Brown is to become the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Global Finance
"The PM has committed to boosting the country’s security and resilience. In this role, Gordon Brown will advise on how global finance cooperation can help to achieve this."
I still find it astonishing that not a single member of the media has brought up the structure of Reform.
Unless there’s a change effectively you cannot remove Farage . If the worst happened and he ended up in No 10 there’s no mechanism for the party to remove him barring a vote of no confidence . And turkeys don’t vote for Christmas .
Will anyone in the media ask this obvious question ?
Gordon Brown is to become the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Global Finance
"The PM has committed to boosting the country’s security and resilience. In this role, Gordon Brown will advise on how global finance cooperation can help to achieve this."
Yes, it's completely ridiculous. I thought he might struggle on to the end of the year. It's becoming very clear that would make Labour's miserable position much worse.
"An orderly transition" is now only one which happens asap.
I still find it astonishing that not a single member of the media has brought up the structure of Reform.
Unless there’s a change effectively you cannot remove Farage . If the worst happened and he ended up in No 10 there’s no mechanism for the party to remove him barring a vote of no confidence . And turkeys don’t vote for Christmas .
Will anyone in the media ask this obvious question ?
I think it’s his smoking and drinking habits that cap him at one term..
BTW - hello again everyone. Not that it has one jot of impact on your day, but it was quite like old times over the past few days and I really enjoyed the election day sparring.
Yes, it was good
If nothing else, the complete annihilation of old style uniparty politics has finally injected excitement into Westminster - and even local elections (and PB). People can now vote for 5, 6 or 7 parties knowing that they are voting for something they actually desire, not out of dutiful tribalism
We do need PR at some point
If not now, when ?
Farage wants it; the LibDems have always wanted it; the Greens strongly support it. And Labour are possibly shell shocked enough to recognise their likely inability ever to win another commons majority.
With very broad cross party support, and a large Parliamentary majority, there will never be a better time.
"At some point" just means kick it into the long grass.
I agree. I want PR. But Labour cannot just shove it through with a vote, that would be disastrous and probably dangerous
It either needs to be won in a referendum or as the fulfilment of an explicit manifesto promise, after a GE victory
That said, such is the disgruntled nature of the electorate right now, that referendum might pass today. People WANT change
If Labour back it, the Tories, on around 20% of the vote, are the only party which doesn't. You don't need another bloody referendum.
If I were Starmer's replacement I would challenge Farage to back a Commons bill introducing it for the next General Election.
According to local Reform activists, Reform have gone off PR. "Not in our interest"
Gordon Brown is to become the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Global Finance
"The PM has committed to boosting the country’s security and resilience. In this role, Gordon Brown will advise on how global finance cooperation can help to achieve this."
I still find it astonishing that not a single member of the media has brought up the structure of Reform.
Unless there’s a change effectively you cannot remove Farage . If the worst happened and he ended up in No 10 there’s no mechanism for the party to remove him barring a vote of no confidence . And turkeys don’t vote for Christmas .
Will anyone in the media ask this obvious question ?
I think it’s his smoking and drinking habits that cap him at one term..
We can only hope ! Seriously though the UK media are useless .
It’s early days but I am starting to hear some bafflement, even anger, from Labour ministers, MPs and officials about the appearance of Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman this morning.
While both widely respected by Labour MPs, there is widespread confusion about how figures from Labour’s past signify change. One normally loyal minister just said to me: "It’s a joke. There is no question to which bringing these two back is the answer."
BTW - hello again everyone. Not that it has one jot of impact on your day, but it was quite like old times over the past few days and I really enjoyed the election day sparring.
Yes, it was good
If nothing else, the complete annihilation of old style uniparty politics has finally injected excitement into Westminster - and even local elections (and PB). People can now vote for 5, 6 or 7 parties knowing that they are voting for something they actually desire, not out of dutiful tribalism
We do need PR at some point
If not now, when ?
Farage wants it; the LibDems have always wanted it; the Greens strongly support it. And Labour are possibly shell shocked enough to recognise their likely inability ever to win another commons majority.
With very broad cross party support, and a large Parliamentary majority, there will never be a better time.
"At some point" just means kick it into the long grass.
I agree. I want PR. But Labour cannot just shove it through with a vote, that would be disastrous and probably dangerous
It either needs to be won in a referendum or as the fulfilment of an explicit manifesto promise, after a GE victory
That said, such is the disgruntled nature of the electorate right now, that referendum might pass today. People WANT change
If Labour back it, the Tories, on around 20% of the vote, are the only party which doesn't. You don't need another bloody referendum.
If I were Starmer's replacement I would challenge Farage to back a Commons bill introducing it for the next General Election.
According to local Reform activists, Reform have gone off PR. "Not in our interest"
It is never going to happen for this reason. Getting support from the parties not winning under FPTP is trivial, but the winners prefer to keep winning than share.
I still find it astonishing that not a single member of the media has brought up the structure of Reform.
Unless there’s a change effectively you cannot remove Farage . If the worst happened and he ended up in No 10 there’s no mechanism for the party to remove him barring a vote of no confidence . And turkeys don’t vote for Christmas .
Will anyone in the media ask this obvious question ?
Mornimg P.B.
As the 1980's American advert used to say, he lilked the party so.much he bought it.
What next, they announce Starmer is going to do Starmer Directs, where is stands on a soap box in the likes of Wigan and Stoke high streets taking questions from the public?
Gordon Brown is to become the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Global Finance
"The PM has committed to boosting the country’s security and resilience. In this role, Gordon Brown will advise on how global finance cooperation can help to achieve this."
I still find it astonishing that not a single member of the media has brought up the structure of Reform.
Unless there’s a change effectively you cannot remove Farage . If the worst happened and he ended up in No 10 there’s no mechanism for the party to remove him barring a vote of no confidence . And turkeys don’t vote for Christmas .
Will anyone in the media ask this obvious question ?
Starmer's gifts from Ali, Rayner's mortgage, Mandelson's ties with Russia, the Telegraph, the Mail and GB News have been all over them. Farage's girlfriends house, 5 million quid from an overseas based crypto billionaire, and "Putin is the most impressive statesman" , not a whisper.
I don’t know why Streeting hasn’t challenged. It seems to be his to lose.
If he challenges, he loses.
These absolute whoppers need to put their egos in the bin and sort it out amongst themselves
Treating it as a pastoral conversion amongst bickering teenagers, I think my agenda would be to get the following things acknowledged:
1 That Angela can't be PM. 2 That Andy can't be PM. 3 That Wes can't be PM. 4 That Keir is PM, but can't be for much longer.
Therefore the action plan is: 1 Identify two or three cabinet members who might be capable of being PM. 2 Put them in the top jobs. 3 See what happens before Starmer announces his retirement on medical grounds in early 2027. 4 In the meantime, if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing. 5 Same goes for your friends, allies and people familiar with your thinking. 6 See point 4.
But the egos of bickering teenagers are easier to manage than those of politicians.
I still find it astonishing that not a single member of the media has brought up the structure of Reform.
Unless there’s a change effectively you cannot remove Farage . If the worst happened and he ended up in No 10 there’s no mechanism for the party to remove him barring a vote of no confidence . And turkeys don’t vote for Christmas .
Will anyone in the media ask this obvious question ?
Starmer's gifts from Ali, Rayner's mortgage, Mandelson's ties with Russia, the Telegraph, the Mail and GB News have been all over them. Farage's girlfriends house, 5 million quid from an overseas based crypto billionaire, and "Putin is the most impressive statesman" , not a whisper.
You’re a farmer complaining about the weather
The media will move on to Reform, once again, in time. But right now the story is the collapsing of Starmer and Labour. That’s the prevailing weather
And it’s not like Farage gets away with everything. The Guardian spent about a month digging up all those “schoolboy racist” stories in a bid to bring him down. The BBC and others joined in
It didn’t work at all, however. Because
1. The R word has been so overdone it has about zero effect now. Who cares if he’s racist as apparently everyone is racist
2. It looked nakedly partisan so lots of Reform voters were unimpressed
If this is Keith listening to the voters yesterday, I assume that he has been watching a rerun of the 1997 General Election broadcast.
What has happened in this election? Labour humiliated in Scotland. Eviscerated in Wales, with no members elected at all in their former heartlands represented by giants like Nye Bevan. Labour literally removed from existence in swathes of England, with people voting for the Green Reform horseshoe party to punish beat the in office since the Danelaw lot.
They are electing literal wife beaters in some cases. More DEI is not what is being asked for by these voters.
It's a testament to how dominated Labour are by London that they think this is the solution. One of my Labour friends who quit the party after COVID was messaging yesterday that the current leadership will be far more worried about losing Hackney and Waltham Forest to the Greens than Wales and Greater Manchester to PC/Reform.
Through that lens pushing for more DEI nonsense makes sense, it's lefty young women who are abandoning Labour for the Greens in Hackney and Waltham Forest so bringing in a new scheme that gives them freebie government jobs in London is exactly the reaction I'd expect.
The current Labour party policy advisers don't have a single clue how to win back northern or Welsh voters and I don't think they give a flying fuck either. For them it's all about what they can see in front of them and they see trendy parts of London where they go to wine bars and bib gourmand restaurants turning towards the Greens and that's the problem they'll try and solve, fuck what the consequences of another ill thought out DEI programme will have in the North.
I still find it astonishing that not a single member of the media has brought up the structure of Reform.
Unless there’s a change effectively you cannot remove Farage . If the worst happened and he ended up in No 10 there’s no mechanism for the party to remove him barring a vote of no confidence . And turkeys don’t vote for Christmas .
Will anyone in the media ask this obvious question ?
Starmer's gifts from Ali, Rayner's mortgage, Mandelson's ties with Russia, the Telegraph, the Mail and GB News have been all over them. Farage's girlfriends house, 5 million quid from an overseas based crypto billionaire, and "Putin is the most impressive statesman" , not a whisper.
Maybe Reform voters don’t care as they get to own the libs ! I expect quite a few of their voters are thinking the welfare bill being slashed under Reform won’t effect them , it will only fall on other people.
Has anyone done a simple correlation between reform % vote and educational attainment. Instead of folk looking in the mirror and reflecting on why their lifes are so shit, it’s the usual finger pointing. Same with Brexit, same with this election.
Ah, the "they're all thick and stupid brigade".
You are why people vote Reform.
It's always the not-known-for-their-fierce-intellect people that tend to make these types of observations too.
Andrew Marr says Farage will be the PM after the next election. I disagree. May I suggest a little calm amidst the hype, based on these boring thoughts
1) On Thursday about 73% of those who voted didn't vote for Reform. Almost all hyped up comment has ignored their existence. 2) Projections of NEV from Thursday's elections gave Reform about a 7 point lead over the next place (Sky, Rallings and Thrasher 3) Reform got 27% of the vote (NEV) and a 4 point swap between them and the Tories would put (astonishingly) Tories in the lead 4) Starmer won't be PM at the next election 5) Reform have peaked from their 35% polling 6) Farage is widely hated 6) The Green vote has a strong 'O Jeremy Corbyn' feel about it and is flaky, split between young impressionable and older enthusiastic recyclers 7) At the next GE the 70%+ non Reform vote will operate tactically 8) Reform are about 11/4 to get a majority in the next GE.
The Greens came SECOND on NEV (national equivalent vote) at these elections, in spite of tactival voting and the absolute torrent of media onslaughts in the closing fortnight of the campaign.
This was not just people who happened to be young urban leftists, old school recyclers, or urban muslims. It was instead spread widely throughout Britain - in towns cities, villages, coastal, upland, and rural areas. This is exemplified by the Greens winning seats in the Scottish Highlands & Islands, in Huntingdonshire, Hastings, Gateshead, and Exeter for example, in additional to winning several councils and executive Mayors in London. (In Wales it was suppressed due to the squeeze on others, flocking to Plaid, afraid of Reform becoming the largest party.)
The Green vote is no more flaky than any party. It has the second largest membership now after Reform (more than Lab or Con and the standard fee is more than those parties), a very active base, longstanding volunteers, and national organisational structure surpassing Reform. Its growth has been incremental over decades not just suddenly since Polanski. Indeed, the Green Party is a broad church, just as Labour, Cons, Reform, Plaid, SNP and LD all are... all of whom have policies or personalities that members may disagree with, but whose members support the fundamental objects of.
However, the Green vote is different, it is underpinned by a fundamental belief that at the heart of decision-making should be 1) sustainability (the biosphere that supports us and its biodiversity, ecosystems, and climatic systems being under siege); 2) equity in how our national and global resources are used
Both issues are a result of our current economic system that has lead to both our biospheric fragility and lead to a few hundred people in almost every country owning more of our resources than over 50% of the rest of their population - people who suffer as a result and are born at a fundamental disadvantaged. One doesn't need to be an expert in economics to say that any economic system that has that outcome is not fit for purpose and change must urgently be sought.
No other party is fundamentally trying to raise those two fundamental issues and get them tackled, which is why many people who (like me) are not hippies, Corbynistas, leftists, or identitarians support the Greens.
It’s early days but I am starting to hear some bafflement, even anger, from Labour ministers, MPs and officials about the appearance of Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman this morning.
While both widely respected by Labour MPs, there is widespread confusion about how figures from Labour’s past signify change. One normally loyal minister just said to me: "It’s a joke. There is no question to which bringing these two back is the answer."
Harriet Harman arrives. Is announced as the PM's new SPAD for Women and Girls.
Gordon Brown has now arrived.
Both are true. Not a joke!!!
It’s like a weird pantomime in Hell
It's remarkable how utterly clueless he is.
It's like watching someone trying to run a bath by manually emptying water from the cistern into the toilet bowl using tupperware and gently warming with a heating element, before he gets ready to bath his elbow in it.
Scotland - Reform have replaced the Conservatives, otherwise minor changes Wales - Labour wiped out losing support to Plaid, Reform and Greens, Conservatives losing support to Reform
England - Labour currently 1400+ down, but still second, Reform 1440+ up, LDs 3rd, Cons 4th, Greens 5th
Compared to the predictions beforehand is the Labour disaster better or worse? Likewise Conservatives. Lib Dems underwhelming gains?
I still find it astonishing that not a single member of the media has brought up the structure of Reform.
Unless there’s a change effectively you cannot remove Farage . If the worst happened and he ended up in No 10 there’s no mechanism for the party to remove him barring a vote of no confidence . And turkeys don’t vote for Christmas .
Will anyone in the media ask this obvious question ?
Starmer's gifts from Ali, Rayner's mortgage, Mandelson's ties with Russia, the Telegraph, the Mail and GB News have been all over them. Farage's girlfriends house, 5 million quid from an overseas based crypto billionaire, and "Putin is the most impressive statesman" , not a whisper.
You’re a farmer complaining about the weather
The media will move on to Reform, once again, in time. But right now the story is the collapsing of Starmer and Labour. That’s the prevailing weather
And it’s not like Farage gets away with everything. The Guardian spent about a month digging up all those “schoolboy racist” stories in a bid to bring him down. The BBC and others joined in
It didn’t work at all, however. Because
1. The R word has been so overdone it has about zero effect now. Who cares if he’s racist as apparently everyone is racist
2. It looked nakedly partisan so lots of Reform voters were unimpressed
I think the racism is built in. In fact it is a particularly useful USP.
The Russia stuff complete with Nathan Gill, the crypto gifts, the Trump adjacency should worry everyone with an IQ of at least 50.
In March 2025, Lammy (as Foreign Secretary) appointed Harriet Harman the UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls. The PM appears to have simply changed her job title
I appreciate the sentiment, but taking your voters for granted is a political and systemic issue, not a partisan one, so he's fooling himself, though as newbies you'd hope they'd take awhile before they inevitably start doing so.
Reform UK will "never take voters for granted", its home affairs spokesman has said, after the party made major gains in elections across England, Scotland and Wales.
What next, they announce Starmer is going to do Starmer Directs, where is stands on a soap box in the likes of Wigan and Stoke high streets taking questions from the public?
It worked for Major.
The price of rotten tomatoes will go the roof on the basis of supply and demand.
Scotland - Reform have replaced the Conservatives, otherwise minor changes Wales - Labour wiped out losing support to Plaid, Reform and Greens, Conservatives losing support to Reform
England - Labour currently 1400+ down, but still second, Reform 1440+ up, LDs 3rd, Cons 4th, Greens 5th
Compared to the predictions beforehand is the Labour disaster better or worse? Likewise Conservatives. Lib Dems underwhelming gains?
I wasn't checking precise predictions beforehand, but my gut is that the Labour result was on par with the worst fears, even as it could really have been even worse.
The Tories is a mixed picture in that they had some areas hold up ok (or even advance) to give them hope, but were utterly wiped out in others and are clearly now second choice in Wales and Scotland to Reform with no clear way back. So I'd say the initial thought is they did slightly better than expected, but actually it was still really terrible.
LD gains are underwhelming in the sense if they were the only viable alternative to the big two they'd expect to do a lot better, but they aren't and their actual expectations were probably broadly met.
BTW - hello again everyone. Not that it has one jot of impact on your day, but it was quite like old times over the past few days and I really enjoyed the election day sparring.
Yes, it was good
If nothing else, the complete annihilation of old style uniparty politics has finally injected excitement into Westminster - and even local elections (and PB). People can now vote for 5, 6 or 7 parties knowing that they are voting for something they actually desire, not out of dutiful tribalism
We do need PR at some point
If not now, when ?
Farage wants it; the LibDems have always wanted it; the Greens strongly support it. And Labour are possibly shell shocked enough to recognise their likely inability ever to win another commons majority.
With very broad cross party support, and a large Parliamentary majority, there will never be a better time.
"At some point" just means kick it into the long grass.
I agree. I want PR. But Labour cannot just shove it through with a vote, that would be disastrous and probably dangerous
It either needs to be won in a referendum or as the fulfilment of an explicit manifesto promise, after a GE victory
That said, such is the disgruntled nature of the electorate right now, that referendum might pass today. People WANT change
Starmer has to do something gargantuan to survive, a complete change of narrative.
Three options: 1) Announce that faced with the global economic and security threat we are going to apply to join the EU 2) Announce that with the obvious 6 way electoral politics delivered in recent elections FPTP is unsustainable and not supported by most parties elected in 2024 and thus a change to PR will be introduced 3) Announce that faced with our fiscal crisis he has instructed the Chancellor to place a tax on all foreigners living abroad
Remember folks, parliament is sovereign and can do whatever the fuck it likes. The Tories will bleat on about PR not being in the manifesto whist hoping you have forgotten that the Trussgasm was also not in the manifesto yet they backed that.
Reform will say PR is an attempt to cheat them, despite Farage stating openly that FPTP is an attempt to cheat them which is why they need PR.
Screw it. Roll the dice.
Agreed. Joining the EU now is a sure winner. Yes we have the Reform and Brexit types but they are now in the minority (by quite a distance). SKS should just go for it! It’s the only hope for him..
After yesterday why on earth would the EU even consider the UK re-joining with the prospect of a Farage led government in 3 years
“The PM committed to do more to eradicate structural misogyny and achieve a cultural change. This appointment will help to accelerate progress”
Down the Dog and Duck in Sunderland it what you hear the locals saying every night.
But you may overhear that kind of nonsense in a wine bar in Hackney where all of these policy advisers live after work.
Your explanation is the only one that makes sense. Other than the notion that Starmer’s advisors really do hate him and want him gone
My understanding is that they had a clear out of older policy advisers last year and the current team is generally quite young and very, very London centric. I think they really believe all of this stuff and there's no Morgan McSweeney to tell Starmer it's bullshit and close it down.
They have been ignored but the Liberal Democrats had a good election - In almost all places they were previously strong Greens or Reform didn't get a look in. if politics is a relay race Sir Ed has run a strong leg and now should hand the baton on. Unlike Labour or the Conservatives the new leader (Daisy Cooper for me) would start from a strong position without a mess to clean up.
Comments
Prime Minister all those Northerners are very pissed at us, they are complaining about cost of living, housing, crime, job opportuntiies, how are we going to respond. I know, we shall promise more women in the civil service.
So anything they say now is effectively meaningless gibber.
But by a general election they will need to be proposing consistent, cohesive, properly funded policies.
Not least because the media isn't going to treat Farage as easily as they did Starmer in an election campaign.
This isn’t cope but the problem with FPTP
What has happened in this election? Labour humiliated in Scotland. Eviscerated in Wales, with no members elected at all in their former heartlands represented by giants like Nye Bevan. Labour literally removed from existence in swathes of England, with people voting for the Green Reform horseshoe party to punish beat the in office since the Danelaw lot.
They are electing literal wife beaters in some cases. More DEI is not what is being asked for by these voters.
They can win a majority but it will not be on 40% of the vote.
Aide: “Prime Minister, we have just been destroyed across the country by two insurgent parties, who say we are out of touch, elitist, foolish, and London centric. And voters personally think you are weird and creepy. What can we do? We must do something?”
Pause
PM: “How about we get a 154 year old Baroness and appoint her my special advisor for ‘women and girls’?”
Aide: “You mean Baroness Harman? Cousin of Lady Antonia Fraser, Lady Rachel Billington and Thomas Pakenham, Earl of Longford?”
PM: “Yes exactly. That should win back Wigan. Even better, she worked for the NCCL in the 1970s when they had links with the pro pedophile PIE group, which will destroy the Tory and Reform vote on Tyneside”
Aide says nothing. Blinks
He is done. Resign man, for goodness sake.
But he is a classic example of an intelligent academic type with zero common sense, self awareness or street sense.
You meet them over and over when you live in Oxford.
Combine this with Starmer's arrogance and misplaced belief in his intellectual superiority, and you get a man who can't actually see the writing on the wall.
Starmer is like conceptual art. But better
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/apr/30/met-police-arrest-two-green-election-candidates-over-alleged-antisemitism
Unfortunately, it's the Hillman Avengers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillman_Avenger
"The PM has committed to boosting the country’s security and resilience. In this role, Gordon Brown will advise on how global finance cooperation can help to achieve this."
https://x.com/hzeffman/status/2053043942174687450
Starmer has lost it. What the fuck is he doing?
Whoever acts first probably won't be the winner.
Unless there’s a change effectively you cannot remove Farage . If the worst happened and he ended up in No 10 there’s no mechanism for the party to remove him barring a vote of no confidence . And turkeys don’t vote for Christmas .
Will anyone in the media ask this obvious question ?
I thought he might struggle on to the end of the year. It's becoming very clear that would make Labour's miserable position much worse.
"An orderly transition" is now only one which happens asap.
And disastrously in Rayner's.
Which evidently is the plan, as Gordon Brown has now been appointed to that role
Rishi and the brolly symbolised the inept but inevitable end of a jaded government running out of road. It was a mistake, and it looked sad
This is a prime minister with a massive majority and three years to go, who keeps making insane unforced errors
Who the fucking fuck believes that baroness Harman and Gordon Brown are the answer to his problems!?? How tone deaf can you get?
Have you tried getting Openreach to install phone lines recently?
While both widely respected by Labour MPs, there is widespread confusion about how figures from Labour’s past signify change. One normally loyal minister just said to me: "It’s a joke. There is no question to which bringing these two back is the answer."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1428pev1n0t
That car is a classic
Unlike those retreads
He was gone pretty quickly.
As the 1980's American advert used to say, he lilked the party so.much he bought it.
https://manchestermill.co.uk/the-unfathomable-fall-of-labours-greater-manchester/
1 That Angela can't be PM.
2 That Andy can't be PM.
3 That Wes can't be PM.
4 That Keir is PM, but can't be for much longer.
Therefore the action plan is:
1 Identify two or three cabinet members who might be capable of being PM.
2 Put them in the top jobs.
3 See what happens before Starmer announces his retirement on medical grounds in early 2027.
4 In the meantime, if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing.
5 Same goes for your friends, allies and people familiar with your thinking.
6 See point 4.
But the egos of bickering teenagers are easier to manage than those of politicians.
Down the Dog and Duck in Sunderland it what you hear the locals saying every night.
The media will move on to Reform, once again, in time. But right now the story is the collapsing of Starmer and Labour. That’s the prevailing weather
And it’s not like Farage gets away with everything. The Guardian spent about a month digging up all those “schoolboy racist” stories in a bid to bring him down. The BBC and others joined in
It didn’t work at all, however. Because
1. The R word has been so overdone it has about zero effect now. Who cares if he’s racist as apparently everyone is racist
2. It looked nakedly partisan so lots of Reform voters were unimpressed
Through that lens pushing for more DEI nonsense makes sense, it's lefty young women who are abandoning Labour for the Greens in Hackney and Waltham Forest so bringing in a new scheme that gives them freebie government jobs in London is exactly the reaction I'd expect.
The current Labour party policy advisers don't have a single clue how to win back northern or Welsh voters and I don't think they give a flying fuck either. For them it's all about what they can see in front of them and they see trendy parts of London where they go to wine bars and bib gourmand restaurants turning towards the Greens and that's the problem they'll try and solve, fuck what the consequences of another ill thought out DEI programme will have in the North.
A bit like what happened in the USA !
This was not just people who happened to be young urban leftists, old school recyclers, or urban muslims. It was instead spread widely throughout Britain - in towns cities, villages, coastal, upland, and rural areas. This is exemplified by the Greens winning seats in the Scottish Highlands & Islands, in Huntingdonshire, Hastings, Gateshead, and Exeter for example, in additional to winning several councils and executive Mayors in London. (In Wales it was suppressed due to the squeeze on others, flocking to Plaid, afraid of Reform becoming the largest party.)
The Green vote is no more flaky than any party. It has the second largest membership now after Reform (more than Lab or Con and the standard fee is more than those parties), a very active base, longstanding volunteers, and national organisational structure surpassing Reform. Its growth has been incremental over decades not just suddenly since Polanski. Indeed, the Green Party is a broad church, just as Labour, Cons, Reform, Plaid, SNP and LD all are... all of whom have policies or personalities that members may disagree with, but whose members support the fundamental objects of.
However, the Green vote is different, it is underpinned by a fundamental belief that at the heart of decision-making should be
1) sustainability (the biosphere that supports us and its biodiversity, ecosystems, and climatic systems being under siege);
2) equity in how our national and global resources are used
Both issues are a result of our current economic system that has lead to both our biospheric fragility and lead to a few hundred people in almost every country owning more of our resources than over 50% of the rest of their population - people who suffer as a result and are born at a fundamental disadvantaged. One doesn't need to be an expert in economics to say that any economic system that has that outcome is not fit for purpose and change must urgently be sought.
No other party is fundamentally trying to raise those two fundamental issues and get them tackled, which is why many people who (like me) are not hippies, Corbynistas, leftists, or identitarians support the Greens.
Not a great choice for a nervous driver.
It's like watching someone trying to run a bath by manually emptying water from the cistern into the toilet bowl using tupperware and gently warming with a heating element, before he gets ready to bath his elbow in it.
Scotland - Reform have replaced the Conservatives, otherwise minor changes
Wales - Labour wiped out losing support to Plaid, Reform and Greens, Conservatives losing support to Reform
England - Labour currently 1400+ down, but still second, Reform 1440+ up, LDs 3rd, Cons 4th, Greens 5th
Compared to the predictions beforehand is the Labour disaster better or worse?
Likewise Conservatives.
Lib Dems underwhelming gains?
The Russia stuff complete with Nathan Gill, the crypto gifts, the Trump adjacency should worry everyone with an IQ of at least 50.
Reform UK will "never take voters for granted", its home affairs spokesman has said, after the party made major gains in elections across England, Scotland and Wales.
The price of rotten tomatoes will go the roof on the basis of supply and demand.
That's the real tragedy.
A bit like making Nick Leeson Governor of the Bank of England?
The Tories is a mixed picture in that they had some areas hold up ok (or even advance) to give them hope, but were utterly wiped out in others and are clearly now second choice in Wales and Scotland to Reform with no clear way back. So I'd say the initial thought is they did slightly better than expected, but actually it was still really terrible.
LD gains are underwhelming in the sense if they were the only viable alternative to the big two they'd expect to do a lot better, but they aren't and their actual expectations were probably broadly met.
What does the World Bank do?
Asking for the financially illiterate.
He may have helped stabilise the global banking crisis. Sometimes and arsonist helps put out the fire.