Part of the worry is that if Starmer is forced out of Downing Street, his possible replacements may seek to increase public spending and loosen the government’s fiscal rules.
Well, quite. Someone, somewhere, might have been listening to Spud. And then what will happen with inflation?
On the plus side if Starmer goes so will Hermer.
I’m starting to think that we’re going to get financial chaos with or without Starmer so getting rid of Hermer should be the priority, whilst being cognisant of the old adage about being careful what you wish for.
Yep, it’s profligate morons all the way down.
Andy Burnham argues that unelected financiers should not dictate national economic policy, which suggests that he leans towards MMT. Meanwhile, the Labour activists’ boilerplate seems to be that a currency-issuing state is not beholden to bond markets in the way a household is to a bank, which is MMT…
And, increasingly, I would prefer the economic chaos to come sooner rather than later. Let the IMF come in and cut welfare and waste under Labour. Then Nigel would have a clean slate…
I don’t think the IMF is remotely capable of dealing with the insane sums which were printed to enable the UK population to enjoy lockdown.To me those numbers are beyond anything which can ever be restructured or consolidated 1976-style.
…unless the continuity deal with Streeting insists he stays.
This is now an all out fight between the globalist transnational Blob – the people who make the rules-based order, interpret and implement it – and Old Labour, now also running scared of the New Intersectionalists (Corbyinistas turned Greens; muslims) and the New Somewheres (blue Labour turned Reform). And the Blob is currently in charge.
He must go because he can’t do the job. No, it is unlikely any of them can do better but he has to go. Larry the cat has been mooted as the best choice.
Does Starmer have the balls to go to the King and tell him he is dissolving Parliament? Or even to bluff? Once Charles says “yes” that’s it, Parliament is gone and most of the MP’s opposing him would never be MP’s or Ministers again. It’s a strong hand for the right player, but Starmer?
Charles “could” say no though a modern monarch never has. The “easy” option is for him to go along on the grounds that the polls and recent elections show that the people do not support the current Government.
But he won’t. He knows that between them Reform, the Greens and the mozzers will eat his majority alive. Burnham now has nowhere safe to bail out to; the Manchester mayoralty will probably move from Labour.
Biggest irony is that turns out Starmer didn’t even need to lean on the NEC to block Burnham when he tried to stand in Gorton and Denton. The Greens won it comfortably enough (40.7% Green, 28.7% Reform, 25.4% Labour) that Burnham’s name recognition would likely have made any difference.
I’ve long thought that TTK’s best defence against the Parliamentary Labour Party is to threaten to go to the country if they move against him. He would no longer be PM, but would probably retain Holborn & St Pancras while the majority of the PLP would be unemployed. now rather than in 3 years’ time.
oops, meant to be a reply to andyf
Recent data from Electoral Calculus gives Starmer only a 27% to 38% chance of holding the seat, while the Green Party is projected as the most likely winner with a 70% probability.
If they go further left Spud will finally be right about an economic crisis. Wonder who he’ll blame?
Well obviously it’s all Nigel’s fault along with all the ills of the world.
It’s a strange old world when, bearing in mind there’s f-all chance of a general election before 2029, the perfect embodiment of malice, deceit, ineptitude and incompetence currently occupying No.10 (except when delivering party political broadcasts) is still arguably a lesser evil than what might follow.
(And if people keep ignoring the misdeeds of Andy “mid-staffs” Burnham I’m really going to lose it).
Wut? Keep Starmer because the next one might be worse?
A strange appeal to fear.
Nurse!!
Streeting would differ from TTK only in that he’s openly gay. The other contenders would make Rach-from-complaints look like the paragon of financial soundness. Best result from a change of leaders is just-as-bad, anything else is guaranteed to be 100% scorched earth.
Not fear as such. I am resigned to even more damage to the country before this shower are booted out en masse. But I genuinely believe that whoever follows might be even further down the road to madness and national self-destruction than this self-serving turd.
This is shrewd, in the Speccie:
As calls for Sir Keir Starmer’s head grow ever louder among Labour MPs, the Prime Minister is digging his heels in. He has one more card left to play: divide and conquer. While scores of backbenchers are desperate for change at the top, they are completely split on the question of who should take over. Those on the Labour right who have deserted Sir Keir are rallying behind Wes Streeting. The soft left are desperate for the return of Andy Burnham but, short of that, could support bids from Angela Rayner or Ed Miliband. This lack of any consensus works to Starmer’s advantage.
At cabinet this morning, instead of heeding demands to set out an ‘orderly’ – team Burnham – or ‘swift’ – team Streeting – transition, the Prime Minister played his final hand. He declared that he is here to stay and if the cabinet does not like it, they can formally launch a challenge. In the splendour of the cabinet room, Sir Keir made his final push. He told his top team:
The move is a direct challenge to Streeting. He is currently best placed to make the first move – but desperately wants to avoid doing so. If the Health Secretary goes ahead and launches a formal challenge, the powerful soft left caucus of around 100 MPs could unleash chaos. Sources in the faction have already threatened to do whatever it takes to topple a Streeting challenge, and even a Streeting premiership. The thought of ceaseless infighting will spook Labour MPs, including those flirting with a public declaration of no confidence in the Prime Minister. It will also strengthen the resolve of those who have called for Starmer to stay – not out of love for his leadership, but out of despair at the prospect of morphing into the Conservative party, addicted to regicide.
If dozens more MPs and, crucially, ministers resign in the coming hours or days, the Prime Minister’s divide-and-conquer strategy could fall apart. Without a viable government, he will be forced to resign. If Streeting accepts the Downing Street challenge, a messy Labour leadership power struggle will ensue. There is an extremely small possibility that the drama of the last 48 hours could put backbenchers back in their box. The No. 10 team are banking on this, but it is unlikely. The ball is now squarely in Streeting’s court.
Streeting is continuity Starmer* except his sexuality is even less likely to appeal to the obvious demographic. There are a whole lot more RoPers than LGB (but mainly T) supporters.
Starmer’s last card IMHO is to promise (except this is the one promise he’ll work his nuts off to actually keep) to reverse Brexit in the hope that will buy him just a few more months. Also watch out for some January 6th style infiltration and headline-generating misbehaviour (but only by one side) at this Saturdays Unite the Kingdom March. More distraction.
* mind you so largely is Burnham
But they’ve got firmly behind* Polanski, who is gay and lives with another man.
* no sniggering at the back
“the Labour party has a process …”
The bureaucratic lawyer speaks. Process is all: damn the product.
The left love process and their arcane rules. Jeffrey Archer based on of his books on it.
And they are past masters at stitching it up to get the result they want
Starmer has (unwittingly?) played a blinder on this by surrounding himself with incompetent fools. They remind me of the apes in 2001 trying to work out how a club works so they can hit him with it.
Will he get his Ceausescu moment, I wonder? Of course Ceausescu thought they all loved him but I don’t think Starmer is that delusional.
Did he have any choice? Looking round I don’t see any competence, fools or otherwise, in the Labour Party.
So what does ‘take responsibility’ mean? Belly cutting?
I had been thinking of cashing-in our Index-Linked Savings Certificates – the terms are much worse than they used to be. But now I suspect that this isn’t quite the moment.
Same here. Having to commit money for a minimum of three years, with no access to it under any circumstances, goes against everything I have ever advised.
But then I look at the comment by Paula Barker, MP, today on how there will be no trouble from the markets under Burnham (“The markets will have to fall in line”) and I think to myself, Index-Linked Savings Certificates might be the only way of coming out of this in 2029 with anything I might be able to rebuild my life with.