O/T:- ⚠️Impressed with the leadership [The UK Party Politics Thread]

[Old_pie]

In view of the David Lammy " Mastermind" answer that Henry the Eighth was succeeded by Henry the Seventh , I suppose we should be grateful that the chancellorship went elsewhere.

More: https://www.justthetalk.co.uk/uknews...llectual-titan

He should watch Pointless instead of being pointless.

[Lullapie]

In the interests of balance, I have to say I'm NOT impressed with the leadership. Starmer & Co grabbing freebies with both hands is something I hoped wouldn't happen, so maybe those who said "they're all the same" are right after all. Why does Starmer need free tickets, free clothes and free glasses? I'm sure he could afford to pay himself. What's worse is that he initially tried to justify it before quite rightly being forced to backtrack. I still think he offers a better future than the Tories, but the gap between them isn't as wide as I hoped it would be.

Good post EP. It's difficult for anyone who is used to having money, lots of it, and not fearing where his next pay cheque is coming from to be on the same level as Joe Public - I am referring to Sir Keir Starmer, not you EP .

Countries around the world need strong leaders - even more now than before - because of the wastefulness of the Covid era. Difficult decisions need to be made. Many developed countries are moving away from the left leaning doctrine that they had during Covid. Even many countries that had right-wing governments had left leaning policies. Even so. the era saw a huge redistribution of wealth, making the rich richer and everybody else, very much poorer.

One of the final bastions of that era, Justin Trudeau is currently under huge pressure in Canada. I was one of those that said that in time, all politicians become the same. They also all look out for each other, irrespective of their political allegiances (although Biden has bucked the trend on this one).

Tony Blair aligned Labour to the Tories politically with his New Labour. He got into bed with George W Bush. He and his fellow advisers realised that Labour was unelectable before Blair. In case we ever forget that is the case, Jeremy Corbyn came along to remind us that fighting over the middle ground is where victory lies and being an extremist is political suicide.

In the end, there's no real difference, except that once a party has been in power for too long, the general public will elect the 'other' party to implement similar policies, under a different banner.

Some of us 'Won't Get Fooled Again'. Released in 1971 - so the belief has been out there for sometime.

[i961pie]

Yet another very bad day for 'the leadership', it's great to see the Tories get the severe kicking they deserved. Even their highlight of winning the Tees Valley mayoral vote was achieved by a candidate who completely distanced himself from Sunak! Good to see the Greens and LibDems make significant gains, we need to get away from two-party domination.

The funniest thing is 'honest' Lee Anderson predicting Reform UK will produce "a political earthquake", when they only managed a pathetic two council seats. The best comment I read was from someone who replied "Earthquake Lee???? More of a wet fart".

Actually reform did better than we all expected, they got 5 seats and a bigger share of the vote than the lib dems who got 71 seats. Not quite the political earthquake but it does show how many people are sick of the main parties.

[SmiffyPie]

It'll be alright now, Rachel Reeves says it is right they stop taking donations now they are in government. Bit of a green flag for all other non-government parties to do what they like then?

[DomdomPie]

It'll be alright now, Rachel Reeves says it is right they stop taking donations now they are in government. Bit of a green flag for all other non-government parties to do what they like then?

It should be illegal. Gifts are bribery by another name. Nobody gives anything for free. It's a rule not to accept them across many industries, including my own. I don't know many people who could accept lavish gifts in a work context without serious questions being asked.

I realise that in some jobs it's part of the culture, but surely government ministers need to be setting a higher standard - and not give any impression that they're just making decisions based on keeping a few sugar daddies happy.

[OP67]

It'll be alright now, Rachel Reeves says it is right they stop taking donations now they are in government. Bit of a green flag for all other non-government parties to do what they like then?

Now that they've been busted she means. They wouldn't have stopped otherwise!! It's a massive disgrace and £66k of tax payers money spent on a photographer to make Raynor look good. She should ask for her money back as it didn't work

[keldsyke]

Now that they've been busted she means. They wouldn't have stopped otherwise!! It's a massive disgrace and £66k of tax payers money spent on a photographer to make Raynor look good. She should ask for her money back as it didn't work

Bridget Phillipson coming under fire too for a paid 40th Birthday Party. Surely someone is going to be thrown under the bus? Although I thought Labour would be bad I never thought they would be this bad, beginning of the end already, not sure who’s going to be sacrificed to buy them a little time although none of them are fit to be in these positions.

[OP67]

Bridget Phillipson coming under fire too for a paid 40th Birthday Party. Surely someone is going to be thrown under the bus? Although I thought Labour would be bad I never thought they would be this bad, beginning of the end already, not sure who’s going to be sacrificed to buy them a little time although none of them are fit to be in these positions.

Her 40th party cost more than pensioners get for a year!! It's a disgrace. Rayner had a go at Bojo in 2021 for his photograper and then she does the same thing. What gets me is how they all seem to think we're stupid They have absolutely zero chance of delivering any of their election pledges!!

[magpie_mania]

Now that they've been busted she means. They wouldn't have stopped otherwise!! It's a massive disgrace and £66k of tax payers money spent on a photographer to make Raynor look good. She should ask for her money back as it didn't work

She's not the first though.

Even the Daily Mail reported this:

'Official Downing Street photographers are a relatively recent phenomenon. David Cameron, who was the first to appoint one, had his paid for by the Conservative Party.

More recently, they have been funded by the taxpayer.'

She had a good chance though to say that she was going to change the way things are done but she hasn't, although I would ask when are we going to find out what the Conservatives benefitted by when they were in power?

[magpie_mania]

Her 40th party cost more than pensioners get for a year!! It's a disgrace. Rayner had a go at Bojo in 2021 for his photograper and then she does the same thing. What gets me is how they all seem to think we're stupid They have absolutely zero chance of delivering any of their election pledges!!

Not sure what the second part of your post has to do with the first though.

BP's Birthday Party she claimed was for Journo's and party supporters, with none of her family there. I guess that some of the Journo's who benefitted are possibly now the ones spilling the beans!

[OP67]

She's not the first though.

Even the Daily Mail reported this:

'Official Downing Street photographers are a relatively recent phenomenon. David Cameron, who was the first to appoint one, had his paid for by the Conservative Party.

More recently, they have been funded by the taxpayer.'

She had a good chance though to say that she was going to change the way things are done but she hasn't, although I would ask when are we going to find out what the Conservatives benefitted by when they were in power?

We all know the Conservatives ripped the tax payer off. What I'm saying is the hypocrisy of the Labour party who spent 14 years having a dig at the Tories only for them to doing exactly the same themsleves!!! As I've always said all MP's are the same regardless of what party they belong to. They become polititians for one reason, to line their own pockets!!

[BigFatPie]

In the interests of balance, I have to say I'm NOT impressed with the leadership. Starmer & Co grabbing freebies with both hands is something I hoped wouldn't happen, so maybe those who said "they're all the same" are right after all. Why does Starmer need free tickets, free clothes and free glasses? I'm sure he could afford to pay himself. What's worse is that he initially tried to justify it before quite rightly being forced to backtrack. I still think he offers a better future than the Tories, but the gap between them isn't as wide as I hoped it would be.

As far I’m aware the vast majority of or even all gifts and donations were formally declared through the correct channels. Which doesn’t necessarily make them right, but puts them on a very different scale to anything the Tories got up to, and still do I assume.

Deciding that ‘they’re all the same’ is exactly the sort of impression that the right wing press and particularly the Tory infested BBC want people to take away. ‘They’re all the same’ is also a sentiment popular on here and elsewhere amongst people who I’m very confident were desperate to vote Tory or more likely Reform at the election. Labour will never do anything right in their eyes because they aren’t racist/xenophobic enough. They hold the party they don’t vote for to much higher standards than the parties that they do.

Keir Starmer has had a season ticket at Arsenal for years, he can’t now use it. Boris Johnson’s donor gave him more money for wallpaper in one transaction than Starmer has received in total AND Johnson then tried to keep it secret. I’m be happy to get rid of all personal political gifts and donations. I’m pretty sure Farage and Tory politicians will lose out far more than Labour’s.

That all being said, Labour have to get far smarter at what they accept and from whom, especially when they bring in policies like getting rid of the WFA and keeping the 2 child benefit limit. Getting rid of the Tory Simon Case might also be a good idea. Unfortunately they’ve got to accept that double standards are very much de rigeur in British politics.

Nicked from twitter


‘The Tories and their defenders in the press want to drag everything down to their miserable ****ing level. They want you to think this government is as bad as theirs, as incompetent as theirs, as rife with cronyism as theirs .... seriously don't ****ing fall for it.’

[JoePass]

https://x.com/DonnaLouise1212/status/1837845143660945468

[Elite_Pie]

As far I’m aware the vast majority of or even all gifts and donations were formally declared through the correct channels. Which doesn’t necessarily make them right, but puts them on a very different scale to anything the Tories got up to, and still do I assume.

I agree it's nowhere near as bad as the Tories, and the wallpaper being part of a £200,000+ redecoration bill for Number 10 is a good example of extreme Tory greed, but I'm still disappointed Labour seem to be going down the same path, properly declared or not. Why does Starmer need free clothes and specs? Can't he afford to pay himself? Labour promised change, and whether they deliver policy wise remains to be seen, but regarding sleaze and freebies it seems they are happy to perpetuate what went before even if it is on a smaller scale. Hopefully this will give them a kick up the arse, because these revelations aren't what won them a landslide. The Tories abused their big win on a grand scale, I hope Labour will afford a bit more respect to the people who put them in power.

[keldsyke]

As far I’m aware the vast majority of or even all gifts and donations were formally declared through the correct channels. Which doesn’t necessarily make them right, but puts them on a very different scale to anything the Tories got up to, and still do I assume.

Deciding that ‘they’re all the same’ is exactly the sort of impression that the right wing press and particularly the Tory infested BBC want people to take away. ‘They’re all the same’ is also a sentiment popular on here and elsewhere amongst people who I’m very confident were desperate to vote Tory or more likely Reform at the election. Labour will never do anything right in their eyes because they aren’t racist/xenophobic enough. They hold the party they don’t vote for to much higher standards than the parties that they do.

Keir Starmer has had a season ticket at Arsenal for years, he can’t now use it. Boris Johnson’s donor gave him more money for wallpaper in one transaction than Starmer has received in total AND Johnson then tried to keep it secret. I’m be happy to get rid of all personal political gifts and donations. I’m pretty sure Farage and Tory politicians will lose out far more than Labour’s.

That all being said, Labour have to get far smarter at what they accept and from whom, especially when they bring in policies like getting rid of the WFA and keeping the 2 child benefit limit. Getting rid of the Tory Simon Case might also be a good idea. Unfortunately they’ve got to accept that double standards are very much de rigeur in British politics.

Nicked from twitter


‘The Tories and their defenders in the press want to drag everything down to their miserable ****ing level. They want you to think this government is as bad as theirs, as incompetent as theirs, as rife with cronyism as theirs .... seriously don't ****ing fall for it.’

Come on even in your blinkered world you couldn’t have seen it ever to be this bad in 11 weeks of being in (alleged) control? They are clueless, incompetent and totally out of touch with the people they have claimed and lied to be in touch with? When more comes out regarding Al Fayed, Starmer will have no option but to resign.