Starmergeddon: They Came And Ate Us

[SaintK]

Media seems to have finally cottoned on to Starmer’s addiction to freebies. Could be a fun five years

He even does freebies in a dull way. Where are the IT lessons with the sexy lap dancer or the Italian trip to russian oligarchs villa while ditching your security detail. Where is the coke fuelled sex binge at chequers with your ex leading to possibly the worst budget this country has ever had.

Or even a ‘PM disgraces himself at free bar at Arsenal game’ article. Dull man with a remarkable knack of accepting freebies

Whilst I think some of it is somewhat foolish, I'd rathert have a dull man accepting freebies than an egregious crooked twat who would sell himself to the highest bidder and lived high on the hog thanks to his party donors and Russian "funny money"

[I like neeps]

Nobody is buying a political leader or their wife anything without the expectation that their phonecall is taken. It's never a freebie.

[Paddington Bear]

He even does freebies in a dull way. Where are the IT lessons with the sexy lap dancer or the Italian trip to russian oligarchs villa while ditching your security detail. Where is the coke fuelled sex binge at chequers with your ex leading to possibly the worst budget this country has ever had.

Or even a ‘PM disgraces himself at free bar at Arsenal game’ article. Dull man with a remarkable knack of accepting freebies

Whilst I think some of it is somewhat foolish, I'd rathert have a dull man accepting freebies than an egregious crooked twat who would sell himself to the highest bidder and lived high on the hog thanks to his party donors and Russian "funny money"

£100k + in a parliament is egregious by anyone’s measure, it would get any of us fired from our jobs on anti-bribery grounds. Do you think the people giving him hospitality at Arsenal and a whole wardrobe for his wife are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts?

The conduct of the last government is not relevant to the conduct of the current government that promised in opposition to be so much better

[JM2K6]

Pace yourself.

[Slick]

Or even a ‘PM disgraces himself at free bar at Arsenal game’ article. Dull man with a remarkable knack of accepting freebies

Whilst I think some of it is somewhat foolish, I'd rathert have a dull man accepting freebies than an egregious crooked twat who would sell himself to the highest bidder and lived high on the hog thanks to his party donors and Russian "funny money"

£100k + in a parliament is egregious by anyone’s measure, it would get any of us fired from our jobs on anti-bribery grounds. Do you think the people giving him hospitality at Arsenal and a whole wardrobe for his wife are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts?

The conduct of the last government is not relevant to the conduct of the current government that promised in opposition to be so much better

I have to say that I’m finding it hard to get worked up about the Arsenal thing - he’s had his own season ticket for years and I like the fact our PM does normal things in his time off.

The clothes thing, which on the face of it might seem more trivial, does bother me a bit though, it’s just so unnecessary and for some reason seems a bit more immoral

[tabascoboy]

[Paddington Bear]

Pace yourself.

Ah here we go, everything was a threat to democracy and basic norms/decency until the red team had the ball

[JM2K6]

Pace yourself.

Ah here we go, everything was a threat to democracy and basic norms/decency until the red team had the ball

Extremely normal response to a very gentle bit of ribbing

[Paddington Bear]

Pace yourself.

Ah here we go, everything was a threat to democracy and basic norms/decency until the red team had the ball

Extremely normal response to a very gentle bit of ribbing

? Responded in kind. I dare say you’ll find this government more frustrating than I do before too long

[dpedin]

Whilst I think some of it is somewhat foolish, I'd rathert have a dull man accepting freebies than an egregious crooked twat who would sell himself to the highest bidder and lived high on the hog thanks to his party donors and Russian "funny money"

£100k + in a parliament is egregious by anyone’s measure, it would get any of us fired from our jobs on anti-bribery grounds. Do you think the people giving him hospitality at Arsenal and a whole wardrobe for his wife are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts?

The conduct of the last government is not relevant to the conduct of the current government that promised in opposition to be so much better

I have to say that I’m finding it hard to get worked up about the Arsenal thing - he’s had his own season ticket for years and I like the fact our PM does normal things in his time off.

The clothes thing, which on the face of it might seem more trivial, does bother me a bit though, it’s just so unnecessary and for some reason seems a bit more immoral

Same thing for me. Football issue is understandable, clothes etc less so.

However we need to see this in the wider context - the right wing press are desperate to find something on Starmer and Rayner since the elections and now in power and have tried hard to dig up dirt on both. We have had the joke complaints about Rayner avoiding tax on selling her old home, her dancing in Ibiza, Starmer breaking lock down with curry & beers and now Starmer taking some gifts from donors. None of this has broken any rules or laws and where required has been fully declared, unlike much of what the previous mob did. In the scale of things the sums involved are tiny compared to the gifts/donations/etc that the Blonde Bumblecunt and his cronies took, and that's just the ones we know about. The sources of these donations/gifts to Labour are thankfully not Russian oligarchs or their wives, the sons of exKGB chiefs or Middle East dodgy Sheiks or a tax dodging JCB owning family. To suggest that Arsenal or the English FA are trying to influence Gov policy with these publicly declared gifts is just laughable whilst we still wait for the publication of the unredacted Russian Report.

The likes of the Mail, Express, Sun et al will continue with this which hunt as Long as they can and the rest of the media will let them set the agenda. They will continue without recognition of any irony that they failed to do any of this with the previous gov . They will uncover the dirt on a few dodgy Labour MPs - the dodgy landlord being one - it goes with the territory. However if it reaches tractor porn, Pincher by name, wanking in front of your PC in HoC, groping and snagging your assistant whilst maintaining social distancing, etc then we will know it is time for Labour to throw the towel in. If it ever reaches the scale of the billions of £££ transferred to their mates in dodgy PPE contracts or private lunches with venture capitalists before budgets etc then they need to go to prison which is where I hope the previous lot end up.

[I like neeps]

Whilst I think some of it is somewhat foolish, I'd rathert have a dull man accepting freebies than an egregious crooked twat who would sell himself to the highest bidder and lived high on the hog thanks to his party donors and Russian "funny money"

£100k + in a parliament is egregious by anyone’s measure, it would get any of us fired from our jobs on anti-bribery grounds. Do you think the people giving him hospitality at Arsenal and a whole wardrobe for his wife are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts?

The conduct of the last government is not relevant to the conduct of the current government that promised in opposition to be so much better

I have to say that I’m finding it hard to get worked up about the Arsenal thing - he’s had his own season ticket for years and I like the fact our PM does normal things in his time off.

The clothes thing, which on the face of it might seem more trivial, does bother me a bit though, it’s just so unnecessary and for some reason seems a bit more immoral

Going to Arsenal every weekend is a total non issue if he continued to buy his season ticket as he always has done.

A season ticket at the Emirates hospitality won't be cheap mind and so he's decided to give someone influence instead of paying himself. The issue, as it was with the Tories, is selling influence and access to a bidder who meets their price. The Tories just had a higher price.

[dpedin]

Sky able to report in detail because everything they show has been publicly declared and registered with relevant HoC authorities? I could have put this analysis together in an hour with the publicly available info in front of me. I would have loved them trying to do this with the Blonde Bumblecunts donations/gifts ... who paid for the expensive holidays, the free lunch hampers during covid, the wedding, the parties in Italy, etc?

[JM2K6]

Ah here we go, everything was a threat to democracy and basic norms/decency until the red team had the ball

Extremely normal response to a very gentle bit of ribbing

? Responded in kind. I dare say you’ll find this government more frustrating than I do before too long

My comment wasn't partisan in any way, I'm making fun of you for your obvious excitement and escalation in this thread now that Labour are in power! You'd be hard pressed to nail down my thoughts on this farrago (particularly as even I'm not sure what they are yet)

[robmatic]

£100k + in a parliament is egregious by anyone’s measure, it would get any of us fired from our jobs on anti-bribery grounds. Do you think the people giving him hospitality at Arsenal and a whole wardrobe for his wife are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts?

The conduct of the last government is not relevant to the conduct of the current government that promised in opposition to be so much better

I have to say that I’m finding it hard to get worked up about the Arsenal thing - he’s had his own season ticket for years and I like the fact our PM does normal things in his time off.

The clothes thing, which on the face of it might seem more trivial, does bother me a bit though, it’s just so unnecessary and for some reason seems a bit more immoral

Going to Arsenal every weekend is a total non issue if he continued to buy his season ticket as he always has done.

A season ticket at the Emirates hospitality won't be cheap mind and so he's decided to give someone influence instead of paying himself. The issue, as it was with the Tories, is selling influence and access to a bidder who meets their price. The Tories just had a higher price.

Hang on a minute, I thought this was a donor thing, which would indeed be dodgy, but it turns out the club is comping him? Of course they would do this. He is the Prime Minister and it would be a security ballache for everyone if he was going through the regular turnstiles, concourses, and sitting in the normal stand.

And it is not like he is going to be more unduly influenced in favour of the club - he already has an obvious lifelong passion for it.

[Slick]

£100k + in a parliament is egregious by anyone’s measure, it would get any of us fired from our jobs on anti-bribery grounds. Do you think the people giving him hospitality at Arsenal and a whole wardrobe for his wife are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts?

The conduct of the last government is not relevant to the conduct of the current government that promised in opposition to be so much better

I have to say that I’m finding it hard to get worked up about the Arsenal thing - he’s had his own season ticket for years and I like the fact our PM does normal things in his time off.

The clothes thing, which on the face of it might seem more trivial, does bother me a bit though, it’s just so unnecessary and for some reason seems a bit more immoral

Going to Arsenal every weekend is a total non issue if he continued to buy his season ticket as he always has done.

A season ticket at the Emirates hospitality won't be cheap mind and so he's decided to give someone influence instead of paying himself. The issue, as it was with the Tories, is selling influence and access to a bidder who meets their price. The Tories just had a higher price.

I could be wrong, but I thought he renewed his season ticket himself but the club ungraded him because of security

[SaintK]

Or even a ‘PM disgraces himself at free bar at Arsenal game’ article. Dull man with a remarkable knack of accepting freebies

Whilst I think some of it is somewhat foolish, I'd rathert have a dull man accepting freebies than an egregious crooked twat who would sell himself to the highest bidder and lived high on the hog thanks to his party donors and Russian "funny money"

£100k + in a parliament is egregious by anyone’s measure, it would get any of us fired from our jobs on anti-bribery grounds. Do you think the people giving him hospitality at Arsenal and a whole wardrobe for his wife are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts?

The conduct of the last government is not relevant to the conduct of the current government that promised in opposition to be so much better

£100k over 5 years. I was comparing it to Johnson who is the blaggers, blagger and accepted £120k in free accomodation even when he had his own house in Camberwell, £25k in food and fine wine and £60k in freebie holidays and lots of freebie clothes for Mrs J in the final year of his premiership. Perhaps I shouldn't compare it to such a consummate freeloader.
I have no issue with the football thing, I was hoping the new government would be somewhat different in these matters but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt............for now.

[JM2K6]

I think it's inarguable that £100k is an absolute fuckton of money for freebies. The core argument is that much money must bring some influence, but it's harder to argue that point given how distributed the sources are.

The problem with accepting gifts is quid pro quo. With some people in the recent past, it was nakedly obvious what the deal was. With others it seems to just be publicity / goodwill. I can't say that the football one looks like anything other than a good publicity move by the club, but the scale of the gifts overall make it difficult to defend and Starmer should cut that shit out entirely.

It isn't, however, the same as Boris accepting lavish gifts from the likes of Lebedev, for what should be extremely obvious reasons. It is more like Boris getting his home redecorated or going on holidays at other people's expense, albeit that drew more criticism because an extremely wealthy man did seem to like getting other people to pay his bills.

[I like neeps]

I have to say that I’m finding it hard to get worked up about the Arsenal thing - he’s had his own season ticket for years and I like the fact our PM does normal things in his time off.

The clothes thing, which on the face of it might seem more trivial, does bother me a bit though, it’s just so unnecessary and for some reason seems a bit more immoral

Going to Arsenal every weekend is a total non issue if he continued to buy his season ticket as he always has done.

A season ticket at the Emirates hospitality won't be cheap mind and so he's decided to give someone influence instead of paying himself. The issue, as it was with the Tories, is selling influence and access to a bidder who meets their price. The Tories just had a higher price.

I could be wrong, but I thought he renewed his season ticket himself but the club ungraded him because of security

Ah okay that's fine then. I thought someone had bought them for him.

[tabascoboy]

[Insane_Homer]

BREAKING NEWS: Kier Starmer seen buying a tub of Christmas Celebrations in September!

Fucking September Carl!!!

[C69]

pmsl

[_Os_]

Farage still hasn't set up a constituency office and still hasn't held a constituency surgery. It's starting to look like he never will. The reporting on Clacton during the election showed some extremely poor areas that reminded me of poor areas in SA (people living in single story wooden prefabricated small structures on barely paved roads, sometimes the dwellings resembled shacks). I'm sure nowhere in that constituency is desperate and needs the intervention of an MP to fix things. Wouldn't be surprising if neighbouring MPs start taking on cases in Farage's constituency.

Meanwhile Farage will be talking at a "Nomad Capitalist" event in Malaysia, about obtaining multiple citizenships and reducing the amount of tax you pay, mostly through emigrating. Tickets to events like this are usually in the $2k-$4k range. I've posted before about how Farage is going all out in parts of the small/medium sized business sector, this is part of it.

It now appears Farage has decided: his constituents should fuck off and keep voting for him, and if you pay him enough he will bang on at length about how brilliant a majority Muslim country is.

At some point it just becomes unavoidable, it's impossible to take most of the UK media seriously, none of this is being reported. Instead what is being reported is absolute irrelevant stories trying to claim Labour and the Tories are the same, this off the back of trying to claim Starmer was wrong to punish violent racist rioters who somehow had a legitimate point (whilst they physically beat people, including women, for not being white and/or burnt them out of their homes), and definitely wouldn't grow more violent and out of control without any punishment. I'm starting to think a lot of the completely unserious media reporting, is about vested interest and those doing the reporting being personally angry at Labour. There's no more endless intrigues about replacing the leader, or pre-planned "leaks" of bullshit policies designed to gain media attention for a single week. No more politics as some shit entertainment show. An entire ecosystem built up around that shit over a decade and half, it is now gone. Instead there's boring grinding governance. The non-story the media was trying to create about Sue Gray's salary, was being pushed by anchors who themselves earn double what the PM does, if politics stops being a shit entertainment show they will not get ridiculous salaries (this is also why in interviews they always try to corner Labour politicians on tax rises, they personally don't want tax rises because they're on £200k+ and even £300k+).

You would think "proud Brexit British patriot" Farage not bothering with his constituency at all whilst speaking at an event advising people how to acquire multi citizenships/emigrate/dodge tax, would be a news story. But it just slides by without any comment.

[I like neeps]

Farage still hasn't set up a constituency office and still hasn't held a constituency surgery. It's starting to look like he never will. The reporting on Clacton during the election showed some extremely poor areas that reminded me of poor areas in SA (people living in single story wooden prefabricated small structures on barely paved roads, sometimes the dwellings resembled shacks). I'm sure nowhere in that constituency is desperate and needs the intervention of an MP to fix things. Wouldn't be surprising if neighbouring MPs start taking on cases in Farage's constituency.

Meanwhile Farage will be talking at a "Nomad Capitalist" event in Malaysia, about obtaining multiple citizenships and reducing the amount of tax you pay, mostly through emigrating. Tickets to events like this are usually in the $2k-$4k range. I've posted before about how Farage is going all out in parts of the small/medium sized business sector, this is part of it.

It now appears Farage has decided: his constituents should fuck off and keep voting for him, and if you pay him enough he will bang on at length about how brilliant a majority Muslim country is.

At some point it just becomes unavoidable, it's impossible to take most of the UK media seriously, none of this is being reported. Instead what is being reported is absolute irrelevant stories trying to claim Labour and the Tories are the same, this off the back of trying to claim Starmer was wrong to punish violent racist rioters who somehow had a legitimate point (whilst they physically beat people, including women, for not being white and/or burnt them out of their homes), and definitely wouldn't grow more violent and out of control without any punishment. I'm starting to think a lot of the completely unserious media reporting, is about vested interest and those doing the reporting being personally angry at Labour. There's no more endless intrigues about replacing the leader, or pre-planned "leaks" of bullshit policies designed to gain media attention for a single week. No more politics as some shit entertainment show. An entire ecosystem built up around that shit over a decade and half, it is now gone. Instead there's boring grinding governance. The non-story the media was trying to create about Sue Gray's salary, was being pushed by anchors who themselves earn double what the PM does, if politics stops being a shit entertainment show they will not get ridiculous salaries (this is also why in interviews they always try to corner Labour politicians on tax rises, they personally don't want tax rises because they're on £200k+ and even £300k+).

You would think "proud Brexit British patriot" Farage not bothering with his constituency at all whilst speaking at an event advising people how to acquire multi citizenships/emigrate/dodge tax, would be a news story. But it just slides by without any comment.

The behaviour of the leadership of this country and the power struggle between McSweeney and Gray is not confected by the media as the two factions are actively briefing them. It's a big story, Starmer's team is a bit in disarray - they're running the country! It was a big story for Johnson's advisors being in disarray (the Cummings of it all) and Theresa May's adventures with Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.

The behaviour of Farage is a constituency MP is also irrelevant. You don't harm someone like Farage by hectoring that he doesn't run constitutency surgeries. The people who like him really don't care. Pointing out the hypocrisy of Farage is pointless, people have done it for 10+ years and his profile only increases. Only with good governance and a growing economy is someone like Farage neutered. I very much doubt anyone in Clacton voted for him with the idea that he'd be cutting ribbons for a repainted school classroom. Constitutency MPs are actually largely pointless, they rarely get anything done and people these days vote for parties not constituent MPs who have such little actual power.

[_Os_]

The behaviour of the leadership of this country and the power struggle between McSweeney and Gray is not confected by the media as the two factions are actively briefing them. It's a big story, Starmer's team is a bit in disarray - they're running the country! It was a big story for Johnson's advisors being in disarray (the Cummings of it all) and Theresa May's adventures with Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.

Neeps going into bat for crooked media again. They've decided Starmer's team is in disarray, that's different from it actually being so. Why did Starmer hire Gray in the first place? Answer: Cannot get anything done with researchers in their 20s and 30s that think they know everything, when in fact they know fuck all, she is there to put people in their place. That is her purpose. I'm sure there are some bruised egos that want to moan about that, they'll be removed in due course. It's obvious Starmer is at the top and Gray is his enforcer, and that's all there is to it really. One of the "outrageous Starmer is going to a football match and not paying for it personally himself" stories even included a photo of Starmer and Gray there together. Do you think it's unusual for people in government to earn more than the PM?

Remember this period, the same people telling you now that Starmer is an incompetent fool in disarray are going to wail for years/decades once he starts getting things done. He'll become some sort of unstoppable demonic terminator in their imagination. The same happened with Blair. He hasn't had much time to do anything yet because he came in before the summer recess. The UK hasn't been governed by serious people for over a decade, it's going to be a shock to some.

The behaviour of Farage is a constituency MP is also irrelevant. You don't harm someone like Farage by hectoring that he doesn't run constitutency surgeries. The people who like him really don't care. Pointing out the hypocrisy of Farage is pointless, people have done it for 10+ years and his profile only increases. Only with good governance and a growing economy is someone like Farage neutered. I very much doubt anyone in Clacton voted for him with the idea that he'd be cutting ribbons for a repainted school classroom. Constitutency MPs are actually largely pointless, they rarely get anything done and people these days vote for parties not constituent MPs who have such little actual power.

At all costs defend Frog Face! He should be subjected to zero scrutiny! Platform him when he says something adjacent to something really nasty, as a "voice of the people" who has a "legitimate concern".

MPs get involved for constituents when they have problems that cannot be fixed through any other means. When there's no other way to resolve their issue and they're really desperate. It can be life and death. If he just does no constituency work at all ever, there's no constituency office or surgery, then the chance of bad things happening increase.

[Paddington Bear]

Falling out in a government that insiders say is already directionless - nothing, confected, irrelevant, do not dare discuss it, early days give them time

Opposition MP yet to set up constituency office - scandal, disgrace, front page news

[_Os_]

Falling out in a government that insiders say is already directionless - nothing, confected, irrelevant, do not dare discuss it, early days give them time

There's plenty of direction. He said he would crush the violent racist riots, they're still being packed off to jail. He said he would do whatever it took to fix the Tory jails mess, even if it meant early releases, and he's doing it. He said the winter fuel allowance would be means tested, he has ignored all complaints and it is happening. He said he wouldn't lift the two child benefit cap, any Labour MP who voted the other way had the whip withdrawn. We haven't even got anywhere near actual new thoroughgoing legislation, that I'm sure you're going to enjoy, yet.

"Insiders say" = Lefty researchers/advisors in their 20s/30s, plus some small cohort of MPs who aren't in government, that dislike the direction.

Dislike the direction =/= directionless. Claiming otherwise is either dishonest or incompetent analysis. A lot of the people pushing this narrative in the media have been around too long for it to be incompetence. The narrative falls apart once it becomes more obvious he's doing stuff, "the incompetent disorganised PM is expertly implementing all this stuff we hate" doesn't work. They then switch to the "demonic unstoppable terminator" narrative.

Opposition MP yet to set up constituency office - scandal, disgrace, front page news

It's not news anywhere. Frontpage or anywhere else. The reason is a lot of the media likes what he has to say, he is their creature. The electorate aren't as up for it, which is why they have declining circulations, are loss making, and the target of takeovers. Why Frog Face isn't news when he does something (or doesn't do something as is the case this time) obviously wrong (you are a proponent of the excellent FPTP constituency system from memory?), gets to the heart of what a lot of the media is really about.

[SaintK]

Falling out in a government that insiders say is already directionless - nothing, confected, irrelevant, do not dare discuss it, early days give them time

Opposition MP yet to set up constituency office - scandal, disgrace, front page news

FFS yes, the government are 3 months in and haven't been anywhere power for 14 years. There are going to be issues some of which will be self made and stupid.
They also have most of the press looking for slightest error and particularly the Tory/Reform right wing press magnifying it to suit their agendas. Take a look at the Telegraph, Mail and Express some time and have listen in to GB News. No objective reporting on the government to be seen or heard there.

[JM2K6]

Considering I don't agree with the direction this government is going in, it's baffling to me to hear them described as directionless.

Farage getting a free pass from the right wing is de rigeur, though.

Os, as a thought experiment, what happens when you read your big post back to yourself and swap Starmer for Johnson and Gray for Cummings? The latter seems particularly apposite.

[I like neeps]

The behaviour of the leadership of this country and the power struggle between McSweeney and Gray is not confected by the media as the two factions are actively briefing them. It's a big story, Starmer's team is a bit in disarray - they're running the country! It was a big story for Johnson's advisors being in disarray (the Cummings of it all) and Theresa May's adventures with Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.

Neeps going into bat for crooked media again. They've decided Starmer's team is in disarray, that's different from it actually being so. Why did Starmer hire Gray in the first place? Answer: Cannot get anything done with researchers in their 20s and 30s that think they know everything, when in fact they know fuck all, she is there to put people in their place. That is her purpose. I'm sure there are some bruised egos that want to moan about that, they'll be removed in due course. It's obvious Starmer is at the top and Gray is his enforcer, and that's all there is to it really. One of the "outrageous Starmer is going to a football match and not paying for it personally himself" stories even included a photo of Starmer and Gray there together. Do you think it's unusual for people in government to earn more than the PM?

Remember this period, the same people telling you now that Starmer is an incompetent fool in disarray are going to wail for years/decades once he starts getting things done. He'll become some sort of unstoppable demonic terminator in their imagination. The same happened with Blair. He hasn't had much time to do anything yet because he came in before the summer recess. The UK hasn't been governed by serious people for over a decade, it's going to be a shock to some.

The behaviour of Farage is a constituency MP is also irrelevant. You don't harm someone like Farage by hectoring that he doesn't run constitutency surgeries. The people who like him really don't care. Pointing out the hypocrisy of Farage is pointless, people have done it for 10+ years and his profile only increases. Only with good governance and a growing economy is someone like Farage neutered. I very much doubt anyone in Clacton voted for him with the idea that he'd be cutting ribbons for a repainted school classroom. Constitutency MPs are actually largely pointless, they rarely get anything done and people these days vote for parties not constituent MPs who have such little actual power.

At all costs defend Frog Face! He should be subjected to zero scrutiny! Platform him when he says something adjacent to something really nasty, as a "voice of the people" who has a "legitimate concern".

MPs get involved for constituents when they have problems that cannot be fixed through any other means. When there's no other way to resolve their issue and they're really desperate. It can be life and death. If he just does no constituency work at all ever, there's no constituency office or surgery, then the chance of bad things happening increase.

The briefings on Sue Gray and Morgan McSweeney are coming from Labour insiders oS. It's not a confected right wing media story when it's members of Labour who are doing the briefings, seems fairly simple to understand that there is an ongoing power struggle and that is bad.

[Paddington Bear]

Falling out in a government that insiders say is already directionless - nothing, confected, irrelevant, do not dare discuss it, early days give them time

Opposition MP yet to set up constituency office - scandal, disgrace, front page news

FFS yes, the government are 3 months in and haven't been anywhere power for 14 years. There are going to be issues some of which will be self made and stupid.
They also have most of the press looking for slightest error and particularly the Tory/Reform right wing press magnifying it to suit their agendas. Take a look at the Telegraph, Mail and Express some time and have listen in to GB News. No objective reporting on the government to be seen or heard there.

These are quotes from inside the Labour party, in fairness. They’ve got the best part of 5 years so we shall see what comes of it. They certainly have the vibe of a party that’s been in power long enough to be fed up with the whole thing, which is really odd.

[Biffer]

Farage still hasn't set up a constituency office and still hasn't held a constituency surgery. It's starting to look like he never will. The reporting on Clacton during the election showed some extremely poor areas that reminded me of poor areas in SA (people living in single story wooden prefabricated small structures on barely paved roads, sometimes the dwellings resembled shacks). I'm sure nowhere in that constituency is desperate and needs the intervention of an MP to fix things. Wouldn't be surprising if neighbouring MPs start taking on cases in Farage's constituency.

Meanwhile Farage will be talking at a "Nomad Capitalist" event in Malaysia, about obtaining multiple citizenships and reducing the amount of tax you pay, mostly through emigrating. Tickets to events like this are usually in the $2k-$4k range. I've posted before about how Farage is going all out in parts of the small/medium sized business sector, this is part of it.

It now appears Farage has decided: his constituents should fuck off and keep voting for him, and if you pay him enough he will bang on at length about how brilliant a majority Muslim country is.

At some point it just becomes unavoidable, it's impossible to take most of the UK media seriously, none of this is being reported. Instead what is being reported is absolute irrelevant stories trying to claim Labour and the Tories are the same, this off the back of trying to claim Starmer was wrong to punish violent racist rioters who somehow had a legitimate point (whilst they physically beat people, including women, for not being white and/or burnt them out of their homes), and definitely wouldn't grow more violent and out of control without any punishment. I'm starting to think a lot of the completely unserious media reporting, is about vested interest and those doing the reporting being personally angry at Labour. There's no more endless intrigues about replacing the leader, or pre-planned "leaks" of bullshit policies designed to gain media attention for a single week. No more politics as some shit entertainment show. An entire ecosystem built up around that shit over a decade and half, it is now gone. Instead there's boring grinding governance. The non-story the media was trying to create about Sue Gray's salary, was being pushed by anchors who themselves earn double what the PM does, if politics stops being a shit entertainment show they will not get ridiculous salaries (this is also why in interviews they always try to corner Labour politicians on tax rises, they personally don't want tax rises because they're on £200k+ and even £300k+).

You would think "proud Brexit British patriot" Farage not bothering with his constituency at all whilst speaking at an event advising people how to acquire multi citizenships/emigrate/dodge tax, would be a news story. But it just slides by without any comment.

The behaviour of the leadership of this country and the power struggle between McSweeney and Gray is not confected by the media as the two factions are actively briefing them. It's a big story, Starmer's team is a bit in disarray - they're running the country! It was a big story for Johnson's advisors being in disarray (the Cummings of it all) and Theresa May's adventures with Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.

The behaviour of Farage is a constituency MP is also irrelevant. You don't harm someone like Farage by hectoring that he doesn't run constitutency surgeries. The people who like him really don't care. Pointing out the hypocrisy of Farage is pointless, people have done it for 10+ years and his profile only increases. Only with good governance and a growing economy is someone like Farage neutered. I very much doubt anyone in Clacton voted for him with the idea that he'd be cutting ribbons for a repainted school classroom. Constitutency MPs are actually largely pointless, they rarely get anything done and people these days vote for parties not constituent MPs who have such little actual power.

So good governance is the answer but making sure MPs play their assigned part in that governance is an irrelevance? Ok.

[_Os_]

Os, as a thought experiment, what happens when you read your big post back to yourself and swap Starmer for Johnson and Gray for Cummings? The latter seems particularly apposite.

There has to actually be a power struggle happening for there to be one. Rather than the leadership leading.

With Johnson and Cummings, there was real friction. Cummings wanted to lead through Big Dog and did not respect him at all, he also wanted to do things and demolish a lot (all mad but he wanted to do things). Big Dog didn't care about details or reading anything that wasn't his own nonsense (another way of saying he was shit at governing), didn't want to change anything and just wanted to be PM. Both backed Brexit for reasons other than leaving the EU, Johnson to become PM and Cummings to change the entire country mostly focused on nonsense about the civil service. To do all that they exploited the prejudices of voters. Fell apart because Big Dog didn't give a shit about doing anything or using power, Carrie also wanted to rule through him, she was fucking him and Cummings was just the help. It was mostly about Cummings massively overestimating his position.

A real contest for power, real actors with different motivations.

With Labour there's just people who being blunt probably don't matter much who can be replaced, upset at the direction and Sue Gray. I've seen no indication Starmer wants to replace Gray. No indication Starmer will be replaced or wants to change direction. No indication Starmer or Gray disagree on anything, given their career background they're both probably pro-America and aligned on foreign policy. You cannot beat someone with no one. If it's just people upset and little chance of anyone losing power/influence and someone else gaining, then there's no power struggle, there's only people without power in the wrong job.

[I like neeps]

Labour “freebies” latest. The party’s two top politicians in Scotland—Anas Sarwar and Ian Murray—were treated to free corporate hospitality at the Liverpool game at Anfield on Saturday by salmon-farming lobbyists Scottish Salmon.

https://t.co/k42SVYpe2H

I'm sure the conversations were all about Andy Roberson, nothing to see here.

Oh and Lord Alli who is bankrolling the Starmer's is has a few offshore tax haven investment interests. The reaction of some posters on here if offshore tax haven operators were buying Carrie Johnson a nice new wardrobe would be VERY different. Oh well.

[shaggy]

Labour “freebies” latest. The party’s two top politicians in Scotland—Anas Sarwar and Ian Murray—were treated to free corporate hospitality at the Liverpool game at Anfield on Saturday by salmon-farming lobbyists Scottish Salmon.

https://t.co/k42SVYpe2H

I'm sure the conversations were all about Andy Roberson, nothing to see here.

Oh and Lord Alli who is bankrolling the Starmer's is has a few offshore tax haven investment interests. The reaction of some posters on here if offshore tax haven operators were buying Carrie Johnson a nice new wardrobe would be VERY different. Oh well.

I thought Carrie was big into that clothes rental scheme. Pay a monthly subscription and get to change clothes out very frequently and keep costs down.

[_Os_]

Labour “freebies” latest. The party’s two top politicians in Scotland—Anas Sarwar and Ian Murray—were treated to free corporate hospitality at the Liverpool game at Anfield on Saturday by salmon-farming lobbyists Scottish Salmon.

https://t.co/k42SVYpe2H

I'm sure the conversations were all about Andy Roberson, nothing to see here.

Oh and Lord Alli who is bankrolling the Starmer's is has a few offshore tax haven investment interests. The reaction of some posters on here if offshore tax haven operators were buying Carrie Johnson a nice new wardrobe would be VERY different. Oh well.

It depends, how large are the donations and are they declared? Are they in goods or cash? Are we looking at massive amounts from persons unknown, for basically unknown reasons, all undeclared, all in cash, and very dodgy looking? Or are we looking at "clothes for the purpose of wearing"?

This is getting a bit silly. People in power running a country, are going to be talking to other powerful people. The purpose of declaring is that there's some transparency about what is going on, it means if there is any conflict of interest it can be detected. If there's dodgy stuff going on people are unlikely to declare for obvious reasons.

If the standard is now "no gifts of any type, no attending events of any type unless the MP pays for it out of their salary, no second job or any additional income from businesses etc, being an MP is actually exactly like working a cubical job". That's not actually going to work.

Tory MPs including cabinet ministers (and Sunak who later become PM) took between £5k-£60k from Russian oligarchs (one of them a wife of one a Putin cabinet minister), in cash for no very clear reason, it was declared and hardly reported on. Guys like Brandon Lewis were getting £25k from the wife of Putin's deputy finance minister and another £23k from a Russian arms company. It is interesting how the right wing media have suddenly developed exceptionally high standards now they're not supporting a right wing government, to the point where the PM cannot go to a sporting event (something the leader of a country often does in many countries) without paying for it personally.

I've said it before, Starmer should force a mass criminal investigation of the Tory party from council level up. He should be looking to jail as many of them as possible. He's not going to do it because it would be too damaging for the UK's reputation.

[Paddington Bear]

Labour “freebies” latest. The party’s two top politicians in Scotland—Anas Sarwar and Ian Murray—were treated to free corporate hospitality at the Liverpool game at Anfield on Saturday by salmon-farming lobbyists Scottish Salmon.

https://t.co/k42SVYpe2H

I'm sure the conversations were all about Andy Roberson, nothing to see here.

Oh and Lord Alli who is bankrolling the Starmer's is has a few offshore tax haven investment interests. The reaction of some posters on here if offshore tax haven operators were buying Carrie Johnson a nice new wardrobe would be VERY different. Oh well.

Very much so to your last bit. I don’t have a wild objection to *some* hospitality etc, but Starmer in particular does seem addicted to freebies. And it really sticks in the craw given how sanctimonious they have been.

[Hal Jordan]

I can't say I know the reason why the media has gone for Labour's donations two footed.

Incidentally, do we know the status of the Russia Report and the proposed enquiries into Covid contracts?

[Biffer]

I can't say I know the reason why the media has gone for Labour's donations two footed.

Incidentally, do we know the status of the Russia Report and the proposed enquiries into Covid contracts?

Because much of it is right wing and is desperate to say ‘they’re all the same’ and suggest this behaviour is the same as the criminal corruption that was part of the last ten years.

The ‘all the same’ narrative is important as it’s what allows them to continue the corruption and try to set up a society where it’s the norm, so that we can’t expect decency in public office.

[robmatic]

I can't say I know the reason why the media has gone for Labour's donations two footed.

Incidentally, do we know the status of the Russia Report and the proposed enquiries into Covid contracts?

Because much of it is right wing and is desperate to say ‘they’re all the same’ and suggest this behaviour is the same as the criminal corruption that was part of the last ten years.

The ‘all the same’ narrative is important as it’s what allows them to continue the corruption and try to set up a society where it’s the norm, so that we can’t expect decency in public office.

While I suspect this is largely true, Labour are helping the process along by getting up to a bunch of stuff which is at best unseemly.

[weegie01]

I can't say I know the reason why the media has gone for Labour's donations two footed.

Incidentally, do we know the status of the Russia Report and the proposed enquiries into Covid contracts?

Because much of it is right wing and is desperate to say ‘they’re all the same’ and suggest this behaviour is the same as the criminal corruption that was part of the last ten years.

The ‘all the same’ narrative is important as it’s what allows them to continue the corruption and try to set up a society where it’s the norm, so that we can’t expect decency in public office.

There has been a cycle for a while (don't ask me to define what 'a while is' as this is based on impressions) where a Govt comes in and does things beyond the pale in relation to expenses or some other behaviour. The next Govt comes in and throttles things back so they can truthfully say they were better than the last lot. The problem is that they are often doing things that would still have been unacceptable a couple of iterations back.

WHat I mean is if 100 is acceptable, then a less honourable regime comes in and goes to 120, the next regime throttle back to 105 (or any other number over 100 and less than 120) and be better than the last lot, but still not as good as they should be. Then cycle starts again.

The issue I see for Labour is that they are better than the last lot, but the last lot are not who they should be using as a benchmark.