Having been away for a long weekend - and, as usual, having kept the blog going despite supposedly being on holiday - I am now back and catching up with things. My apologies to all those who had to wait some time for moderation.
Late this morning, I did have time to post some quick reactions to what Keir Starmer had been saying. I wrote this Twitter thread:
I then followed that with this Tweet:
And finally, this one:
If my frustration shows, so be it. It needs to do so. Starmer and Reeves are an utter disgrace to the whole history of the labour movement, social democratic thinking and the people who so recently elected them in good faith, thinking they might deliver something better than the Tories.
I have summarised how I feel in this final thread, posted this evening:
I am not sure there is a lot to add.
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He says he wants growth.
These measures will make sure it doesn’t happen.
Repeating the same old mistakes.
Bang on, Richard. Although for a ‘lighter’ – but no less scathing review – it’s worth reading John Crace’s take. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/27/keir-starmer-had-his-holiday-ruined-so-hes-ruined-ours-by-telling-us-everythings-hopeless
But whoever you read there’s no doubt that anyone who voted Labour has been well and truly conned. And I was wrong too. I thought we’d get New Labour 2.0, but what we actually have is Cameron/Osborne/Clegg 2.0. on steroids.
Or maybe it’s even worse than that, Ivan
This really hit home with me.
From The Guardian:
“But there is no guarantee that voters who ostensibly give permission for unpalatable governing choices will then reward the leader who doles out meagre, bitter rations. In an age of entrenched scepticism about politics, there has to be a prompt down payment of delivery before trust will be extended through whatever turbulence is to come.
Here Starmer is caught in a catch-22. He must show some rapid improvement in the quality of government in order to be trusted with the task of making improvements that cannot be done rapidly.
Is effective centre-left government possible? Starmer has yet to prove that – but prove it he must.
Ending strikes was one of very few immediately operable levers to pull with a direct effect of getting Britain working better under Labour.
After that, it is all slower and harder. Starmer can remind people from time to time that his inheritance was grim, but at some point that starts to sound like an excuse for failure. If he is lucky, the Conservatives will help renew Labour’s licence to clear up a Tory mess by choosing an unrepentant leader who can’t offer a sincere account of why the party deserved to be defeated. Currently, all of the candidates fit that template.”
Richard is correct, It seems Starmer has given up before he really started.
I couldn`t agree more. The comic/ tragic mask publicity photos of Reeves, and the `This is going to hurt me more than it is you.` from Starmer are simply Punch and Judy, with `the dog stole the sausages` thrown in.
A very cautious toe in the water from an absolute novice to economics-(dismal science my foot!)-might indicate the thought that if there were a bit more cash circulating, it wouldn`t all have to go into the real black hole that is the maw of the hypernational monopolies or cartels who kindly provide us with the necessities of life.
It has taken 6 weeks or so for Mr Freeby to show his worth. How often is it said that we can`t go on like this………
I`d like to add that I have found your blog absolutely riveting, and your sharing of your expertise beyond value.
My very best wishes.
Thank you
Perhaps the Labour Party will revolt and get him replaced?
If something doesn’t change, I’m guessing they’ll just get a single term. It seems to me to open the door to Reform in 2029.
I don’t know how Labour Party members can get rid of Reeves, Streeting &c. But somehow the whole nation needs to force an about-turn, and it needs to be achieved before Reeves can impose her budget on us. I wish I could see how we can do it.
I’m not sure the membership can get rid of these clowns. I’ve just been reading that leadership will soon be a matter purely for the PLP, if the Starmfuhrer gets his way. I despair.
Hello Richard you say Reform in 2029 but I believe that come 2029 the Tories will have made up with Reform and like 2019 they’ll be a right wing Tory party. As history shows trying to out do the Tories at austerity often leads to defeat so I just wonder what is Starmer playing at or as someone said during the election is he being pulled by hidden actors?
Many warned before the election that Starmer and co could indeed be even worse than the Tories. Inevitably this was dismissed as either ‘whining lefties’ who would never support Starmer regardless, or ‘just being silly’ as no-one could be as useless and self serving as Sunak and co. Could they?
Well yes, they really can.
Starmer and Reeves are Cameron and Osbourne reborn. Unimaginative, wedded to neoliberalism, and serving only the rich. Even the ‘pain before the gain’ rubbish is rehashed 2010’s rubbish. There is no ‘gain’ from Austerity, only pain.
The problem is, that the country has had enough of Austerity. Of endlessly sacrificing our services, our NHS, our transport network, all so the rich can avoid paying their fair share. The upshot of more austerity will be the end of democracy as we know it. Reform are waiting in the wings, and even worse are behind them.
Do Starmer and co care? Course not. The rewards of toadying to the rich are too obvious.
I take no pleasure….or do I….I guess none of us do?
You and many others warned on a national stage, I and our Socialist Book Club (dog walking lefties who like ice cream) warned when we were Labour members. So many people projected their hopes onto Starmer, even as he hounded Corbyn and so many others, called non-Zionist Jews antisemites, refused to meet trade unionists, took funds from disreputable sources etc. We were called called all sorts, some of it utterly vile from people we thought friends.
I do take pleasure in reminding them. I’m old enough to remember other betrayals, so why should I hold back?
Well, I could say that I’m as mad as hell etc. , but I’m not. I am resigned I think.
I did not vote in the last election because there was no real choice. I’m vindicated – thanks Mr Stymied.
But, I am still really disappointed because I just can’t get over that in 2008 greed, over-optimism and stupidity created an even greater hole in the private banking sector but money was found – no, IT WAS CREATED OUT OF NOTHING – in sovereign money issuing nations to deal with that.
And yet that seems beyond this ‘gentleman’ to cover this latest gap in reality or ‘huge chasm’ he and his motley crew have apparently ‘discovered’. And the amount they are talking about looks minuscule compared to 2008.
For me – in one fell swoop, Stymied has invalidated himself, his party and democracy itself.
Black hole? It seems to me that Stymied himself is the Black Hole in this particular instance.
So for those who voted Labour in the general election it was doff your cap time yet again and vote for yet another CAP (Corrupt Amateurs Party). I wonder when the British will wake up and take their democracy seriously!
A well documented account of the governments failings. Not a cheery read but that is the state we are in at the moment. I wonder what all those who said “You must vote Labour to get the Tories out.” think now? They are very quiet. Pre-election I decided that Labour was not the answer, just another – probably more dangerous – lot than the Tories. So neither got my vote. Of people I know who said which way they voted, a majority voted Labour. I must admit I find it difficult that they did.
I think Starmer will soon be added to the list of useless Prime Ministers but it seems we are stuck with him. Oh and he has no mandate – 34% of the vote!
What do we do now?
Plan
Plan in what way Richard? Campaign? Petitions? Alternative Politics?
[I think Starmer and Reeves are laying the ground for Reform or a more right wing conservative government!]
Create the ideas, first of all
You really do have to ask why you were all so easily conned. It is quite clear Britain is governed by a single Transferable Party. I will say no more about that. It is also true that Britain is sunk in the mire; ideological and cultural; not just economic. Starmer is worried about what the riots showed about Britain. It has been blatantly obvious that Britain gave up basic decency in life, economics or anything, when it welcomed in Putin’s oligarchs to take over London and turn Britain into a money laundering centre (read Bullough ‘Moneyland’, Belton ‘Putin’s People’ and Burgis ‘Kelptopia’ – just for a start). We sold our soul with the £2m Tier 1, ‘Golden Visa’. And the British care about who comes in? No they don’t. Crookery is mainstream.
‘Kelptopia’? Well at least kelp is refreshingly natural and useful. It is healthy, and contains protein, iron and calcium. It is widely used in Japanese cooking. There is very little that is healthy, natural and useful and actually functioning well in Britain.
But in this Putinesque society, this type of discussion is banned.
Yesterday’s PM radio programme, with the ready collusion of Labour’s Treasury spokesperson kept the narrative well inside the thought crime window – so not asking whether 14 years of austerity might be the reason we are where we are and that more of the same might not work.
The conversation was entirely along Tory lines – are you going to tax more – who will you tax -t all the ‘difficult decisions’ were about who to tax and how much, and that ‘there is no money’.
Barely a hint about the wreck that is the health service or the 8 million waiting for treatment – and the half a million more out of the workforce through sickness – and how that might hamper ‘growth’. It was as if only tax matters – not the state the society is in.
Even The Spectator is now saying how “stupid” the Starmer government is.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-is-exposing-its-economic-ignorance/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=CampaignMonitor_Editorial&utm_campaign=LNCH%20%2020240828%20%20House%20Ads%20%20SM+CID_d62a65e2bfdde8abb2d0362d1b184a93
My apologies, Richard.
You have warned for many months that the Starmer-led Labour Party would be a heart-breaking disappointment to those, like me, who thought you were being overly-pessimistic and hoped that the new Labour government would prove much more ambitious, once elected. So far every statement of intent from the STP (copyright John Warren, I believe) has confirmed the worst expectations that you, and many others, expressed on this blog. I fully expected to be able to post a comment, at some point, to say “look at what they have actually done, despite all your doomsaying”. I am devastated that I need to acknowledge that your warnings were practically prescient.
I still find it hard to comprehend the depths of economic ignorance and the betrayal of the vast majority of Britons, that has been embodied in Starmer’s apparent embrace of Austerity Mk.2. Is there anyone outside the Labour leadership and the denizens of Tufton St. who really believe that austerity is the catalyst for growth that the economy needs? Not that I believe that endless growth is the solution that we need, but it is the solution that Starmer himself says is the only way to solve Britain’s problems. When the private sector does not invest, only the state can provide the stimulus necessary for growth. By embracing Austerity Mk.2, Labour shoots itself in the foot while kicking everyone outside the wealthiest 10% into the “tough decisions” category.
In defence of my naive support for Labour at the last election, I can only plead that the alternatives were even less appealing. Here in Scotland I could have voted SNP; a party whose financial incompetence has been exposed by the Scottish Fiscal Commission (https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24544191.snp-spending-choices-will-mean-difficult-decisions/). Or I could have voted for the Tories (is there any need to explain why this was not really an option?). Or the Libdems, but the candidate was a guy living in England and was only a paper candidate. The Greens did not offer a candidate and the Reform guy was so beyond the pale that even Tories rejected him. I voted in the hope that Starmer was being “economical with the truth” and with a degree of hope in the actual candidate; but overall in despair at the alternatives available.
I mention all this to make the point that a viable alternative will not have seemed available to many who voted for Labour this year, despite all the warnings that you and others highlighted. Spoiling a ballot with “none of the above”, or rude comments, seems so unhelpful in moving the political debate forward. Maybe we need an option to “write in” a candidate so that people without the resources to fight a campaign can stand a chance?
I can’t close without thanking you for years of unique education, inspiration and exposure to new ideas. You and the “gang of regulars” brighten up my every day with insight and logic. Even when I don’t want to accept your conclusions. You always make me think; and in my 70’s that is a real gift.
Thanks
The only thing members can do immediately is to vote the leftwing slate for national executive committee elections which are now open.
This means Gemma Bolton, Yasmine Dar, Mish Rahman , and Jessica Barnard.
Regionally you can find the leftwing slate by reading the candidate statements to see what group they are with.
Otherwise we can email MPs, put proposals forward at meetings and attend leftwing zooms and conference events.
We can ask tv to put progs on re MMT and to invite Richard on.
We can put stuff on our social media, write to the papers, talk to contacts.
Thanks
I fear that GLENESKBILL at Aug 28, 8.10 may be one of those Unionists who manufacture any excuse to rubbish the SNP. I read the Herald’s take on the Scottish Fiscal Commission report he provides a link to, and can only find this criticism of the SNP (my comments bracketed) …
“They pointed to higher-than-expected pay deals (better pay for workers), social security reform (more money for the least well-off), and the SNP’s surprise council tax freeze (lower council tax for people who live in houses).”
So, in Scotland, more money to go around instead of to rich people buying property or hiding it off-shore. A bit too left wing for GLENESKBILL maybe? Is that why he voted Labour instead of SNP – or perhaps Tory, it makes no odds
The Commission warned that “difficult decisions” would be needed to balance the budget and “ensure decisions now are sustainable in the future.”
….No shit Sherlock!! Westminster has no need to balance the books, unlike Scotland where a failure to do so will result in prosecutions.
The report comes after a senior official in the Scottish Government …. (Ah well, the ‘Scottish Government’ is appointed by Westminster and is not the elected members in Holyrood, so I usually dismiss their (unidentified) ‘senior official’s’ pronouncements with a long spoon of salt)
Don’t discount the Glasgow Herald’s position either – against Scottish Independence – for selectively revealing the report.
Frankly, I’m surprised the commenter in question didn’t begin with ‘I’m an SNP voter, but never again.’ I suppose that’s getting a bit obvious.
Dear Mr. Laird,
To simply assume that I am a unionist because I quoted the Herald article on the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s report is fairly typical of an auto-response from the “hard of thinking” SNP supporter. I have been a vocal supporter of independence for over ten years and campaigned enthusiastically for Independence in 2014. But it is true that I have never voted SNP. In all but the last election, I voted Green, as that party supported independence and had a slightly more sustainable approach to governing a newly-independent country.
I quoted the Herald article simply because it is easily accessible and I didn’t really feel it necessary to highlight more detailed searching. However, I would point out that the Herald is not the only source to highlight the SNP failures in managing Scottish finances. I would recommend, in particular, Robin McAlpine’s recent article (https://commonweal.scot/no-one-is-innocent-in-the-cuts-blame-game/) for Common Weal, where he makes a powerful case for allocating the blame for the mess on multiple parties, but does not shirk from identifying the SNP’s specific failures and short-term thinking. I trust there is no-one who would accuse Robin McAlpine of being a unionist.
I apologise, Richard, for taking up your time to review and decide if, or not, to accept this rebuttal, but the automatic assumption that any critic of the SNP is sufficient justification to label someone who disagrees with them a “unionist” is one of the many reasons why the SNP has not yet become a party that is mature enough to govern well, or wisely. SNP supporters need to recognise that there are multiple ways to support independence and reflexive slandering of critics is no way to build support.
I have criticised the SNP many times, directly and obliquely in my National column, so you are welcome to do so here. Robin is explicit, as he was in that paper yesterday.