Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called on Keir Starmer to stand down yesterday. Maybe he expected others to follow suit. They didn't. So why did he go out on a limb? I can offer three reasons.
First, he is leading a part of the Labour Party that will be shredded in the polls to be held in May. Those he hoped would follow are in the Cabinet. They are not up for the election in May.
Second, he needs to get these excuses for failure in early. That's what yesterday was about. He is trying to save his own political skin when the likelihood is that demands for his resignation will be made in May.
Third, none of Starmer's rivals wants to take responsibility for the trashing of the Labour Party that will take place in May in the various elections being held then. They want Starmer to be responsible for those failures before calling for him to go. So, it pays all of them to bide their time. For Sarwar, the exact opposite logic holds true.
So, did Sarwar launch a coup only to be surprised by the fact that no one followed? I don't think so. For him, the excuses were essential now because he has nothing more to lose. Those who will inevitably topple Starmer can afford to wait.
Sarwar might, and not for the first time in his career, look to have misjudged the situation, but all he revealed is that he, like many in Labour, is desperate at the state they're in, knowing that the game for the Party is already up. Seen in this way, his desperate act was the rational behaviour of a desperate man in a desperate situation created by desperate people, all of whom are entirely beyond his control. Such is the state of Labour Party politics right now.
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Perhaps he too has been ‘captured’ by the malign forces intent on “saving us from ourselves” by enslaving us. Thus I wouldn’t find it too much of a stretch of imagination that he could defect to Deform(scot) UK Ltd Inc plc? Stranger things have been happening a lot. But I hope I’m way out on this 🙁
No one apart from you appears to be calling for a National Govt under Ed Miliband. Funny that..
Do you know how change happens? It is usally because just one person has a good idea. Maybe you’ve never had one.
Well Andrew, you can say that, but if I had to pick from the available candidates, I would go for Ed, even though he does want to put a new nuclear power station in my back yard.
Just heard Ed on R4 Today. It was a strong performance which focused on exactly the things that might once have been expected from the Labour Party.
If it wanted to, Labour could use this moment to advance ideas that have hitherto not dared speak their name in mainstream politics but have long been cited as essential by Richard and others. The disgrace of the establishment and the depth of popular contempt for it makes these possible:
– major, meaningful constitutional reform including abolition of the lords in its current form and decoupling of the royal family from the state,
– abolition of the entire honours system, which is discredited beyond redemption,
– a resolute focus on the wellbeing, respect and prospecting (not solely in raw economic terms) of working people. Includes some kind of agreed replacement for ‘growth’ as a measure of national direction.
If Keir really has ‘come out fighting for the things he cares about’ then he can lead the way by renouncing his knighthood. A symbolic move, but one that would earn him some credibility.
Indeed. LINO in Scotland, out of touch and soon, reduced to an irrelevant nub.
On a related note I am please to report that my agents had an A.I. fly on the wall to witness the final meeting between the boss & his minion = McSwine – Starmer (ST(D?))
McSwine: “well I’m leaving not becasue I want to but, if it’s you that goes then I will inevitably follow – so go before pushed”
ST(D?): “oh righto, well good luck”
MCSwine: “one last thing, we always thought you were a useless bugger & without us you are dead in the water – I give you 3 months”
ST(D?): “oh righto, well good luck”
MCSwine: “strewth its like talking to a speak your weight machine”
ST(D?): “oh righto, well good luck”
door slams in distance and somebody is singing
“We’ll meet again, do know where, do know when,
in the sunny ICC court in the Hague,
we’ll share a cell, and all will be swell,
in that ICC court in the Hague.
Perhaps it could be turned into some in the style of Waiting for Godot.
I think the Guardian reported this morning that a website about a certain Ms Rayner went up this morning and then was taken down rather quickly.
Honestly – what a shower……………………………..
Fwiw, that website appeared momentarily last month and was disowned by Rayner’s team who say it was designed to discredit her. “Rayner’s team has dismissed the website as “fake”, and said she was seeking legal advice “given the use of her name and image without her consent”.”
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/angela-rayner-blasts-labour-leadership-33392983
Well, let’s see her come out and say it herself then. Why does she needs a ‘spokesperson’?
But agreed, too many ‘this mornings’ (although I caught site of the story ‘this morning’ – I did not read it).
The latest developments suggest to me that the Labour party have adopted a caretaker leader while they scurry around looking in vain for a new start. Trouble is, it’s Keir Starmer! So with this latest masterstroke, Labour have managed to combine all the disadvantages of continuity with none of the benefits of renewal. Well done everyone.
And Starmer does seem to want to stay on. I guess no other prospective employer wants him.
Here’s a reader’s comment in the National on Sarwar’s gaffe statement: “Only Sarwar could pick a fight with someone who is already doomed and lose…” Says it all: he sets out to end his boss’s career and fatally damages his own.
Agreed
Generally ministers and other senior people will support a leader publicly until they go, nobody likes a traitor.
There have been suggestions of collusion between Sarwar and Streeting and Streeting effectively started his campaign for leader yesterday but has been rolling back on it today. It’s not totally impossible Sarwar was supposed to be the trigger for Starmer going and Streeting would have had a head start in campaigning and not have looked like a traitor, or no more than usual. Ministers, with a little persuasion from No.10 decided they were having none of that.