Poor old Kier Starmer..

Although I didn't actually vote for him.

Some thought his conference speech wasn't bad, but it wasn't.. world-changing was it?

In fact I didn't vote for anybody. I'd "decided" not to vote in advance. I went down with my son because he didn't know where the polling station was and hadn't voted before. But when we got there his name wasn't on the role.

(While he was away at uni, I'd failed to respond to a letter. We found it the following day.)

So we wondered if I could use my vote on his behalf.. But the people at the desk took a bit of a dim view of that. I suppose it's not surprising really.

Thank goodness ours is a very safe seat, so a couple of votes here or there would make no difference.

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

It doesn't need to be world changing. People voted tactically in 2024 to remove the Conservatives who trashed the economy under Liz Truss and sacrificed public interest for private gain under Boris Johnson.

Starmer is a competent technocrat who also happens to be quite good at uniting different factions of the Labour Party. He does not pretend to be anything else.

He made a pretty good effort at the conference to show how ridiculous and hypocritical Farage's policy announcement is. He also made a decent moral case for the rule of law and basic human dignity. He aligned himself with remarks made by Ed Davey last week. Hopefully another tactical alliance (includung any Tories who have not legged it to Reform) will see off the racists.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@SunshineGirl Remember me?

Hope you are well.

I never bought the idea that Starmer was a unifier or a good technocratic leader.

He 'unified' the Labour Party by purging the left and the competency thing he tries to wear looks thinner every day.

I will say that he showed more life in the conference speech. He's explicitly attacking Reform. It is something and much needed.

Andy Burnham would be a better party leader. At this point, he's the one shot at winning the next election and keeping our a Reform/Tory govt

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Burnley123 Hello again 🙂

Your views have remained consistent.

The prospect of a Reform government depresses me more than anything (although I think the likelihood of it transpiring is less than most people think).

I do have admiration for Starmer, but I sense increasingly that his cautious, longer-term approach may become an electoral liability. I cannot for the life of me understand why it has taken the whole summer for him to make an explicit attack on Reform. Now he has done so (at roughly the same time as Ed Davey) I have hopes of a Macron-style alliance against populism (another unpopular leader who nevertheless manages to channel opposition to right wing extremism from all other political parties).

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@SunshineGirl I'm for that but Starmer has alienated the left from the centre, as it shows from the polling. Burnham might find that one unity.