Keir Starmer Says Party Must Be New Labour ‘On Steroids’

Posted on 12/05/2023 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer will tell his party it must be New Labour “on steroids” and that he does not care if it “sounds conservative”.

In a speech on Saturday morning, the Labour leader is expected to say while the party is on the path to power the “toughest part lies ahead”.

Labour gained hundreds of council seats in last week’s local elections, which saw voters give Conservatives a kicking.

The results suggest Rishi Sunak is likely to be booted out of Downing Street at the next general election, expected to be held in 2024.

But Starmer could have to settle for Labour being the largest party in a hung parliament rather than winning an overall majority.

Speaking to the Progressive Britain annual conference in London, Starmer will say it “misses the point” to think all he is doing is distancing himself from Jeremy Corbyn’s “regime”.

“This is about taking our party back to where we belong and where we should always have been. Back doing what we were created to do,” he will say.

“That’s why I say this project goes further and deeper than New Labour’s rewriting of Clause Four.

“This is about rolling our sleeves up, changing our entire culture – our DNA. This is Clause Four – on steroids.”

Tony Blair famously scrapped Labour’s commitment to mass public ownership in 1995 as he sought to appeal to middle England.

Since taking over as leader in April 2020, Starmer has steadily moved Labour towards the political centre ground.

He has been criticised by those on the left of the party for abandoning many of the promises he made during the leadership campaign to stick to policies included in its 2017 and 2019 manifestos.

Last week, on the eve of the local elections, he all but confirmed his promise to to scrap university tuition fees would be ditched.

Plans to nationalise railways, Royal Mail, energy companies and water companies have been essentially scrapped, with Starmer having argued the economic situation now meant this was too expensive.

Progressive Britain is associated with the Blairite wing of the party and was formed in 2021 by the merger of the Progress and Policy Network groups.

Starmer will tell party members at the gathering that “I don’t care” if he “sounds conservative” sometimes.

“Somebody has got to stand up for the things that make this country great and it isn’t going to be the Tories,” he will say.

“That in the end is one of the great failure of the last 13 years. A Tory Party that in generations past saw itself as the protector of the nation and the union has undermined both.

“They’ve taken an axe to the security of family life, trashed Britain’s reputation abroad, and totally lost touch with the ordinary hope of working people.”

The suggestion Labour could fall short of a majority has led to questions about whether Starmer would do a deal with Ed Davey’s Lib Dems in order to become prime minister.

Starmer last week refused seven times to rule out forming a coalition with the Lib Dems, although he has said he would not do so with the SNP.

‘The NHS Trumps Woke’: Keir Starmer Slams Tories Over Culture Wars

Posted on 08/05/2023 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer has declared that “the NHS trumps woke” as he slammed the Tories for focusing on culture wars rather than public services.

The Labour leader will on Tuesday address his shadow cabinet for the first time since last week’s local elections, in which they gained more than 500 councillors and take control of 22 more local authorities.

At the same time, the Tories lost more than 1,000 seats and 48 councils on a disastrous night for Rishi Sunak.

However, polling experts said that if the results were replicated across the country at a general election, Labour would fall short of winning an overall majority.

Starmer will tell his frontbench colleagues that while the party has “started to earn back voters’ trust” after Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, it still has more to do to convince the public that it deserves to be in government.

He will say: “The local elections showed that the country was desperate for change.

“The fact that Labour won in all parts of the country was a sign of the strides we have made. People who turned away from us during the Corbyn years and the Brexit years are coming back.

“But there is understandably a lot of scepticism about politics out there and now we need to go from reassurance to hope. We need to show that we will be a big reforming government bringing hope of a better life for working people.”

Starmer believes the Tories made a strategic blunder in believing that so-called “woke” issues like the trans debate were more important to voters than the cost of living crisis and the state of the NHS.

He will say: “Labour’s plan to rebuild the NHS will be at the heart of our offer to the British people. The Tories are doing too little, too late to repair the damage they have done to the NHS.

“The NHS trumps ‘woke’ every day of the week.”

His comments echo the views of many Tories, who have criticised the “non-existent” campaign by the party’s HQ.

One told HuffPost UK: “Nobody cares about all of the culture war stuff – what they really want is the potholes to be fixed.”

One local Conservative association chair also wrote to colleagues saying the local election results were “not a reflection on us, it was part of the national picture”.

Sue Gray Refused To Co-Operate With Inquiry Into Job With Labour, Government Says

Posted on 02/05/2023 by Boris Clair

An inquiry into Sue Gray’s proposed move to the Labour Party has been put on hold after the partygate investigator refused to take part in the probe, a government minister has said.

Her appointment as the Labour leader’s chief-of-staff proved hugely controversial among Tory MPs given that she led the official government probe into Downing Street rule-breaking during lockdown.

Some reports suggested she could have breached the civil service code with her job move.

According to an update on a review into the appointment, Gray declined to make representations into the inquiry looking into her discussions with Labour about the senior party role, Oliver Dowden has said.

In a written statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday, cabinet office secretary Oliver Dowden said his department has made a “confidential assessment” to the anti-corruption watchdog and will not provide further information on Gray’s departure “whilst we consider next steps”.

As well as a cabinet office probe, the anti-corruption watchdog, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), is reviewing the terms of Gray’s departure.

It can set recommendations for when senior people leave government, including calling for a cooling-off period to avoid any conflict of interest.

Who Is Sue Gray?

The senior civil servant was thrust into the limelight when she took over the probe into coronavirus rule-breaking at No 10 in 2021.

She stepped in to lead the investigation after cabinet secretary Simon Case – her boss – recused himself following allegations that his own office held a Christmas event amid a lockdown.

An initial dossier, published in January 2022, included several strong criticisms of Downing Street’s drinking culture, but was short on details about the parties as it was hampered by an investigation launched by the Metropolitan Police.

But her full report in May 2022 proved to be a bombshell. It detailed events at which officials drank so much they were sick, sang karaoke, became involved in altercations and abused security and cleaning staff at a time when millions of people across the country were unable to see friends and family.

She criticised “failures of leadership and judgment” in No 10 and said “the senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility”.

Six weeks later, Johnson was forced out of office by his own cabinet and Conservative MPs.

While Gray, in her mid-60s, is said to shun the media spotlight, some politicians have gone so far as to suggest the former publican is the “real leader” of the UK.

In her former role as director-general of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office from 2012 to 2018, she is said to have overseen cabinet reshuffles, served as a guiding hand in compiling honours lists, and even signed off political memoirs before their publication.

In the statement, Dowden said Gray was “given the opportunity to make representations as part of this process but chose not to do so”.

He added that “in order to maintain confidentiality towards an individual former employee, I am unable at this stage to provide further information relating to the departure of Ms Gray whilst we consider next steps”.

Dowden also highlighted sections of the civil service code relating to the political activity of civil servants, adding: “The impartiality and perceived impartiality of the Civil Service is constitutionally vital to the conduct of government.”

Earlier in the day Starmer insisted he had no discussions with Gray while she was investigating Boris Johnson and he was “confident” she had not broken any rules.

“Firstly I had no discussions with her while she was investigating Boris Johnson whatsoever, I don’t think anyone is suggesting that’s the case,” the Labour leader told BBC Breakfast ahead of an expected update later from the Cabinet Office on the circumstances of her departure.

He went on: “I’m confident she hasn’t broken any of the rules.”

Starmer claimed the government was trying to resurrect a story about Gray, because they do not want to talk about the cost of living crisis.

Labour Launches Fresh Attack On Rishi Sunak Despite Tweet Row

Posted on 08/04/2023 by Boris Clair

Labour has stepped up its attacks on Rishi Sunak by claiming he does not want thieves to be punished.

The latest move comes despite fierce criticism of an earlier ad accusing the prime minister of not wanting child sex offenders to be jailed.

And it follows a second tweet which said Sunak did not want to imprison adults convicted of gun possession.

The latest online graphic, which again features a picture of the PM alongside his signature, says: “Do you think thieves should be punished? Rishi Sunak doesn’t.”

It adds: “Under the Tories, only 180 of the 4,500 thefts a day will see someone charged this year.”

HuffPost UK revealed yesterday that Labour was planning to step up its personal attacks on Sunak despite widespread condemnation of the tweet about child sexual assault.

In an unusual move, Twitter has added a “context” note making clear the Tories do not want to end the jailing of child sex offenders.

Critics of the campaign included former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who said Labour is “better than this”.

Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell also repeatedly refused to say she agreed with the ad when quizzed about it yesterday.

But appearing on Radio Four’s Any Questions programme last night, shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry said: “I heard a lot of people criticising it, and a lot of people who I like and respect criticising it and saying they felt very uncomfortable about it. Some people said that they thought it was racist.

“I have to say, I think they’re wrong. I just disagree with that. I think the truth is we do need to have a debate in this country, and Rishi Sunak is the Prime Minister and he is responsible for a broken justice system.”

Asked if she genuinely thinks Sunak held these views, Thornberry said: “If he believes that everyone responsible for child abuse should get a custodial sentence, why are so many not getting a custodial sentence?”

Pressure Builds On Keir Starmer As Crunch Local Elections Loom

Posted on 31/03/2023 by Boris Clair

Shabana Mahmood, Labour’s elections co-ordinator, had a simple message for the shadow cabinet last Tuesday.

“The polls have tightened and so discipline is key,” she told them in her latest presentation ahead of the local elections on May 4.

With Rishi Sunak having enjoyed the best month of his premiership following the passing of his Brexit deal, a disaster-free Budget and the introduction of his plan to stop small boats crossing the Channel, the pressure is suddenly on Keir Starmer to respond.

Mahmood told her frontbench colleagues that Labour will focus relentlessly on three areas in the run-up to polling day – the cost of living, crime and the NHS.

“We must have confidence to stick to the issues we want to talk about, confidence that they are the issues the voters want to hear about and resist being led away by the Tory pied piper,” she said.

Two days later, Starmer was in Swindon to formally launch Labour’s election campaign.

The choice of location was significant. Although Labour has never controlled the local council, its two parliamentary seats are key targets for next year’s general election.

It is further evidence that May 4 is being seen by party bosses as a dry run for 2024.

“Two months ago, those around Keir were saying that Swindon will be the barometer,” one senior Labour insider told HuffPost UK. “I think we’re looking good there, but they’re not leaving anything to chance.”

In all, 8,141 seats and 230 councils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are up for grabs next month.

The Tories currently hold 3,290 of them, with Labour on 2,062 and the Lib Dems on 1,205. Independents and others make up the remaining 1,600 seats.

One source said: “People probably have their expectations in the wrong places. They expect this to be a complete bloodbath for the Tories, with Labour hoovering up hundreds of seats.

“But the key thing to look out for is where Labour is winning and what our vote share is compared to the 2019 general election.”

No Labour supporter will need reminding of what happened in 2019, when Jeremy Corbyn led the party to its worst defeat since 1935.

With Corbyn now blocked from standing as a Labour candidate next year, Starmer wants to convince voters that it will be a very different party next time round.

Keir Starmer takes a selfie with shadow cabinet members and Labour members at the party's local election launch in Swindon. — Keir Starmer takes a selfie with shadow cabinet members and Labour members at the party’s local election launch in Swindon.

One shadow cabinet member pointed out that the last time these council seats were contested four years ago, the Tories did so badly that it cost Theresa May her job.

“A lot of Tories went independent in 2019 and the chances are they will switch back this time,” he said.

“The narrative for us has to be what Labour does nationally and how we perform in they key seats we need to win next year. We’re concentrating our resources there.

“If we wake up on May 5 and the BBC story is ‘Tories lose 100 seats and Labour win 200 so the general election is too close to call’ we’ll have done a bad job of managing people’s expectations.”

Morgan McSweeney, Labour’s campaign director, reinforced that message in his own address to the shadow cabinet.

“He said that the Tories and us are going to be campaigning in different places,” a source told HuffPost UK. “So just because the response we get on the door will feel good, the Tories will be relentlessly working the areas they lost in 2019 and will win some of them back.”

Nevertheless, the mood among Tory MPs remains gloomy. One minister, having seen the returns from Conservative canvassers around the country, recently told a Labour colleague: “You’ll have my job next year – we are fucked.”

Starmer hopes that the local elections are indeed a stepping stone on his road to 10 Downing Street.

Jeremy Corbyn Set To Run Against Labour After Being Blocked By Keir Starmer

Posted on 28/03/2023 by Boris Clair

Jeremy Corbyn has dropped a major hint that he will stand against Labour at the next general election.

The former party leader said he had “no intention of stopping” being the MP for Islington North, the seat he has represented for 40 years.

He spoke out after Labour’s ruling NEC backed Keir Starmer’s bid to stop him being a candidate for the party next year.

Corbyn has been sitting as an independent since losing the Labour whip in 2020 after claiming anti-semitism in the party while he was leader had been “overstated” by his political opponents.

Officials voted 22-12 in favour of a motion in Starmer’s name which said Labour’s election chances would be “significantly diminished” if Corbyn is allowed to run again.

Corbyn, who led Labour from 2015 until 2020, said the move was “a shameful attack on party democracy, party members and natural justice”.

In a statement, he said: “Today’s disgraceful move shows contempt for the millions of people who voted for our party in 2017 and 2019, and will demotivate those who still believe in the importance of a transformative Labour government.

“Keir Starmer has instead launched an assault on the rights of his own Labour members, breaking his pledge to build a united and democratic party that advances social, economic and climate justice.

“I will not be intimidated into silence. I have spent my life fighting for a fairer society on behalf of the people of Islington North, and I have no intention of stopping now.”

Corbyn supporters have also condemned the decision to block his candidacy.

John McDonnell, who was shadow chancellor when Corbyn was leader, told Times Radio: “We’ve got a general election in 18 months time. We need to mobilise the whole of the party: left, right and centre. And this is so divisive, and it’ll demoralised quite a few people.

“And actually I think it might, in many ways, cost us votes in a number of constituencies. So I think it’s a really bad mistake.”

Meanwhile, Momentum founder Jon Lansman compared Starmer to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Labour Increases Poll Lead Over The Tories To 28 Points

Posted on 22/02/2023 by Boris Clair

The Labour Party is a whopping 28 points ahead of the Conservatives, according to a fresh poll.

A YouGov voting intention survey shows the Tories on just 22% of the vote – down two points from their previous survey on 8-9 February.

The pollster found Labour on 50% of the vote – an increase of three points from their last poll.

Elsewhere, the Lib Dems have 9% of the vote (-1), while the Greens have 6% (no change) and Reform UK have 7% of the vote (+1).

While polls should always be treated with caution, Labour supporters celebrated the latest figures.

Critics pointed out that the survey contained many in the 24 to 49-year-old age bracket.

However, it follows two other polls published in the last 48-hours that have put Labour well ahead of the Tories.

A Deltapoll survey found Labour on a 22 point lead while a Redfield & Wilton poll put them on a 27 point lead.

According to the YouGov poll, Keir Starmer’s lead over Rishi Sunak has also increased to 13 points.

Participants were asked which party leader would make the best prime minister. Starmer is on 34% of the vote (+1) while Sunak is on 21% (-4).

Labour Accuses Ministers Of Living ‘Luxury Lifestyle’ At Taxpayers’ Expense

Posted on 12/02/2023 by Boris Clair

Taxpayers’ money has been used to fund five-star hotels for ministers “living the high life” on overseas trips, Labour has claimed following an analysis of government spending.

In July 2021, the Treasury, then under Rishi Sunak, spent £3,217 on accommodation at the five-star Hotel Danieli in Venice, and £1,361 at the four-star Hotel Bonvecchiati, for the then chancellor and 11 other government representatives at a G20 meeting.

Tory party chairman Greg Hands stayed in a £318-a-night five-star hotel in Germany while he was energy minister in July 2022, while Alok Sharma’s 66 trips as president of the Cop26 climate summit cost taxpayers £220,817 just for his own travel and hotels.

The details were uncovered through analysis of official figures and a string of parliamentary questions on the use of government procurement cards (GPCs), with Labour promising to publish a dossier on their use on Monday.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: “As Conservative ministers once again reach into the pockets of taxpayers to dine out on five-star luxury lifestyle, families up and down the country are sick with anxiety about whether their pay cheque will cover the weekly shop.

“Britain is facing the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades and Rishi Sunak doesn’t seem to have noticed.

“Far from actually governing, Conservative ministers are living the high life and treating taxpayers like a cash machine.

“A Labour government will get tough on waste, with an Office of Value for Money upholding transparency and high standards for all public spending, including on government procurement cards.”

The findings show Lord Grimstone, a former business and trade minister, and an aide stayed at the Ritz-Carlton in Jeddah in October 2021 while attending the Saudi Investment Initiative, at a cost of £3,041 for four nights’ accommodation, or £760 per night.

Labour acknowledged that overseas travel is an essential part of the job for many ministers and officials and they should be able to stay in hotels where they can get a good night’s sleep and be safe, but insisted the most cost-effective options should be chosen.

The opposition’s investigation also uncovered evidence of large sums spent on domestic travel.

The Treasury hired a £3,600 chauffeur service for ministers and officials visiting Cop26 around the Finance Day addressed by then chancellor Mr Sunak on November 3 2021, claiming that no government cars were available.

In May 2022 then home secretary Priti Patel and an aide spent a combined total of £823 on two return train tickets to Stoke, described in the Home Office’s accompanying GPC transparency data as necessary expenditure for “urgent ministerial meetings”, even though it was a scheduled Cabinet away day.

A senior Conservative source said: “Awkwardly for Labour HQ they’ve forgotten that they introduced these ‘civil servant credit cards’ in 1997.

“By 2010 Labour was spending almost £1 billion of taxpayers’ money on everything from dinners at Mr Chu’s Chinese restaurant to luxury five-star hotels.

“The Conservatives swiftly stopped their absurd profligacy, cutting the number of cards, introducing a requirement for spending to be publicly declared and putting in place controls.

“Typically, Labour’s ‘big idea’ is to spend millions of taxpayer cash to establish yet another quango, stuff it with thousands of bureaucrats and give them gold plated pensions.”

Exclusive: Keir Starmer Warns His Shadow Cabinet To Up Their Game

Posted on 25/12/2022 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer has told his frontbenchers and their teams to up their game as the party prepares for a crucial 12 months.

Shadow cabinet members are being urged to increase the number of parliamentary questions they submit to hold the government to account.

The number of ideas each shadow minister comes up with for Labour’s media grid – which lists stories issued to journalists on specific topics – is also being monitored to see who is pulling their weight.

Starmer also wants his shadow cabinet teams to come up with suggestions for the party’s national policy forum in July, where Labour’s manifesto for the next election will take shape.

The crackdown by the leader of the opposition’s office (Loto) comes as Labour maintains its commanding lead over the Conservatives in the opinion polls.

A survey of public opinion by Sevanta earlier this month suggested Starmer is on course for 10 Downing Street with an astonishing 314-seat majority

Nevertheless, the Labour leader is eager for his frontbench team not to take their foot off the gas with the next election still two years away.

2023 is seen as a crucial year, with council elections in England in May, as well as the ongoing political battles over the UK’s economic future.

One senior Labour source told HuffPost UK: “Like any zombie, this government may look like it’s on its way out, but they’ll keep going until they are eviscerated.

“We cannot take our eyes off them for a second. Our mantra has been ‘no complacency’ and that is even more important next year.”

Analysis by HuffPost UK shows that shadow defence secretary John Healey has tabled the most parliamentary questions of any Labour frontbencher this year with 1,317.

He is followed by shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry on 993, shadow rail minister Tan Dhesi on 784 and shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson on 510.

At the other end of the spectrum, climate change secretary Ed Miliband submitted none, while shadow Welsh secretary Jo Stevens has only tabled seven.

It is understood that Starmer’s team were also impressed by shadow health secretary’ Wes Streeting’s recent ‘health week’, which sought to highlight the government’s failures on the NHS.

“That won plaudits from Loto for its content and the initiative Wes and his team demonstrated in proposing it,” said one Labour insider.

“That is precisely the type of thing we need to be doing to keep the Tories on their toes.”

Veteran Labour Activist Pete Willsman Expelled For Alleging Anti-Semitism ‘Whipped Up’ By Israel

Posted on 22/11/2022 by Boris Clair

A veteran Labour activist has been expelled by the party for claiming anti-Semitism allegations against Jeremy Corbyn supporters had been “whipped up” by the Israeli Embassy.

Pete Willsman was a member of Labour’s ruling national executive council (NEC) when he was suspended in 2019.

He had been recorded telling American-Israeli author Tuvia Tenenbom that critics of Corbyn were using claims of anti-Semitism to “whip people up,”

Willsman said: “It’s almost certain who is behind all this anti-Semitism against Jeremy… Almost certainly it was the Israeli embassy. Because they caught somebody in the Labour party – it turns out they were an agent in the embassy.

“The thing is that the people that are in the Labour party doing it are people who are linked… one of them works indirectly for the Israeli embassy.

“I wouldn’t want to be bothered to find out anyway but my guess would be they are the ones whipping it up all the time.”

He was previously handed a warning by then Labour general secretary Jennie Formby after he accused rabbis speaking out over anti-Semitism crisis of being “Trump fanatics”.

HuffPost UK has learned that Willsman has now been expelled by the party.

Mike Katz, national chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, said: “Pete Willsman was a member of Labour’s ruling NEC when he attacked Rabbis from across the UK Jewish community by smearing them as ‘Trump supporting fanatics’.

“It’s about time he was expelled. This anti-semitic behaviour has no place in Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.”

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