Street interviews show people barely aware of Johnson’s murderous pandemic performance – or of who Labour leader is, let alone what he’d do
A ‘Vox Pop’ filmed on the streets of Bolton and shown yesterday on the BBC’s Politics North West programme is worse than deeply embarrassing for Labour leader Keir Starmer. It shows how his ‘no opposition’ approach is betraying the people of this country – and giving Boris Johnson a free ride on Johnson’s disastrous and even murderous handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Working-class people were not only far more willing to give Johnson a benefit of the doubt he simply doesn’t deserve, they also had no clue what Labour would do differently – or even, in a traditionally Labour stronghold, who Starmer is:
Boris Johnson’s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis hasn’t protected the people of this country – nor has it protected the UK’s economy. Instead it has led the UK to one of the highest death rates from the virus in the entire world – and the most severe economic damage of any developed nation – and is now letting the virus run rampant again, while Johnson uses lockdowns selectively to damage working-class areas.
Not only that, but he has refused even to express regret for the tens of thousands of deaths he has caused, while lying constantly about how well he and his cronies are doing.
Yet it seems many people on the street have no clue about either – and a large part of the guilt for this ignorance must be laid at Starmer’s door.
His refusal to oppose, his terror of upsetting Johnson’s supporters and his determination not to say anything ‘too critical’ are allowing Johnson a easy ride and making the Tories’ and their media allies’ job of pulling the wool over the public’s eyes an absolute walk in the park.
Starmer’s approach is not just ineffective, it is a betrayal of Labour values and of the working-class people who rely on Labour to stand up for their interests and it is allowing a frankly murderous government to continue to deceive.
It has to change.
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Yep, he’s doing a damned fine job of winning back voters…damned fine.
And little steven, before you start, that fella could’ve taken those placards to most any town on murkeyside and got more or less the same response….And I’d happily wager it’s the same tale throughout the North West.
Utterly f***ing hopeless. Aloof. Sullen. Ignorant. Disinterested in anywhere, anything and anyone outside his bubble.
Toffee – ………..and yet the above is belied by the opinion polls which all indicate that Keir is more popular with the electorate than Boris
Here’s Boris’s approval ratings across multiple polling companies from the 01/09 to 01/10
+3, -8, -6, -12, -3, -14, -7, -12, -10, -21 & -11
and here are Keir’s for the same period
+15, +6, +21, +10, +15, +16, +15, +19, +19, +12, +16
It doesn’t take a genius to work out who is actually more popular with the voters
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership_approval_opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election
That’s a bit of a “red herring”, you could put a pig up and he’d get similar votes to Starmer against fuckwit Johnson
steve hilling – Which begs the question, why when using the same metric was Jeremy 40+ points behind Boris.
Where’s the 180,000+ that joined in Corbyns first few months, little steven?
Where’s the LEAD Corbyn had over the toerags before stammer and Watson bollocksed it?
Why hasn’t stammer both regained AND increased it against a worse than useless government?
Why do people STILL have NO IDEA who stammer is after six months as (allegedly more popular than Corbyn) leader and several years as an alleged prominent politician?
Keep kidding yourself, soft lad. We who actually go out and speak to Joe Public and we who can at least gauge what the electorate are thinking (as opposed to being so fucking insular and parochial that you think the membership represents the entire electorate) will continue to be proved correct; whereas you’ll continue with the handwringing apologies and platitudes that only serve to irritate and self-exonerate rather than concede and compromise.
Toffee – “Where’s the 180,000+ that joined in Corbyns first few months, little steven?
I don’t know, do you. I’d have thought it was a reasonable guess that some will have left prior to the 19GE and a few more will have left following Starmer’s overall majority in the first round. A few but not that many.
A substantial number of members who voted for Corbyn in the previous 2 leadership elections voted for Starmer this time (even Jeremy’s own CLP nominated Keir). It is also worth noting that a poll during the leadership election posed the question to members – Who would you vote for in the leadership election if JC was on the ballot paper alongside KS, RLB & LN. The result was RLB’s vote collapsed JC got about 30% and Keir still won an overall majority in the first round.
“Where’s the LEAD Corbyn had over the toerags before stammer and Watson bollocksed it?”
If you’re referring to Corbyn’s personal approval ratings, I don’t think that lead ever really existed. Jeremy wrecked his own electoral chances by pissing all over his own USP by prevaricating for month after month with ‘constructive ambiguity’. On at least 2 occasions since the 19GE Corbyn has clearly stated on camera that the CV was at the behest of the substantial majority of Labour members.
Why hasn’t stammer both regained AND increased it against a worse than useless government?”
It is significantly better than it was at the end of Corbyn’s tenure and Keir has beaten Jeremy’s personal approval ratings of -40 by a very substantial and decisive margin from day one. There was a lot of ground to make up.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/26/labour-takes-poll-lead-as-parties-see-major-switch-in-fortunes
“Why do people STILL have NO IDEA who stammer is after six months as (allegedly more popular than Corbyn) leader and several years as an alleged prominent politician? “
Probably because they live in a factional bubble.
“Keep kidding yourself, soft lad. We who actually go out and speak to Joe Public and we who can at least gauge what the electorate are thinking (as opposed to being so fucking insular and parochial that you think the membership represents the entire electorate) will continue to be proved correct; whereas you’ll continue with the handwringing apologies and platitudes that only serve to irritate and self-exonerate rather than concede and compromise.”
I don’t have to kid myself, the facts speak for themselves.
You appear to be the only one confusing the membership with the electorate. I’m quite aware that the membership of the party is 1.18% or 1in 85 of the electorate. However I do recognise this is quite a substantial proportion of the electorate and I think this is a fantastic achievement.
The fact that I irritate you is neither here nor there and is of no consequence to me.
“Concede and compromise” is what Corbyn did, and look where that got him and the party.
That is some piece of journalism even for you . “…………… a betrayal of Labour values and of the working-class people who rely on Labour to stand up for their interests” what age are you Skwawkbox? Who the fuk do you think your talking to?
What a crock. Its that kind of rhetoric that lost Bolton to the Tory’s. Working people aren’t stupid. People know when they are being talked down to. You are so out of touch, its laughable.
And I listened to the vox pop, most of the people of Bolton seem to be ok with Johnson. Bolton’s a Tory town now. Try appyling a bit of simple logic to why that happened. Why did Labour loose Bolton? You cant blame that on Starmer.
Maybe you can. Maybe in head of the Skwawkbox it all makes sense.
There’s a challenge for you Skwawky, write a piece that points the finger for Labour’s worst ever general election result at Starmer.
The tragedy is, is that he could and he’d base it on his favourite straw man (straw because it would be clutching at them) of the principled unwillingness of a Labour Shadow Cabinet Minister to meekly ape the Tories on Brexit and their dream of an imaginary world of lost content before all this Europe malarkey started……
Let him answer for himself.
2nd referendum you prick
Who the fuk do you think your talking to?
And you had a good whinge about refusing being intimidated when I asked you the very same. (Except I used better and correct grammar) Lad, just put your buttplug back in and go away.
To think, I had little steven down as being a cultist weirdo…
Toffee,
You know I don’t like it when you get offensive. What have I told you about keeping calm? When you get angry and loose the plot, the rest of us don’t understand the point you are trying to make.
And one more thing. You seem to have an unhealthy fixation with me and ” butt plugs “. Whatever they may be. You keep referring to me ‘throwing them at my laptop’ and ‘putting them back in’. Whatever it is that you are thinking about, stop it. You are barking up the wrong tree.
Your hypocrisy is being pointed out to you and you start crying about me being offensive? You’re ordering me to keep calm?
Have a word with yerself, buttplug.
That’s not hard. Starmer and his faction, including full time employees of the Party, spent four years systematically undermining the Party, its policies and its spokesmen. The icing on that noxious cake was their insistence that Labour renege on its commitment to honour the result of the EU referendum.
It is very simple- the only complicated bit is imagining the long term consequences, for Britain, Europe and the world of sabotaging the anti-imperialist Corbyn project. A socialist government, opposed to the fascist regime in Israel and the war against democracy in Latin America, ready to work with Russia and China for a multi-polar world and a united approach to global problems, such as this pandemic and the dangers of climate change, might have changed everything.
Instead we have two parties competing for the rights to explore Uncle Sam’s stinking arsehole.
“The icing on that noxious cake was their insistence that Labour renege on its commitment to honour the result of the EU referendum.”
Since the 2019 GE defeat Jeremy Corbyn has clearly confirmed on camera that the CV policy was the will of the membership.
bevin,
Corbyn, had been the leader of the BLP for 4 year before the colossal defeat of December 2019. You cant blame malcontents. A leader would have sorted that out. Friends , enemies. patsys, pricks. That is what good leaders do. That is what bad leaders are incapable of doing
That’s a good post. Most people are in the dark about the topics that you mentioned. I still can’t believe the lack of outrage in Britain at the sniper killings. ☮️
The man who pushed the “second referendum”, are you aving a larf?
But it wasn’t Labour’s “worst ever election result”. Admittedly it was disappointing, but Starmer was incredibly deeply involved in that result.
As was Jeremy.
Mckinnon….get back to your Orange lodge.I understand that the Victoria orange lodge has just been re launched,along with the racism bigotry and sheer ignorance of your conservative and unionist party..God help Bolton a multicultural town with vermin like you hanging around.
I will let others decide who the bigot is between us.
Not a Labour leader that I would recognize — more a re-hash of Tony Bliar. He’s simply waiting for Bozo to fall, the problem being that the Tories won’t fall with him, and our Brylcream Boy will face another, inevitably tougher opponent. Bozo must remain, however, until the mess that is Brexit is (kind of) sorted out. Presumably, some form of Tory will come galloping to the rescue, while pointing the finger, at our roly-poly friend. Stand by for a rise in VAT and savage benefit cuts to balance the books, left in the red, seemingly, by the present incumbent.
The only change that will help working class people and our Labour Party is an IMMEDIATE change of leader.
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer is failing the working class, destroying Labour and collapsing the membership.
Bad news.
…. and yet at the 2019 GE, for the first time ever, more of the working class voted Tory than voted Labour.
Two-thirds of the UK electorate (well, 67.2 percent) – 47,587,254 in total – cast their vote at the 2019 General Election. The Conservatives obtained roughly 250,000 more than they did in 2017,
but….
unless you are using “class” in a Hyacinth Bucket/ socioeconomic sense, then OBVIOUSLY more working class votes went to labour than the tories.
The bourgeois vote which the conservatives always get was supplemented by a callous exploitative right wing populism which benefited from duplicitous nationalism feigning a brexit surge which dd, temporarily assist Boris and his corrupt Conservative party.
qwertboi – I was using working class in the following context. The actual figures.
Labour C2DE 33%, ABC1 33%
Tory….. C2DE 48%, ABC1 43%
“voted Tory than voted Labour”. Not true they voted Brexit.
ps: Since the 2019 election defeat significantly more people have joined the party than have left.
In Feb20 the party achieved its highest ever membership. Since then the membership has dropped slightly to 560,000 (I guess this was the much vaunted ‘mass exodus’ of the self appointed guardians of ‘the left’).
This is still very significantly more (100,000+) than the level that the membership had sunk to prior to the 19GE.
I see StramerBot SteveH is having a laugh with us all again.
Hey Steve, quite a few joined the Party in February just to vote in the Leaders Election, it as cheaper than the one off vote cost and was pushed by heaps of people on Social Media, of course, once the DD was cancelled the Party don’t count it as someone leaving, but an arrear for six months, only then does the membership lapse.
Further, most folk who have left neglected to inform Membership, so they too appear as a Six Month arrears figure, meaning, after six months of not paying you get not to be a member, unless of course they are trying to Suspend/Ban you – which I know a lot about.
Still, keep blowing the smoke up Starmer’s arse as it makes me smile.
christopher – “Hey Steve, quite a few joined the Party in February just to vote in the Leaders Election,”
In which case they would have been too late the cut-off was 17:00hrs 20/01. Roughly 114,000 joined between the GE and the cut off date.
I’m well aware of the system, it was just the same under Corbyn, Unite also does the same.
The fact remains that using the same system as when Corbyn was in office we now have substantially more members than we did prior to the 19GE. Since the GE c140,000 have joined the party and only c20,000 have left (incl those who just joined temporarily to vote). Denial won’t alter this.
Distrusting all bureaucracies as I do, I don’t put much confidence in the new management’s claimed membership number BUT it’s not solely about the number, but the activity of members.
And even though I haven’t departed (yet), I’m not participating in my CLP (is anyone?), campaigning in my community or likely to canvas and campaign for any non-SCG candidate for election.
Apparently the Russian soviet Communist party had over 30-million members the day Yeltsin and Gorbachev (and Putin) gave away state-owned resources to the future Russian billionaires. Sir Trilateral Keir would out-do them if he could, low life that he is.
qwertboi – I’d be surprised if you were, it may have escaped your notice but most CLP activity has been suspended because of Covid19.
qwertboi – Is that the same SCG who’s leader recently declared that “they want to see Keir Starmer in No10”.
Steve, that’s astonishing. Why is this happening? I wonder,seriously, who they might be. Have the number crunchers offered any reasons? ☮️
Wobblyjack – Maybe you’ll get the opportunity to ask them yourself when CLP & Branch meetings resume.
Look I wish folk posting on Skwawkbox would stop knocking the duly elected Leader of her Maj’s Loyal Opposition, he’s doing a bloody fine job whatever his/her name is, as the good New Working Class folk of Bolton have demonstrated.
Indeed, I think having any policies whatsoever is a most dangerous move, far better to enter the next GE with no policies whatsoever and await the Tories to launch their own Manifesto, once launched, the Rightwing New, new Labour Party can steal all the policies and put a nice Smiley on them, this way voters will be most impressed and vote whoever the Labour leader is, well, as ling as they are Rightwing and offer perpetual austerity.
Now, that’s FORENSIC ain’t it!
Why would anyone vote ersatz Tory
Red Tories lost us 5 million votes
Temporary Embarrassment is hamstrung by 2nd referendum and like all good centrists will support No Deal on patriotic grounds
Methinks he’s pretty fucked
I was Born and bred in “bowton” as the locals pronounce it.Boltons sad story is a story about abandonment of a old mill town by the Labour party over many years..A clown knight that lost his seat to the torys and now only one Labour mp.represents the town.and shes another Lawyer.The majority councillors are Labour,but the so called independent and libs hatched a dirty deal to vote the torys to run the town after nearly 50 years in the wilderness.Bolton is not a Tory town its just that they are sick of being trampled by the Labour party and goverments of any colour.What they are not impressed with are titles and knights especially the one destroying Labour party..Bolton is in a mess and and people like Starmer only exploit and take.They got rid of there knight in the recent election ,how long before the the Labour party get rid of their knight “Rodney” the clown knight from Surrey.
Joseph – You’re the only one on here who has a myopic obsession with knighhoods.
No he isn’t. He really isn’t.
Steve H you are impressed with Titles….and the privilege of the establishment…You are not a Socialist or even left wing.The broad church allowed “misfits” like to “Operate” inside the Labour party and like the trojan horse defeated the working class Labour party…..enjoy it!there’s nothing “Left” to build on and with a membership bleeding away in you will soon stop drawing your silver….judas H.
No he is not! I have trouble with dames as well.
Starmer’s marginal acceptability to global neoliberalism is because he secretly swallowed the blue pill and parts his cheeks on demand.
Neoliberalism threw everything it had against Corbyn because he’s genuinely a socialist and socialism is THE ONLY POSSIBLE CHALLENGE to neoliberal dogma and the global dictatorship of the 1%.
Every politician who isn’t genuinely a socialist is a dog on a short leash that the 1% keep solely to maintain the illusion of democracy.
Only Quislings, collaborators, defeatists, dupes and fools believe in Starmer.
This Country is Ruined, 35 Years of Globalism Capitalism and The Dictatorship of The 1% has Destroyed not only the Union they have instigated Wars in the name of GREED.These shadowy Uber Rich Ghosts Own Governments Worldwide and will Brooker no form of disobedience or challenge to their Dystopian Rule.This Cabal have the Utter Dominance of the Working Masses which for the Idiot so called Middle Classes means You Too It is Their Planet they Create Wars, Plagues, Poverty, and THE DEATH OF MILLIONS. We are in a dark place NOW and it’s our own Fault Because we had a MAN who was incorruptible but we abandoned Him, Jeremy Corbyn and his small Group of Real Labour People Socialists People who Care for us the Many were viciously and relentlessly hunted by the British Media this is No Democracy in fact Democracy is a Myth created by EDUCATED RICH GREEK POLITICIANS to placate the Mob, It really is way past the time for CHANGE change for All People’s on this Planet. It is Time to RING THE CHANGES.
It’s so utterly humiliating to see the surrender-monkey Starmer dragging Labour into ignominy that I almost think I can imagine how French patriots must have felt seeing Pétain bring shame on France by his Vichy capitulation.
Pétain surrendered to the full might of the Third Reich in its prime when France’s cause was already lost – saving untold thousands of lives but allowing c.75,000 Jewish deportations – for which he deservedly spent the rest of his life in jail.
Starmer has surrendered to a braying, flatulent windbag at no personal risk whatever, saving no lives whatever but putting us all at far greater risk of death by incompetence.
There must be a lesson in there somewhere.