Donor with interests in private healthcare and energy has said he’s still open to returning to the Tories
Keir Starmer has accepted a large donation from billionaire hedge-fund owner with huge interests in private healthcare.
John Armitage, currently 149th on the UK rich list, founded Egerton Capital – a hedge fund that holds around $800m of stock in the private health company at the heart of NHS privatisation that has also spent millions lobbying US politicians to support its interests. In January, Starmer’s health spokesman Wes Streeting took £15,000 from the same donor, so Starmer’s £12,500 might be seen to suggest he’s considered less valuable to the billionaire’s interests.
Armitage has donated more than £3m to the Tories and said earlier this summer that he would consider returning to them if Tory MP Kemi Badenoch took the Conservative leadership, according to the Times.
Armitage’s fund also holds over US$300m in a Canadian private energy company, although no UK energy firms are listed on the fund’s HedgeFollow profile. This morning, Starmer promised that Labour would cut the energy bills of the poorest by 8-18 pence per day.
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If average bills hit that £4,200 figure in January, and Starmer Reeves continue to basically shrug their shoulders, what a time for a new Corbyn-fronted Peace & Justice party – promising to renationalise.
Taking Labour’s members and votes will be like taking candy from a baby.
A very good assesment of the state of play in setting up a new party Andy and its all there for the taking if jeremy Corbyn wants and a handful of mps have the cajones to make the move before they are flushed out of the Labour party
.Members and money are waiting its just a matter of old loyaltys that mean nothing to the regime who rule like tyrants.
If only you both had a party and a leader to coalesce behind, has Jeremy announced whether he is going to stand at the next General Election yet?
Steve H I have a leader to stand behind,the problem is waiting for idiots like you in the DUP to aceppt that their time as gone….same as you mr H Hall ..We need to show patience and fortitude which we have in buckets in the cause of a united Ireland
With the labour party that I have left behind the members must now realise that the same does not apply to them,…too little and too late.?
“A government in waiting “is not on the cards for the labour party even when gifted to them on a plate.
Roll on a General election in Ireland and a Sinn Fein democratic socialist government as the talent and a historical right to lead the much suffering working class out of the neo liberal nightmare of a two party stitch up….
Two Cheeks
The secret of great comedy is
Timing
If JC is forced to stand as an Independent then with Union support it would takw very little to stand ss a new Socialist party
If PWC had a brain he would bring him back inside the tent
In order to get all those conservative voters he’s currently wooing it looks like Starmer’s going to have to do more to attract high value donors so that he can achieve his ultimate goal of purging any members who still believe in outdated concepts like democratic socialism (and honesty ) and links with Unions..
Iain, is Starmer really wooing Tory voters? £12500 isn’t exactly a large amount, it is basically the annual levies of 300 members at a minimum of £3 per month.
We know that Starmer has been leader of the Labour Party for less than 28 months and we have lost more than 3000 per month. Hence, the donation is hardly going to help balance the loses in membership the Party has already sustained and still likely to sustain..
My educated guess is that Armitage when it comes to the push is likely to back the Tories but in the meantime, he is hedging his bets but giving a small donation to Starmer and in the process encourage him to not present a real opposition to the Tories.
sorry make that 350 members’s levies rather than 300.
Truss is now promoting fracking. This, despite the fact the Tory manifesto all but ruled it out.
The Tories’ 2019 manifesto promised: “We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.”
Given leading Labour figures are allegedly in receipt of cash from energy investors. Worth reposting this:
I wonder where Starmer/Reeves are going to take Labour policy on hydraulic fracking? Guess it’ll depend on how much money is in it for them.
Most Europeans hate fracking, and for good reason. Even relatively poor countries like Romania, poor village populations have rallied against it when the US giants arrived with their bribes.
Fracking poisons the the drinking water aquifers – in the US it’s a huge problem up to a kilometer away from fracking sites. They pump in billions of litres of a toxic chemical mix to dissolve the rock and get at the shale gas. Sulfuric acid – corrosive to all body tissues, it’s also classified as a probable carcinogen, fuel oil, kerosene, hydrofluoric acid, and boric acid.
The people in designated areas where the shale gas underlies aquifers(most in the UK) should absolutely reject it , lest face years of misery.
We should concentrate on nuclear and renewables.
Though I wouldn’t argue that a party in power might change their leader in the course of a parliament, when they stand on a platform quite distinct from that which gave them the mandate surely they should call a GE to gain affirmation of the new agenda?
Hang on a second! Wasn’t John Armitage, founder of Egerton Capital, the ‘Major Tory Backer’ who told the BBC that Boris Johnson should resign ?
Sir Keir IS leading the Establishment B Team. I’m glad I left.
They are cheap whores considering how far a few grand you nowadays.
They sell out millions for pennies a head…
I don’t believe anyone can in any sense keep funding the labour party now.after all of the muck and bribes its little more than a party of rent boys who prostitute the labour party on every street corner.The chief pimp strummer should be banged up in jail along with most of his prostitutes.who have dragged the labour party into the gutter…absolutely vile especially when they realise what the future is for the people they have abandoned. .poverty,homeless and starvation as the winter draws in.
after all of the muck and bribes its little more than a party of rent boys
Keef vaz likes this.
Noo Labour ….. BOUGHT and PAID FOR !
Egerton Capital has approximately $19.1 billion in assets under management as at 31 July 2022
Keef smarmer likes this^^^
Has anyone heard any rumours about Southbank Labour Members being ‘warned off’ discussing the ‘Enough is Enough Campaign’?
Any truth in those rumours?
300,000 people have signed up, to the campaign, now. Not bad for a week’s work.
Steve H….I guess you must be ashamed of the labour party you belong to mr H?or are you more decadent than we thought?
Joseph – I’m simply adding some context.
What a “huge” help package Starmer is promoting: in the best case scenario £0.18 it amount to the princely sum of £65.70 per year and at £0.08 it amounts to the large amount of £29.20.
I am so overtaken by the generosity of his proposal NOT.
Yep. A piss-taking £65. 1.3% off the predicted £5k bill.
Barely enough to plug keef into the mains for 5 seconds, come October 😒
Toffee the more money these parliamentary parasites get from the trough the furthur apart we grow….thats probably the idea behind the bumper wages,expenses and a big fat pension that would make the average Joe’s eyes water….Tyranny has finally arrived….18pence for the peasants?
Serious question.
Are any of you going to bother voting at the next GE?
For the record, I will not. I have no representation so why should I give it legitimacy?
For the record, I will not. I have no representation so why should I give it legitimacy?
Join the club.
Only if illeagle’s punted and replaced with a socialist candidate…. But there’s more chance of that than liz truss successfully completing a dodt-to-dot consisting of three dots. 😕
If there were ONE thing that could fix the ‘no representation’ problem it’d be to replace FPTP.
Even a massively popular, highly electable new party that got (say) 4 million votes would do well to get 1 seat (as was the case for ukip at GE15).
PR would obliterate the Labour Right within 2 or 3 elections.
qwertboi – It makes one wonder why you are working so hard to install another Conservative government at the next GE when the chances of the Tories changing the voting system from FPTP to PR are less than zero.
SteveH. Yes, vested interests rarely change any pillar of their advantage, true. Apart from being abject liars and without principle, Starmer and the third-way are less likely to ‘reform’ our voting system. They’re like “new money”: Bigger snobs and more hard-nosed ‘flavour of the Month’ (or whatever the WEF is promoting at that time) merchants than the other lot.
I don’t think a ‘moderate’ RW Labour party would ever change FPTP – for they know it would result in truer democracy and thus make socialism mainstream
qwertboi – Given that 80%+ of Labour’s members support PR and all the Unions that in the last few months have changed their policy to support PR I think you are being overly pessimistic to suite your narrative.
Probably the same 80% that believe Labour should be solid with industrial disputes necessitated by mega-high and never-reducing profits during a cost of living crisis, should welcome its previous leader back to the fold and should nationalise Rail Mail Water and Power….
@Luke Akehurst tribute band
On your way with your Tory enabling tired trolling troupe.
The labour right enabled Tories. In fact, they enabled Boris Johnson. They did absolutely everything except to try unity, and have the tyres to ask for it now.
You have blood on your hands, simply through what’s plastered around your mouth.
Get in the sea.
New New Labour are all in favour of outsourcing to the private sector, not necessarily corruption. As every New New Labour MP knows, when private enterprise unleashes the power of the free market, good things happen.
When will the bribery of MPs and the acceptance of the cash become a crime against the people???
Andrew “when will the bribery of mps and the acceptance of the cash become a crime against the people” ?….Well Andrew when the people have enough cash to bribe them to pass a law then we might be able to put a “fix in”
Changing subject slightly:
Tonight’s Bond film on ITV is “Tomorrow Never Dies”.
A media mogul is planning to boost his ratings and revenue by starting a war.
Sounds kind of familiar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow_Never_Dies
It was the Sun that’s reported (with picture proof) Starmer is holidaying in Majorca – Britain not hot enough presumably? So jump on a plane, adding to global warming, off to Majorca?
Not a word on where he was from the likes of the guardian. Why is his whereabouts treated like a guarded state secret? Would Corbyn have been shielded like that? Starmer sped off fro the scene of a auto accident and nothing came of it, presumably he cited personal security concerns? Starmer’s security detail, unlike Corbyn’s consists of a number of burly goons, who wouldn’t look out of place protecting Beyoncé, they’re often seen pushing people out of the way or restraining people, like the pub landlord in his OWN pub. Remember Corbyn having to jostle his way through crowds of doorstepping journalists just to get to his car each morning? Labour conference had gun toting cops in every aisle. Contrast the protection Starmer is getting to Corbyn surrounded by ordinary folk, happily posing for selfies.
Starmer’s treated more like a senior member of the intel agencies than the LOTO. Just who is this guy and who does he represent?
Andy – I don’t remember Corbyn announcing where he was going on holiday to all and sundry, why would he?
I do however recall that there were lots of assertions about ‘gun toting cops’ at last years conference by various factions but surprise, surprise despite them being ‘in every aisle’ there was a distinct lack of any photographic evidence to corroborate these claims. Do you have any photo evidence to support your assertions?
SteveH
There was a heavy police presence that made many feel uncomfortable, plus reports of people being manhandled. They were clearly carrying bulky, albeit mostly concealed weaponry and crowd control equipment, tasers etc.
Under Corbyn, conference was a happy if somewhat chaotic affair, chaotic in the good political sense i.e. open political debate. Now it looks more like something you’d expect to see in North Korea. Back to the bad old days of Walter Wolfgang, and ZANU Labour levels of intolerance for dissent.
You do remember Corbyn having to near fight his way through doorstepping journalists every morning? Where were his Beyoncé goons?
Andy – So contrary to your exaggerated assertions there weren’t ‘gun toting police in every aisle’. I’m glad we’ve managed to clear that one up.
SteveH
It’s strange how Starmer was pictured dining with Paul Mason(2019) and Ruth Smeeth. Indeed Smeeth and Gareth Snell were accompanying him in his early days as leader despite both losing their seats? Ruth Smeeth stood at his side when he made his first speech like some proud family relative.
Odd how his closest allies seem to be connected to the spooky world, isn’t it. Or just coincidence in your view?
Andy – Like you, I don’t know.
You may say who he associates with is irrelevant, and just conspiracy BS, but :
A person tends to be very similar in attitude, character, ability, or personality to the people with whom they associate or spend time.
As the old proverb goes, does it not?
Andy – During the Corbyn era others spent a lot of time trying to make the same arguments about who Jeremy chose to associate with.
SteveH
It’s my guess (pure conjecture) Mason wrote the 10 Pledges – they are very Mason-esque imho pressing all the right buttons to win leftist support. Starmer almost certainly didn’t come up with those. Maybe that was the agreed plan in 2019, over those restaurant meals they were recorded at.
Mason has been an outspoken supporter of Starmer and remains so, bizarrely so considering Starmer’s abandoment of said pledges and being seemingly ideological opposites.
But the thing is, with all that’s since been revealed about Mason by the Grayzone, we simply don’t know if PM isreally on the left at all? Or just using leftism for cover? to infiltrate spy on the European left? European because he travels throughout Europe. The fact he wanted to ruin the lives of ‘leftist academics’ suggests he secretly despises the left, does it not?
abandonment – plus other typos.
SteveH 13/08/2022 at 1:49 pm :
For which he has, now, been – well and truly – vindicated by, not one, but two non-partisan Reports. So, those issues have been ‘put to bed’.
Are you, now, saying, Starmer needs to be the subject of, at least, one full non-partisan Inquiry to vindicate him – or otherwise?
George – I don’t have a clue what you are on about, do you?
Of course, I do. It’s unlike you to be so dense.
Have you signed-up to the @eiecampaign, yet?
George – I’m still non the wiser as I suspect are you.
No I haven’t joined the campaign, I don’t live in the UK.
George – The book of the same title that was published in 2013 is a good read
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Enough-Rob-Dietz/dp/0415820952
SteveH
Quote : Andy – During the Corbyn era others spent a lot of time trying to make the same arguments about who Jeremy chose to associate with.
If you’re referring to entertaining the likes of Hamas at a HoC ME peace conference, other parties to the conflict were invited to you know.
Or maybe you mean talking to the IRA? Or sharing a stage highlighting Palestinian injustices and/or in pursuit of of a fair peace settlement, that’s quite different from being close personal friends with these people and dining together. Corbyn and Tony Benn were simply trying to let the other side be heard & raise awareness to cut through the one-sided medias BS. Starmer was dining with people outed as spooks.
Take current US/UK hypocrisy and why Corbyn is still right :
Palestinians – told resistance of occupation is terrorism and peace can only be achieved through dialogue
Ukrainians – told to fight, fight, fight occupation, flooded with western arms told to rule out dialogue.
The US props up the Egyptian military dictatorship at the expense of their nascent democracy after Mubarak fell, democracy that was subsequently crushed by el Sisi. They prop up the Jordanian monarchy dictatorship, The Gulf monarchy dictatorships.
Syria, Assad? US/UK say he must be removed because, wait for it… he’s a dictator.
Andy: “Now it looks more like something you’d expect to see in North Korea. Back to the bad old days of Walter Wolfgang, and ZANU Labour levels of intolerance for dissent”
Yes, but the world has changed A LOT since the 1990s Andy. Nowadays (thanks to the ‘financial crisis’ and legislation-enabled ‘covid scams in US-occupied countries like Israel, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, GB* and the choreographed Ukraine War), they’re MORE LIKELY to make Oberführer Klaus Schwab a life-long ‘President’ of Labour and introduce a heel-clicking Seig Heil salute at Conference.
*China, the scam’s motivator/model, would have done it anyway
Can’t believe Paul Mason has been allowed to remain a Labour party member.
That he has is a pretty big flashing warning sign something is rotten in the state of D̶e̶n̶m̶a̶r̶k̶ UK.
He wanted the spy agencies to spy on leftwingers, tried to bring a harmless shoestring outfit like Novara to their attention, listed Jess Barnard and Zarah Sultana as part of an imagined conspiracy linked to Russia. Two of the most honest people in politics.
He made clear he was going after ‘leftist academics.’ In any decent leftist political party he would have had his membership terminated instantly.
Imagine if someone on the left were caught conspiring against Labour’s right or lobbyists for LFOI like that. Evans would have had them out in minutes.
Tony if most people realised what the unelected new world order have planned for us they wouldn’t believe it.Even a old bond film would not consider believable what these tyrants have planned to reduce the population of the western world…..food being burnt and stockpiles being dumped…bio labs and genocide.wars..nobody will understand until its too late….There are a few of us who research and realise that times short and it can be stopped even now on the eleventh hour ,but its now down to the people.
Joseph okeefe
Starmer and Reeves, before them Balls and Osborne are Davos and Bilderberg creatures, through and through.
Democracy has been usurped by elites who think the little people are simply too dumb and shouldn’t have a say. The US is at the core of our democratic deficit problem, in that they sound out various western politicians and then use their incredible influence with the big connected media corporations and tech corporations – who dominate our media landscape to promote those who’ll follow their script and demote or discredit, those who won’t.
Mike Pompeo as good as admitted this was the case when he was secretly recorded saying, “It could be that Mr Corbyn manages to run the gauntlet and get elected,” – the gauntlet being created the powerful media empires they have influence over. He alsso talked about pushback. And they talk about Russian interference?
Ex labour MP Chris Mullins wrote about this pernicious US influence in his 1982 novel ‘A Very British Coup’ – The US along with helpers of the British establishment are determine to frustrate political change.
Lammy and Gove were at the most recent Bilderburg meet. It’s Chatham House rules so they cannot talk about what was spoken at the meets.
It makes one wonder why you are working so hard to install another Conservative government at the next GE
Said without any trace of irony or shame.
Toffee – So says the self confessed Tory Boy.
Nope. Got nothing else but that one have ya?
And you can’t even substantiate that by giving us a difference between smarmerism and conservatism – so like I said – I’d be no worse off.
Have another try, confirmed nonce apologist.
Like I said. You’ve got nowt else. 🖕
Toffee – Oh dear, are you feeling bored and lonely?