I’d hoped my first blog of a new week would have been about something more positive, but I’ve just watched Sir Keir Starmer announce his resignation as PM and leader of the Labour party. A decent man has been hounded out of office by the media and betrayed by the disloyalty and the personal political ambitions of those in his own party.
Some things never change. It seems the Labour party has steadfastly refused to learn the lessons of the Tory years of endless political psychodramas. The political stability many have been yearning for following those times has been ripped apart again. Now we’ll have a Labour leadership race – with Andy Burnham looking the almost certain winner.
I’ve no real love for Burnham. Having watched his career over the years I’ve come to the conclusion he’s a political Janus. Now personal ambitions have unseated a serving Labour Prime Minister. Now, I’d be happy to be wrong about Burnham. I hope he makes a good Labour PM, but those in his party who think ditching Starmer will stop the onslaught of negativity from the right-wing media are naive fools. The media has gained another scalp and will be even more emboldened. Far too many of them want to see Farage in No10 so aren’t going to stop. Now will the Elon Musks of this world. They all have far too much power nowadays. Gone are the times when the rich spent their money on improving the welfare of their fellow citizens. Now they buy newspapers, set up TV ‘news’ channels which are little more than propaganda outlets, or rig social media to highlight and pump out far-right views – and or politicians seem unable and/or unwilling to do a damned thing about it.
Now, all we can do is sit back and watched the media circus as they salivate over the leadership contest, something they’ve been so keen to make happen.
This is not a good era for democracy.
Paul Bigland 
I think Sir Keir is a fundamentally decent man, but I’m not sure he was ever cut out to be Prime Minister. There have been too many avoidable errors and poor judgement. I was dismayed when Jess Phillips resigned and even more so when John Healey resigned over defence spending.
I think the right will hate Burnham even more than Starmer, if as is predicted, he becomes PM.
Burnham will likely reinstate HS2 north to Manchester, or a version very similar to it. He’ll likely move the country towards closer ties with the EU. And take the party more to the left, though not as far as Corbyn. I also suspect that he and Wes Streeting have come to some sort of deal, with Streeting getting one of the top jobs in a Burnham cabinet. I can also see Angela Rayner and Louise Haig being brought back in the fold. All of which will rile up Reform and those on the right.
Why is it not good for democracy? Not everybody leans their vote in the direction of media either in online or physical form. Labour were given plenty of warnings for month’s on end that Starmer wasn’t popular & wasn’t doing what he was elected to do. He’s indecisive, weak, hides from confrontation & spends far too much time sorting the rest of the world out than the very country he’s supposed to be leading.
Whilst being PM has the responsibility of both home & abroad he didn’t gain the name “Never here Keir” for nothing. The local elections were fast approaching, despite being warned & the polls showing Reform & to a lesser degree other parties walking right through Labour (so they did) what was his response? “I’ve got a 10 year plan/mandate” So let’s look at that, the worst results & losses in history, coming from a PM with a dreadful popularity rating had a ‘plan’.
How deluded/ignorant/arrogant – delete or add as appropriate, likley all three, do you have to be to stick your fingers in your ears and say it’s fine, keep calm & carry on!
Where were all the Labour voters in the Calderdale elections? Too lazy, couldn’t be bothered or voted tactically to send a message to Labour to change, they’ve now been forced to listen. You pay your council tax money to a Reform council now every month as do I! Burnham had better come up with an action plan & communicate better almost immediately, otherwise it’s going to be more of the same next May. How they laughed 6 month’s ago “Farage has no chance” Not laughing now are they, all gone very quiet as the panic sets in. Can a new captain bail out the Labour titanic as the country lurches rapidly right?
We shall see..