If anyone doubts Farage’s endless ability to shift and reshape the contours of British politics, I’d invite them to watch Keir Starmer’s speech today or read the accompanying documents.…
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Shamefull and utterly spineless from Labour
What a way to stoke division , now they seek to vilify careworkers from abroad.
Migrant workers did dot screw working class voters over for the last 40 years .
Yes, in other words the Prime Minister, rather than shaping events and controlling his own political weather has allowed the Faragist's to call the tune. That is a massive political failure.
He’s a weathervane but one that takes weeks if not months to align to the winds of public opinion. A deeply sinister power at all costs backstabber who sheds principles faster and more often than a snake sheds its skin
Starmer lays out his plans (and on the face of it looks like he's appeasing Reform) and the first people broadcasters turn to for an opinion on this? Richard fucking Tice who even uses the term "Net Zero" and nobody bats an eyelid
I know people like to reply that Labour was already clearly right-wing by the election (they were) but what you said is still true. We know this when looking at polling on what Labour voters care about: it's not what Starmer's doing now at all.
Today he snuffed out any hope of a happy future in post-Brexit Britain. The opposite of the 90's Labour years. They showed me (as a youth) that there is a better way - community.
Waited 14 horrendous Tory years for it to come back. Willed them on with everything.
He may be shifting Starmer into a suicidal losing stance for the next election but he's not shifting the decent people of this country. I wouldn't piss on Farage if he was on fire.
My American friend just asked me wtf is wrong with your prime minister. I have yet to hear his entire speech, but the bits of it I swear on social media is horrendous enough. May he never ever get our support again. He FA now. I hope he finds out.
Two options, 1. Labour are making a tactical mistake trying to appeal to the right/Reform/Tories instead of the left where more potential votes are to be found or 2. The parliamentary Labour party *is* a right leaning movement, they aren't 'chasing votes', this is who they are.
what about the (at least) half of the population that hates everything Farage stands for? What about almost all traditional Labour party voters? Don't these count? Are they irrelevant? At least Starmer seems to think they are. No need for you too think that too, Lewis
Reminds me of post 2008/09 when instead of arguing that it was a global recession and Brown had handled it pretty well, they rolled over and accepted the narrative that Labour was to blame. Are they incapable of making an argument that outlines the benefits of migration?
They never learn.
Farage must be the most powerful person in British political history never to hold office.
"An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile hoping it will eat him last"
Farage has been around a long time and yes he had ‘shifted and reshaped the contours’ of British politics in the past but in this I’m afraid it is Starmer, McSweeney et al who are chiefly responsible for landing us here today. It is a choice they made and this is the one they decided on.
Farage has managed to set the direction of British politics without putting in a single day's work as Prime Minister. Absolute power without responsibility.
I still find amazing how journos treat Reform and UKIP as if they were different parties. @maitlis.bsky.social is one of the few out there to recognise the old dressed like new.
There was a chance to take strength from Albo's speech in Australia where he welcomed immigration and immigrants. Or Carneys talk along the lines of '"We're all Canadian". Or Spain's economic growth and pro-immigration policies. Shame. Next GE will be LD v RFUK.
Less Farage’s doing and more the toadying up to him by the right wing press. If you put a wanker on a pedestal and fawn all over him the wanker will continue to be a wanker.
The continued simpering to Trump on that speakerphone call and the recent UK-domestic parallels—while Carney & Albanese have just decisively proven the superiority of the alternative on the world stage—is making me think Sir Keir is not the skilled pragmatist I took him to be.
The media, including the BBC have been singing along to Farage's tune since Brexit. The "balance" approach when dealing with an inveterate liar is at best naive and at worst positively promoting Farage. Our media has failed us.
I remember thinking he (Starmer) gave off Tory in a red tie vibes when he was in the shadow cabinet. When he was leader I often felt he gave the Tory PM of the time a bit of a pass in PMQ’s.
I never thought he’d get it so dreadfully wrong, I knew he wasn’t Labour, but I didn’t think he’d be this bad
I mean...rubbish. Farage alone has been unable to shift and shape much at all for the few decades he's been in public life. But journalists and broadcasters love him and have shaped him into some kind of enigmatic populist powerhouse.
If anyone doubts Farage’s endless ability to shift and reshape the contours of British politics I'd invite him on to every possible BBC programme for 20 years and give him the oxygen of publicity until he succeeds in destroying the foundations of our democracy.
Starmer's policy is to be seen to introduce tough measures on immigration so when stats are released later this year showing a massive drop, which they will, he can say their plan is working and go on the attack against Farage. I don't know why people can't understand this.
And when people continue to see right wing MSM printing/posting photos of boats arriving across the channel on a daily basis and the likes of Farage and Tice gaslighting them about ‘illegals’, people won’t give two hoots about the stats from the Home Office.
To be clear, it's not a masterstroke but it's all he can do. If he plays the positive aspects of immigration card then that'll go the way the Remain campaign did and anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves.
So go on the attack, then. Make it clear to the BBC that a match can be dropped on those nice broadcasting careers that they have there. Introduce Leveson 2 v2.0. Or lie down and die. Whatever.
Yeah, I agree. To say it's been pathetic is the understatement of the century. One of the first things they should've done was to have A Friendly Chat with the BBC's governors.
If anyone doubts the medias unwillingness and inability to hold Fartrage to account and call out the lies and the hate just look at Lewis's "commentary" over the last few years.
Look how 99% of the media have simply repeated Fartrages words without scrutiny under the guise of "balance".
You and your colleagues need to take some responsibility for going after the click bait journalism, notoriety and promotion of Frogfaces lies and hate.
He has changed political discourse, with the huge help of people like you who seem to crave fame over the truth.
I marvel at Putin’s success at adding to the fragmentation of European alliances. We are in disarray, vulnerable and still blinkered. East Europe,with the exception of Poland is a basket case. Brits are shot. America is a thing of the past. Time to get our shit together people.
Why has Farage been allowed to drive the political narrative in this country?
With a whopping majority, Starmer was in the driving seat to make people's lives better over the next 4 years with radical policies.
Starmer & Labour have totally shot themselves in the foot mimicking a one trick pony.
I suspect at this point, it's not so much "allowed" as "encouraged". No one can look at the recent elections in Canada and Australia and still think this is about electoral success. The right of the Labour Party WANT these policies. Reform are simply a useful excuse.
…There has to be a policy response to address voters anxieties, but in ceding the intellectual ground so absolutely to his opponents and setting himself and the government up for likely failure, the risk for the PM is that he may well empower Farage even further.
Labour was captured by a group with no political ideology beyond power and reward and it shows as they easily slip into the politics of the hard right on various issues ,without a care .
Labour is done if you see yourself as progressive
Immigration is forecast to reduce measurable, average wages are forecast to go up. He can spin this as his plan working in 12-18 months time. The change in language was unnecessary though, he could have focused this on the advantages of high skilled migration and up skilling people.
Making stuff work and people better off might address anxieties (although the rightwing press constantly screaming about immigrants might even mask that), but clearly the government have looked at doing that, figured it's very difficult and just gone "so, what about racism?"
Completely tone deaf and not listening. Labour prefer taxing work rather than wealth and pandering to the racist positions of right wing parties. It means Farage has already won the next elections. It beggars belief really :-(
Lewis, stop it. You like to talk the talk about bubbles but the real bubble is yours. Centrists have refused to listen for years now. Proudly, in fact. Now we are here, with a rivers-of-blood speech from a Labour PM.
Anyone who supported Starmer at all recently is centre right at best. It doesn't matter that the overton window has shifted. Disability cuts, racist immigration policy, transphobia. These are right wing ideals.
Ok, well how you identify is up to you. I'm actually not interested in a blame game, but ensuring everyone learns what needs to be learned to stop this. Learning the right lessons is going to require taking responsibility for the way media, including yourself & friends, have legitimised the right.
Bullshit this anti-immigrant hate campaign is entirely a product of *years* worth of racist propaganda from your industry, your mates, your colleagues, your bosses.
Too late for you to backtrack now Lewis, you chose your fate.
You will find I never claimed you are entirely to blame. There are others, Starmer's project, social media, our political system. I don't even care if you take responsibility here or reflect in private, just change before it's too late.
Do you think any of this would have happened without a feral press roaring lies about migrants for decades? Do you think it would have happened without liberals like you looking the other way because you might have to apply for a job with DMG one day?
And what is so depressing about it all is just how slow on the uptake Labour is being. They sat in opposition for 14 years watching the Tories lurch ever further right to try to appease the far right. It never worked, just undermined themselves. Yet the imbeciles think the same will work for them!
If voters baselessly believed that you were a child murderer, would you also agree there would need to be a policy response to address their anxieties?
If he now genuinely believes what he's saying/writing, then he sounds as bad as Farage and people will vote for the real version, not the supermarket own-brand. If he doesn't really believe what he's saying, he can't be trusted. Has painted himself into a corner and now cannot escape.
Whatever Starmer’s plan is, it’s not clear to me. What is clear is the more you chase Farage, the more he runs further away. He will be the one to chase him right into no 10.
The biggest party political broadcast for Farage that Farage hasn't had to deliver or pay for himself.
Starmer's inability to shape a story, drive a narrative, or carry the initiative is a massive liability. A follower not a leader. And following the worst people.
he promised to reduce energy bills. they've gone up.
i'd like to see him deliver on that, before anything else.
unfortunately, GB Energy was just an investment gimmick to make investors money, not reduce bills...
There has to be a policy response to fix the underlying issues, like economic inequality, anonymous social media that prey upon emotion, poor mental health, education, ...
It's not a "risk" not to have an alternate story to Farage's fascism. It's suicide.
Also hoping for something about it on The News Agents. It feels like a straw that has put the camel's back under severe strain at the very least. The backlash in posts on Bluesky is immense. This could be a tipping point. People have had enough of this 'Labour' Party. I wrote to my MP about it...
Keir Starmer and the whole cabinet need replacing. There are enough Labour MPs to do this. If things carry on as they are 90% of Labour MPs will be unemployed at the next election and Nigel Farage will be PM. Labour for goodness sake get a grip!!!
I think a lot people voted Labour last year to get rid of Tories. Now they're betraying any sense of 'traditional' labour values and trying to appease Reform voters. Those voters are gone, they'll stay reform, better to chase moderate, Lib Dems/Green tactical voters to not Reform in 2029
I was like you too (even voted for Starmer in 2020), eventually I couldn’t stomach funding a party so morally despicable, and realised the right of the party had taken control of things so comprehensively that it was pointless to stay. I haven’t regretted leaving once, it’s only gotten worse.
Right/centre-right will vote Farage regardless. Left/centre-left will increasingly go Green/Lib Dem. Centrists *might* stick with Labour, but certainly not enough of these to win another majority. Nailed-on 1-term government. Then Farage - Starmer's Legacy. Are his "principles" really worth that?
He doesn’t care, he’ll be raking it in in some kind of advisor role or on the after dinner circuit. Once he’s done, we are an irrelevance… scratch that, we already are.
Focus groups say that because they are led by the media.
Our leaders need to lead, not be led by those who are following another leader. Make a mature case for positive immigration and say what will be done about problematic immigration. Show leadership!
Spot on. Unfortunately, Focus Groups outcomes are one dimensional. Starmer and Labour's brain trust are missing what most, even casual, follows of politics know. Namely, that feeding the Right Wing beast only ends with being consumed oneself.
No courage. No realism. Hugely disappointing from Labour
Focus group people will say that him acting like this will make them more likely to vote Labour, then they'll turn around and vote Reform or Tory anyway, as they always were going to
He’s a lawyer. Words, arguments used in last week’s case or appeal quickly become inoperable. 2022 he said at Irish Embassy he would “make Europe work.” Seemed not know that was Theresa May’s stated policy when PM
This is what I don't understand. We have seen it before, and it never works, Starmer loses votes to the LDs and wins none from Con/Farage. They are obviously not stupid so why keep doing it?
Factionalism, bigotry, and the arrogance that makes them think that they are somehow the exception to the well studied phenomena of centrist parties trying to out far-right the far right, and instead being destroyed by them in the process.
Whilst we've had enough recent demonstrably thick political leaders, who've risen to power because of the school they went to or the circles they moved in, I don't believe Starmer is stupid.
It seems to point to cowardice.
The UK isn’t the US or Canada or Australia, built by migrants. It’s closer to European nations in this respect. We have tried being like the latter and it isn’t working as assimilation has been defined by the migrant not the broader society.
I don't doubt Farage's ability to shape shift or the undercurrent of racism in Starmer's speech.
I also don't doubt the media's complicity in letting them & the Tories get away with it & helping them keep the narrative on immigration. All because, they fear the Left's vision of an equal society.
Comments
What a way to stoke division , now they seek to vilify careworkers from abroad.
Migrant workers did dot screw working class voters over for the last 40 years .
So he's going after the legal migrants and doing nothing about the boats??
Starmer lays out his plans (and on the face of it looks like he's appeasing Reform) and the first people broadcasters turn to for an opinion on this? Richard fucking Tice who even uses the term "Net Zero" and nobody bats an eyelid
Can you please negotiate FoM so we can at least flee the country before fascism takes hold?
Not one.
They are pissing on their supporters.
I'm done. It's beyond depressing.
Waited 14 horrendous Tory years for it to come back. Willed them on with everything.
Now here we are.
Starmer and McSweeney need to be replaced asap.
Shameful as well as mind bogglingly stupid.
Totally ignoring everyone who would ever vote Labour.
Farage must be the most powerful person in British political history never to hold office.
"An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile hoping it will eat him last"
So he blames immigrants.
He's a populist. But he's a lot worse at it than Farage.
This is just not true. We should demand better, not just shrug and marvel at *the power of Farage*…
Don’t you want better?!
I am a lifelong Labour voter, but his party is Labour in name only.
He said he was listening - but it seems only to Farage.
I never thought he’d get it so dreadfully wrong, I knew he wasn’t Labour, but I didn’t think he’d be this bad
https://bsky.app/profile/nick-pettigrew.bsky.social/post/3lotafgpx4k2e
But hey, that's journalism.
How odd 😂
Have a mute.
Look how 99% of the media have simply repeated Fartrages words without scrutiny under the guise of "balance".
He has changed political discourse, with the huge help of people like you who seem to crave fame over the truth.
With a whopping majority, Starmer was in the driving seat to make people's lives better over the next 4 years with radical policies.
Starmer & Labour have totally shot themselves in the foot mimicking a one trick pony.
Labour is done if you see yourself as progressive
To me, it is so bloody obvious. We've been doing it for a decade now.
Do I hang on and vote for his successor when the inevitable challenge comes, or
Do I cancel my membership and spend the money on a Disney+ Subscription, watch Andor, and be ready for when Thunderbolts comes out for streaming?
Starmer actually needs to lower ("deflate") these anxieties, but he is apparently content just to raise them more slowly instead🤦.
You know this needs to end. No more both sides.
Too late for you to backtrack now Lewis, you chose your fate.
Whether or not that makes you, Lewis Goodall, personally uncomfortable.
You will find I never claimed you are entirely to blame. There are others, Starmer's project, social media, our political system. I don't even care if you take responsibility here or reflect in private, just change before it's too late.
Starmer's inability to shape a story, drive a narrative, or carry the initiative is a massive liability. A follower not a leader. And following the worst people.
i'd like to see him deliver on that, before anything else.
unfortunately, GB Energy was just an investment gimmick to make investors money, not reduce bills...
Public opinion has been slow-poisoned on immigration for the last decade.
Proper policy doesn’t stand a chance in this environment.
KS is showing himself to be just as cowardly as his predecessors, he was supposed to know better
It's not a "risk" not to have an alternate story to Farage's fascism. It's suicide.
https://bsky.app/profile/petemarchetto.bsky.social/post/3loxnd7t4fk2t
If the number doesn't come down, he's toast anyway.
If it does, he can claim credit.
I’m calling it. A bit early, but Starmer will be gone (possibly) before the next General Election.
The unpopular decisions have remained as a semipermanent stain & this surrender to the Right could well see his end.
All dependent on any Reform council collapses.
Such a shame.
Do we have an idea of how much support he has from his MPs on this?
Fwiw, i agree with you, utterly pointless exercise.
Our leaders need to lead, not be led by those who are following another leader. Make a mature case for positive immigration and say what will be done about problematic immigration. Show leadership!
No courage. No realism. Hugely disappointing from Labour
It seems to point to cowardice.
I also don't doubt the media's complicity in letting them & the Tories get away with it & helping them keep the narrative on immigration. All because, they fear the Left's vision of an equal society.