In 2029, Labour will look to organise and weaponise a “Keep Reform Out” mood Will fear of Farage save Starmer? Some thoughts for @politics.co.uk on the strategy and the assumptions it relies on👇 www.politics.co.uk/politicslunc... - ThreadSky

josh.politics.co.uk • 44 days ago

In 2029, Labour will look to organise and weaponise a “Keep Reform Out” mood

Will fear of Farage save Starmer?

Some thoughts for @politics.co.uk on the strategy and the assumptions it relies on👇
https://www.politics.co.uk/politicslunch/2025/04/22/how-a-stop-farage-strategy-could-save-labour-and-keir-starmer/

Comments

martw.bsky.social•43 days ago

Maybe if Starmer considered actually governing in the interests of the country, then people would have something to vote for. But no, it is going to be more of the same right wing neoliberalism that has left so much of the country disaffected.

samrportillo.bsky.social•44 days ago

Very astute analysis. Enjoyed reading this 👏

readyplayerzero.bsky.social•44 days ago

Try enacting manifesto promises first for fuck sake

hugehammers.bsky.social•44 days ago

If you can't beat them, become them

shropbboy.bsky.social•44 days ago

The political equivalent of putting ten men behind the ball from the 1st minute and hoping to take the election to penalties.

laislabonita.bsky.social•44 days ago

And if aspects of that strategy actually alienate core support ….

officer-blackavar.bsky.social•44 days ago

Not sure that strategy works when you keep behaving exactly like the "bogeyman".

ms-kuk.bsky.social•44 days ago

I'd rather they campaigned on positive things

katieal.bsky.social•44 days ago

They DO. Did you read their Manifesto and Ads?
Labour campaigned on what they are delivering: free breakfast clubs for kids, youth clubs, decent pay esp for nurses, Drs; British Energy security, higher Min wage. Ended NonDom taxfree.
Yes higher Tax on 1% be great; but they have increased it a bit

ms-kuk.bsky.social•44 days ago

That's not what the article above is saying

katieal.bsky.social•44 days ago

You said you'd rather Labour campaigned on positive things.
I'm saying they did, and are delivering them (a million x better than Torys even if could/should still be more taxing of richest).
You are worried Labour might not campaign for positive things in future, but that article seems almost gossip

jpm1a.bsky.social•44 days ago

Unsure why Labour is thinking about 2029 (or more likely 2028) like Govern? Maybe do that and you can campaign on a positive offer? Bring positive changes and campaign on that? Radical, I know

danzx00.bsky.social•44 days ago

Laughable. Starmer is two Daily Mail articles away from putting Farage in his cabinet.

chrisrivers50.bsky.social•44 days ago

“The precarity of Starmer’s electoral tyranny has been exposed by its unravelling.”
Is this a serious article? Electoral Tyranny. 🤦‍♂️

chrisrivers50.bsky.social•44 days ago

“The party won just 33.7% of the vote.”
That was UK-wide. As
@markpackuk.bsky.social pointed out Labour’s GB vote share was 35%. Labour, Tories, LibDems & Reform do not stand in N Ireland.

aliceinwunderl3.bsky.social•44 days ago

Trouble is that they are very hard to tell apart. The things I fear in Farage are entirely present in Starmer. Starmer could just as well be Farage's acolyte.

m-rd.bsky.social•44 days ago

So cool being a Labour voter in Teesside & the party would rather pander to every dickhead that I avoid in the pub but me? I can go fuck myself, I guess

jalata.bsky.social•44 days ago

Er maybe do it now?

thedelfinclutch.bsky.social•44 days ago

"We're awful, but vote for us or someone far more awful will get in."

Why does this sound so... familiar...

chartalist.bsky.social•44 days ago

What could go wrong?
Who advises these politicians?
Has Farage got people infiltrated in Starmer's team?
There is only going to be one winner from that strategy.

donnab.bsky.social•44 days ago

Labour are behaving like Reform-lite and working very hard to alienate just about everyone.
They’re handing Reform the next election.

ojcs.bsky.social•43 days ago

they (labour) are so screwed lol

sutherla.bsky.social•44 days ago

Events dear boy, events.
Farage might die.
Trump might be creating a global depression.
Putin might invade a NATO country.
Yet the 🤡🤡 in Labour have their 2029 strategy.

mattsevern.bsky.social•44 days ago

4 years away. You’ve no idea what it will be like. Trump won’t even be president (and if he is, he’s become a dictator).

micky24.bsky.social•44 days ago

They will have turned into Reform by then so an easy job.

spudfromdublin.bsky.social•44 days ago

I refuse to let any party use the fear of the opposition to hold my vote for ransom any more. I'll vote for who I want, rather than against who I least want.

If Labour want to stay in power, they better start thinking "PR".

Now, Leb Dem, Green or Plaid Cymru?

roysaywhatnow.bsky.social•42 days ago

Same. Reform currently stand a good chance in my contituency. I'd rather stop them on the streets than by rewarding reform lite policies in Labour.

jeremysmith.bsky.social•44 days ago

What a strange strategy, 4 years out. Why not try to work with the grain of your natural support base and see if you can do something positive. (Only modest signs of this so far, while lots of Reform-envy policy which annoys everyone else)

supernovalabs.co.uk•44 days ago

adds oxygen to the fire.

tommoitfc.bsky.social•41 days ago

Starmer is all unintelligible strategies and no conviction about …well anything really.

katieal.bsky.social•44 days ago

Labour campaigned on what they are deliverng: free breakfast clubs for kids, decent pay esp for nurses, Drs; Clean British Energy security, higher Min wage, youth clubs. Law to hold Water Co to acct; Ended NonDom taxfree. Yes higher Tax on 1% & PE be great; but they hv incrsd it a bit; more to come?

katieal.bsky.social•44 days ago

Again, who says? What evidence for this claim "The party leadership is operating under the strategic calculation that progressive-minded individuals will vote to lock Farage out of power when the time comes." I see better paid nurses & GPs, breakfast clubs & ceilings for kids, YouthCtrs coming back

larlesley.bsky.social•44 days ago

Errr is that not leaving it a bit too late?? How about winning us round now so the electorate doesn’t have to even think about voting for them!!

lordbonkers.bsky.social•44 days ago

That strategy has failed for Labour in local by-elections - it's how the BNP got a councillor elected for the Isle of Dogs.

chrisrivers50.bsky.social•44 days ago

Which is where McSweeney won his spurs and defeated the BNP. But is that strategy transferable…?

lordbonkers.bsky.social•44 days ago

I don't think he was involved in Tower Hamlets.

kerrymwales.bsky.social•44 days ago

Farage is a grifter

Always has been

And the msm continue to give him a voice

scribblerpen.bsky.social•44 days ago

A strategy to cultivate a stalking horse only to then "keep them out"? Labour has legitimised Reforms anti-immigrant rhetoric and even more their misinformation and attacks against disabled people to a point when it's now hard to tell them apart. If it backfires on Labour, it'll be self-inflicted.

chrisrivers50.bsky.social•44 days ago

You might struggle to ‘tell them apart’. I doubt many others do.

scribblerpen.bsky.social•43 days ago

You are right. Labour is doing to disabled people what Reform only dreams of doing to win the bigot vote. Very different.

catanonim.me•44 days ago

1/2

Interesting.

But I do want to ask: with a big (if shallow) majority 4 years out from a GE, why is Labour getting fixated on this, rather than just ·governing·?

Is it that McSweeney is a one-trick pony, and only knows how to campaign? And only by training the big guns on the perceived enemy?

catanonim.me•44 days ago

2/2

Because, imv, the risks in that strategy of electoral misfires and, worse, blowbacks is considerably underpriced, from what I am reading.

It's ·one bye-election·, FGS!

glostermeteor.bsky.social•44 days ago

Yep, its because Labour has no actual vision or agenda for changing the country. And that has been obvious since they won in 2024.

catanonim.me•44 days ago

It's all rather piecemeal. Even the better bits.

glostermeteor.bsky.social•44 days ago

Yep, they ran on a change agenda, whats the change?

gregwa.bsky.social•44 days ago

It is going to be a tactical voting election for sure, but keeping Reform out will by no means entail voting Labour. It should be possible to keep Farage out and vote for more progressive pro EU parties. If I was Labour I'd start to think about how deeply and irrevocably they are losing their base.

ephemerawoman.bsky.social•44 days ago

Why would we scared of Farage when Starmer is doing all of his work for him?
Labour can fuck off

justanotherdummy.bsky.social•44 days ago

I will stop my enemy by becoming more like him now in the hopes that nothing is different 4 years from now?

Seems self-defeating.

markpoarch.bsky.social•44 days ago

It’s the obsession with Farage that is (the only thing) inflating Reform’s support. The media present Reform as potential winners while Tories and Labour echo its narrative. You can’t beat Reform by aping its xenophobia and Trump fanboy act.

callymeg.bsky.social•44 days ago

Behaving like a proper Labour Party would probably stop Farage.

tommoitfc.bsky.social•41 days ago

Step too far for this government…proper Labour Party? Starmer has as good as destroyed it.

duncanbuch.bsky.social•44 days ago

That can work in France where there is a 2 way fight for the presidency, but much more risky in UK.

morralexand.bsky.social•44 days ago

if Labour are meaning to run next time on a "stop Farage" message, wouldn't it make more sense to hold the election in 2028? i.e. when Trump will [probably] still be President, rather than when he [probably] won't be.

triplezero.bsky.social•44 days ago

I'm no strategist, but maybe they could try not being a bunch of bigoted cunts.

atomictriangles.bsky.social•44 days ago

Every time you vote for us we get more like Reform so vote for us to keep Reform out seems to have a problem with both logic and sustainability.

saintthejase.bsky.social•44 days ago

Make life better instead of worse would probably be a winning strategy.
Lowering utility, transport and accommodation costs for a start

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